Training Colleagues in CR&S Practice

Helping colleagues learn is a core part of championing CR&S, and it is more effective when guided by an understanding of how people learn, communicate, and engage. A practitioner who understands the learning theories met in this learning circle can see more clearly what will work and what will not and can design tailored learning. Understanding the theory helps in four connected ways.

First, it makes training more efficient. Knowles’ principles of adult learning show that adults learn best when they understand why something matters, can draw on their own experience, and can apply learning to real problems (Knowles, 1984; Articulate 2025). Kolb’s experiential cycle and the 70:20:10 model, covered previously, show that people learn far more by actively applying and reflecting than by passively receiving information (Kolb, 1984), which is why simply sending colleagues a policy document or a one-off presentation so often fails to change anything. A practitioner who understands this does not waste effort on approaches that do not work. They design learning around real CR&S tasks, discussion, and practice, getting better results from the same time and resource. Understanding how people learn is, in effect, what allows training to be tailored to the audience.

Second, it helps reduce resistance. People often resist learning, especially when it is imposed. Mandatory training assigned without explanation is a great example of pushback because it cuts against an adult’s sense of autonomy (Articulate, 2025). Understanding motivation and communication helps a practitioner anticipate and soften this. Explaining the purpose, involving colleagues in shaping the learning, connecting it to what they already care about, and choosing the right way to communicate it all reduce the natural resistance to change. A practitioner who understands why people resist can design learning that feels like more of an invitation rather than an instruction, which is far more likely to be accepted (Articulate, 2025).

Third, it helps embed a holistic CR&S ethos across the organisation. There is a well-recognised knowing-doing gap: people can pass a test on sustainability yet not change how they work, because passive learning never forms the habits that change behaviour. Understanding experiential and social learning shows why embedding an ethos requires more: learning through real work, reflection, the example of others, and reinforcement over time. A practitioner who understands this designs learning that shifts how colleagues think and act, connecting CR&S to their values and their daily work, so that responsible practice becomes part of the culture rather than a box that has been ticked.

Fourth, it helps sustain effort towards future practice. The goal of training colleagues is not a single event, but it is meant to create lasting change. Essentially, this is what learning professionals call ‘transfer,’ where people apply and keep applying what they have learned. Understanding that motivation and reinforcement drive transfer helps a practitioner design learning that keeps developing people: building in follow-up, encouraging peer support and communities of practice, and fostering the self-directed, continuous learning that adults respond to. This is also where the behaviour of developing others comes in; a practitioner committed to developing both themselves and their colleagues creates the conditions for people to keep growing their own CR&S practice long after any formal session has ended. 

Recognised tools can support all of this. Instructional design approaches such as ADDIE help structure the design of learning (Branch, 2009), and Kirkpatrick’s four levels help evaluate whether it worked (Kirkpatrick and Kirkpatrick, 2006). Apprentices who wish to go further can explore these, signposted in the references.

The better a practitioner understands how people learn, communicate, and engage, the more discerning and effective they become at developing their colleagues, and the more deeply CR&S takes root across the organisation.