Improving Management Development Through Relapse Prevention Strategies

Abstract Estimates of relapse in management training efforts range as high as 90 per cent. Management trainers predict 40 per cent of training content is applied immediately after training and only 15 per cent is used 12 months later. These estimates suggest that managers acquire skills, implement them briefly and then fail to maintain them at work. In the face of limited management support for skill retention, training personnel must consider other options for skill retention that are trainee/trainer controlled. The "Relapse Prevention Model" is proposed as a methodology to enhance skill retention and as a data‐based diagnostic tool to alert individuals and organisations to circumstances that sabotage training efforts.