You’ve identified a skill gap or a business need. You’ve researched Learning & Development vendors and chosen one to partner with. You’ve signed on the dotted line. Don’t stop now!

There are several choices still to make, and each one will impact the return you’re able to get on this investment in your people.

This guide shares best practices to help you ensure that learners not only engage fully but also apply their new skills to enhance team performance and solve business challenges.

Before the Engagement

1. Shape & Brand the Engagement to Fit Your Culture

For the learning to stick, embed the initiative into your company’s existing learning ecosystem.

• What existing milestones or transitions can this learning program support?

• What certification or CPEs could you award that would matter to participants?

• How can you name the program to align with your brand, or with broader company strategy?

• What existing performance metrics can program goals align to?

At Ei, we’re happy to ring our own bell, but we’d much rather help you ring yours!

2. Consider Participant Selection: We Recommend Nominations & Opt-in Programs

Our highest-engagement programs have one thing in common: nominated participants. When people are selected by leaders or peers, they feel special. It makes them more likely to want to participate, and more likely to persist through the entire experience.

If a nomination process isn’t right for you, we recommend giving participants a choice to opt in or out. We know that adults learn best when they feel they have agency.

We encourage tying program completion to a meaningful certification or internal milestone, in order to increase interest and decrease flake rate.

3. Build Buy-In with Managers

For participants to fully engage, they need their managers’ support.

• Create a compelling story that speaks to what will change (for the better) for teams, and tell that story to participants’ managers, ideally in a live session where they can ask follow-up questions.

• Let managers know ahead of time about the time commitment, and request their support in protecting that time for their team members to participate.

4. Optimize the Schedule

Timing matters!

• Be mindful of workload — avoid launching programs during peak busy seasons.

• Avoid scheduling sessions too close to holidays, deadlines or expected closures.

• Consider pacing: Ei sessions can be spaced 1, 2, or 3 weeks apart. Which pace will maximize attendance, engagement, and focus for your group?

During the Engagement

5. Keep Managers & Teams in the Loop

Invest in making sure that participants’ managers, direct reports, and your leadership team members are aware of the learning. This helps reinforce shared vocabulary and expands the program’s reach. Let us know if we can help you with any of the following:

• Provide regular recaps of the sessions to socialize and reinforce terminology and frameworks.

• Offer questions for managers of participants to use during their 1:1s to reinforce learnings.

• Regularly remind stakeholders of the program overview, including a calendar of timing and topics.

6. Integrate the Program into Existing Tools & Team Spaces

Resources are only useful if people find and use them. This is more likely to happen when you weave resources into your existing tools and spaces.

• Add program materials to shared team folders or your LMS – somewhere they’ll be easy to access.

• Reinforce key takeaways in relevant docs, dashboards, or communication channels.

• Encourage teams to reference materials in existing 1:1s or coaching circles.

• Circulate one-pagers that recap key takeaways and contextualize them to remind people how and when to leverage new learnings

After the Engagement

7. Reinforce Learning with Follow-Ups

Sustained impact requires continued reflection and practice. Some options include:

• Self-paced practice with AI-powered coaches

• Ongoing peer learning groups

• Reunion sessions

• Nudge videos

• 1:1s with manager

8. Connect Learning Objectives to Performance Reviews

For learning to drive real change, it needs to be recognized and rewarded.

• Ensure the skills and behaviors from the program are evaluated in performance reviews.

• Encourage managers to discuss key takeaways in 1:1s and goal-setting conversations.

• Reinforce the message that growth in these areas matters for career development.

When employees see that applying what they’ve learned leads to tangible benefits, they’re far more likely to put it into practice.

9. Measure the Impact

• 1 month later: Survey participants, managers and/or direct reports on observable changes in participants.

• 1 & 3 months later: Conduct 1:1s or focus groups to learn more about the program’s impact.