From Learning to Lasting Change: Making Training Stick in Local Government

Every year, local authorities across the UK invest heavily in workforce development. According to the UK Workforce Survey, the public sector spends an estimated £42 billion annually on training and development. Yet despite this significant investment, much of the learning fails to translate into sustained behaviour change. Staff attend workshops, complete e-learning modules, and participate in coaching programmes but too often, the impact fades once they return to their desks.

So the question remains: how do we make training stick?

In a recent episode of The Truth About Local Government, I sat down with Kevan Collier, Strategic Learning and Organisational Development Lead at North West Employers, to explore this very issue. Kevan brings a rare blend of academic rigour and frontline experience, supporting councils to embed learning that leads to real-world change.

Our conversation centred on the COM-B model a behavioural change framework developed by Professor Susan Michie and colleagues in 2011. Widely used across health, policy, and public sector reform, COM-B is gaining traction in local government as a practical tool for designing learning that leads to action.

“Ultimately, the reason we invest in learning and development is to help people do something different to change behaviour,” Kevan explained. “But without the right conditions, even the best training won’t stick.”

The COM-B model offers a simple but powerful lens: Capability + Opportunity + Motivation = Behaviour. It reminds us that knowledge alone isn’t enough. Staff need the chance to apply what they’ve learned, and they need to be motivated both intrinsically and extrinsically to do so.

What is the COM-B Model?

The COM-B model is a foundational framework for understanding and driving behaviour change. Developed in 2011 by Professor Susan Michie and colleagues following a systematic review of 19 existing behavioural models, COM-B distils the essential ingredients for change into three interdependent components:

• Capability – the individual’s psychological and physical capacity to engage in the activity concerned. This includes having the necessary knowledge and skills.

• Opportunity – the external factors that make the behaviour possible or prompt it. This includes both physical opportunities (e.g. time, resources) and social opportunities (e.g. cultural norms, peer support).

• Motivation – the internal processes that influence decision-making and behaviour. This includes both reflective motivation (e.g. conscious planning and evaluation) and automatic motivation (e.g. emotional responses and habits).

Together, these elements form the equation: Capability + Opportunity + Motivation = Behaviour

As Kevan Collier explained during our conversation:

“We can increase people’s capabilities by giving them knowledge… but just because someone’s engaged doesn’t necessarily mean they’re motivated. And without opportunity, people very quickly fall back into what they’ve always done.”

This insight is particularly relevant in local government, where staff often attend training but return to environments that don’t support the application of new skills. Without the right opportunities such as time to practise, supportive supervision, or cultural alignment even the most capable and motivated individuals may struggle to change their behaviour.

The COM-B model encourages us to look beyond the training room and consider the wider system. Are we equipping people with the right skills? Are we creating the conditions for those skills to be used? And are we tapping into the motivations that drive public service?

The Cost of Missed Opportunities

Local government invests heavily in developing its workforce and rightly so. According to the UK Workforce Survey, an estimated £42 billion is spent each year across the economy on workplace development. But here’s the uncomfortable truth: only 10–20% of that learning is typically transferred into real-world practice.

That means up to £37 billion worth of training may not be delivering the behavioural change it was designed to achieve.

Why? Because too often, we focus on the delivery of learning rather than its application. Staff attend training sessions, gain new insights, and leave feeling energised but without the right conditions back in the workplace, those insights fade. The opportunity to apply new skills is either absent, unclear, or unsupported. As Kevan Collier put it:

“We’ve got to create those opportunities. Otherwise, people fall back into old routines and habits.”

To address this, Kevan highlighted the Brinkerhoff model, which reframes the learning cycle into three distinct phases:

• 40% Pre-learning – This is the planning stage. It involves identifying skill gaps, setting clear expectations, and aligning the learning with strategic goals. It’s about asking: Why are we doing this? What do we need to change?

• 20% Learning intervention – This is the actual delivery of training, whether through workshops, coaching, mentoring, or e-learning. It’s the part we often focus on but it’s only one-fifth of the full cycle.

• 40% Post-learning – This is where the magic happens. Embedding new skills through supervision, performance conversations, peer support, and accountability mechanisms. It’s about creating the space and encouragement for staff to practise and refine what they’ve learned.

In practice, many organisations invert this model spending most of their time on the intervention itself, with little attention to what comes before or after. But as Kevan emphasised, it’s the preparation and follow-through that determine whether learning leads to lasting change.

For local government leaders, this means rethinking how we design and support learning. Are we setting staff up for success before they enter the training room? Are we creating the conditions for them to apply new skills afterwards? And are we measuring whether behaviour has actually changed?

Creating Opportunities for Behaviour Change

For behaviour change to take root, it must be nurtured before, during, and after the learning intervention. And for line managers, the message is clear: the journey doesn’t begin in the training room it starts well before that.

As Kevan Collier emphasised, pre-training conversations are essential. These discussions should clarify the purpose of the development activity, set expectations for how the learning will be applied, and establish accountability. When staff understand why they’re being asked to learn something and how it connects to their role and the organisation’s goals they’re far more likely to engage meaningfully.

Kevan recommends three key actions for managers:

• Pre-training conversations – to explore the relevance of the learning, agree on expectations, and build motivation.

• Strategic alignment – ensuring the learning links directly to organisational priorities, service improvement goals, or transformation programmes.

• Real-world application – creating space for staff to practise new skills through coaching, mentoring, shadowing, and performance reviews.

“If we develop managers to coach,” Kevan warned, “but they return to a ‘just get it done’ culture, they’ll be constrained and revert to old habits.”

This cultural mismatch is a common barrier. If the dominant organisational culture doesn’t support the behaviours being taught whether it’s coaching, collaboration, or innovation staff will struggle to apply what they’ve learned. Worse still, they may feel discouraged or even punished for trying.

That’s why creating opportunities isn’t just about logistics it’s about culture change. It requires leaders to model the desired behaviours, reinforce them through systems and processes, and celebrate when staff apply new skills successfully. In local government, where resources are stretched and time is precious, this can feel like a luxury. But it’s not. It’s a strategic necessity. Without opportunities to apply learning, behaviour change simply won’t happen and the investment in training will be wasted.

Motivation: The Missing Link

While capability and opportunity are vital, motivation is often the most elusive and arguably the most powerful driver of behaviour change. Without it, even the most skilled and well-supported staff may struggle to apply what they’ve learned.

Motivation comes in two forms:

• Intrinsic motivation – driven by internal values, purpose, and personal growth.

• Extrinsic motivation – influenced by external rewards, recognition, or pressure.

Kevan Collier believes that many local government professionals are intrinsically motivated by a deep sense of public service and altruism. They care about their communities and want to make a difference. But motivation also depends on the level of challenge presented.

“The challenge needs to slightly exceed our perceived capability,” Kevan explained. “Too much challenge demotivates. Too little makes it humdrum.”

This concept echoes the Goldilocks principle the idea that tasks should be just right to maintain engagement. If a development activity feels overwhelming, staff may disengage. If it feels too easy or irrelevant, they may dismiss it. The sweet spot lies in creating stretch a challenge that pushes people just beyond their comfort zone, while still feeling achievable.

This aligns closely with Malcolm Knowles’ theory of adult learning, particularly the principle of “need to know.” Adults are far more likely to engage with learning when they understand its relevance to their personal and professional lives. They want to know:

• Why am I learning this?

• How will it help me do my job better?

• What difference will it make to the organisation or the community I serve?

In local government, where time is tight and pressures are high, it’s easy to overlook these motivational drivers. But if we want learning to lead to behaviour change, we must tap into what motivates our people not just professionally, but personally.

That means framing development in terms of impact, growth, and purpose. It means recognising effort, celebrating progress, and creating cultures where learning is valued not just mandated.

Measuring Success

If we want learning to lead to lasting behaviour change, we must be able to answer a simple but critical question: is it working?

Too often, training is delivered without a clear plan for evaluation. We move swiftly from one intervention to the next, without pausing to assess whether the previous one made a difference. But as Kevan Collier emphasised, evidence-based practice is essential not just for accountability, but for continuous improvement.

“We’ve got to have something to measure against,” Kevan said. “And we’ve got to do the evaluation afterwards.”

Kevan recommends a structured approach to evaluation, built around four key steps:

• Establish a baseline – Before any training begins, assess the current level of skills, knowledge, and behaviours. This provides a reference point for measuring change.

• Use quantitative metrics – Track tangible outputs such as the number of staff trained, completion rates, or improvements in performance indicators. These help demonstrate reach and scale.

• Gather qualitative feedback – Speak to staff about their experience. Has the training changed how they approach their work? Are they applying new skills? What impact has it had on their confidence, decision-making, or service delivery?

• Apply controls – Where possible, isolate the impact of specific interventions. If staff are involved in multiple development activities, it’s important to understand which ones are driving change. Without this, we risk attributing success to the wrong programme and repeating ineffective approaches.

In local government, where resources are limited and demands are high, rigorous evaluation can feel like a luxury. But it’s not. It’s a strategic necessity. Without it, we can’t know whether our investment in learning is delivering value or whether behaviour is actually changing.

Evaluation also helps build trust. When staff see that their feedback is valued and that learning leads to real improvements, they’re more likely to engage with future development opportunities.

Ultimately, measuring success isn’t just about data it’s about learning from what works, improving what doesn’t, and ensuring that every training intervention contributes to a more capable, motivated, and empowered workforce.

Final Thoughts

Training in local government should never be a tick-box exercise. It’s not just about attendance, completion rates, or ticking off mandatory modules it’s about strategic behaviour change. When designed with intention, aligned to organisational goals, and supported by the right culture and systems, learning becomes a powerful lever for transformation.

But this requires a shift in mindset. We must move beyond one-off interventions and start thinking in terms of learning ecosystems where development is continuous, contextual, and embedded in everyday practice. As Kevan Collier wisely put it:

“We’re too busy to plan, too busy to evaluate but it’s crucial we make time. Because that leads to successful organisations.”

In a sector facing unprecedented challenges from financial pressures to workforce shortages we can’t afford to waste development opportunities. Every training programme should be a catalyst for change. Every coaching conversation should build capability. Every learning moment should be linked to impact. The COM-B model gives us a framework to do just that. By focusing on capability, opportunity, and motivation, we can design learning that sticks and ultimately, build a more resilient, skilled, and empowered local government

 This blog post was sponsored by Alliance Leisure, the UK's leading leisure development partner, specialising in supporting local authorities to improve and expand their leisure facilities and services. Click the logo above and check out their website and services.

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