Learning Agility: The Superpower for Thriving in the Change Economy

Why We Forget: The Goldfish Memory Problem

Ever taken notes in a training session, only to forget most of it the next day? You’re not alone. Psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus documented this phenomenon over a century ago in the forgetting curve: without reinforcement, people forget up to 80% of new information within a few hours. But with reinforcement, retention increases.

The problem isn’t that people aren’t paying attention. It’s that our brains aren’t built for passive storage. They’re wired to forget information that isn’t reinforced or relevant. In the modern workplace, where reps juggle emails, CRMs, messaging apps, and dozens of sales tools, this “goldfish memory” gets worse.

To understand why traditional training fails, you have to understand how memory works.

The Science Behind Why We Forget

Learning begins with sensory memory, the sights and sounds we encounter in a training or meeting. If we’re distracted (say, checking email during a virtual session), much of that input never even makes it to the next stage.

When we do pay attention, information moves into working memory (short-term memory), where our brains actively process it. But working memory has a strict limit. In fact, research suggests it can only hold 5–9 pieces of information at once. When slides, jargon, or multitasking overload it, information slips away.

For knowledge to stick, it must be encoded into long-term memory. This process depends on factors like relevance, repetition, and emotional connection. Without reinforcement, even encoded knowledge fades quickly — a phenomenon captured in psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus’s forgetting curve, which shows that people forget 80% of new information within a few days if it’s not revisited.

This is why one-time training events, onboarding bootcamps, or annual sales kickoffs so often fail. They overload working memory, skip reinforcement, and leave employees with little to apply in real time.

Traditional training dumps content “just in case” employees might need it, detached from real-world context. By the time they do need it, the knowledge has already evaporated.

Cognitive Load and Context Switching: The Hidden Memory Thieves

In today’s workplace, two additional forces work against memory:

• Cognitive load. Like a computer with limited RAM, our brains can only process so much at once. When employees juggle tasks, tools, and updates, their “mental CPU” becomes overloaded — leaving little bandwidth to encode new information.

• Context switching. Research shows it can take 23 minutes to fully regain focus after switching tasks. With reps bouncing between CRMs, Slack, email, and sales collateral hundreds of times a day, their working memory is constantly disrupted.

Even with the new AI features providing support, reps still spend 70% of their time on non-selling activities. In other words, they spend only 30% of their time selling.

The result? Even the most motivated teams struggle to remember and apply what they’ve learned.

Why Context Is King

The key to overcoming goldfish memory is contextual learning — reinforcing and delivering knowledge at the exact moment it’s needed.

I learned this lesson in a college statistics recitation. One of my students, Alex, had failed a quiz on probabilities. No matter how I explained the math, it wasn’t clicking. Then I learned he had just celebrated his 21st birthday at a casino. Suddenly, roulette became the perfect metaphor for probability. Within minutes, the formulas made sense. He had his lightbulb moment because the learning was tied to his lived experience.

That’s when I realized: context transforms learning from abstract to actionable.

Years later, this insight became the foundation for my belief in just-in-time learning: don’t force employees to memorize endless playbooks they’ll forget. Instead, deliver the right knowledge in the right place at the right time when it's relevant to them for maximum absorption.

Just-in-Time Learning: Fuel for Learning Agility

Just-in-time learning is the practical application of contextual learning in the workplace. Instead of overwhelming employees with information they may or may not use, it delivers insights exactly when they need them, in their flow of work.

The benefits are powerful:

• Reduced context switching. No more hunting through wikis or Slack threads, knowledge surfaces automatically.

• Better application of knowledge. When employees learn in the moment of need, comprehension and confidence skyrocket.

• Improved recall. Encountering knowledge in context strengthens memory, making it easier to retrieve later.

And the data backs it up. According to Gartner®, organizations that adopt just-in-time learning are:

• 2.5x more likely to exceed seller revenue targets

• 3.5x more likely to exceed customer retention targets

• 2.3x more likely to exceed employee retention targets

How AI Supercharges Learning Agility

Until recently, just-in-time learning was mostly manual — mapping content to systems, tagging resources, or refreshing outdated docs. But AI changes the game.

AI can:

• Detect changes in real time (like new fields in Salesforce).

• Analyze patterns to predict what employees will need next.

• Deliver hyper-personalized learning directly in their workflow.

It’s the difference between static training binders and dynamic, living knowledge. Between “just-in-case” and “just-in-time.” Between forgotten knowledge and true learning agility.

Building a Culture of Learning Agility

Here are a few practical ways to foster learning agility in your organization:

1. Embed learning where work happens. Deliver bite-sized knowledge in context in the tools your teams are working.

2. Reinforce, don’t just release. Treat launches as the beginning of learning. Reinforce through an effective change enablement program.

3. Reduce cognitive load. Simplify processes and eliminate unnecessary tools. Every switch costs focus and memory.

4. Leverage AI for context. Invest in solutions that don’t just store knowledge but actively surface it at the moment of need.

The Bottom Line

In the Change Economy, where disruption is constant and the half-life of skills is shrinking, learning agility isn’t optional, it’s survival.

By combining the science of memory, the practice of contextual learning, and the power of AI-driven just-in-time learning, organizations can unlock the adaptability their people need to thrive.

Because the real question isn’t whether change is coming, it’s whether your people are equipped to learn fast enough to keep up.