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Dave Basarab Consulting has elevated the training experience, offering an end-to-end comprehensive approach that includes training strategy, instructional design, development, delivery , post program training transfer, and evaluation (via the unique Predictive Evaluation methodology). Virtual Chief Architect Dave Basarab has combined all of these individual training elements with his user-friendly, comprehensive Learning to Performance approach, which significantly increases companies' training ROI.

Why we are different

  • Innovation: Our primary focus is creating learning programs using a Learning to Performance approach.
  • Expertise: Dave offers the depth and breadth of his experience, including working internally at prestigious companies (Motorola, Ingersoll Rand and Pitney Bowes) as well as his knowledge and expertise as a highly-respected, sought-after consultant.
  • Partnership: Basarab collaborates with companies, serving as their own Chief Learning Officer whenever they need to plan, strategize, or implement training initiatives.

Training Services

Enterprise Learning Strategy

Enterprise Learning Strategy

At Dave Basarab Consulting, we're experts in creating Enterprise Learning Plans. We work with you to develop your company's learning strategy and direction.

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Custom Design, Development, & Delivery

Custom Design, Development, & Delivery

Custom training is an effective way of developing the capability required to execute your strategy. We are a custom design house that creates programs specific to your business.

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Learning Burst Development

Learning Burst Development

We can create and deliver your courses via our unique Learning Burst Method - keeping your employees at their jobs while receiving world-class training.

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Predictive Evaluation

Predictive Evaluation

We predict the ROI for your courses and establish success gates. We then evaluate the course against the success gates to show value realized and continually improve results.

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Leadership Development

Leadership Development

Turn-key virtual custom leadership development program that combines world-class leadership speakers/educators with post-event personalized coaching to provide you with a cadre of highly skilled leaders.

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Predictive Evaluation

Making Learning Bursts Work for Your Team

The case for microlearning is stronger than a preference for shorter courses. Learning bursts give employees focused opportunities to build knowledge, practice a skill, and apply it while the work is still in front of them. When designed around real performance needs, they can make development more timely, accessible, and measurable.

A learning burst might be a five-minute scenario, a short coaching activity, a guided practice exercise, or a concise reinforcement message delivered at the right moment. Its value comes from the connection between the learning experience and the behavior the organization needs to see.

For corporate learning teams, the challenge is to avoid treating microlearning as content compression. A shortened version of a long course is rarely enough. Effective bursts require clear outcomes, thoughtful instructional design, manager support, and a way to connect participation with business results.

Why Short Learning Experiences Work

Employees often struggle to attend lengthy programs because work priorities compete for their attention. Brief learning activities reduce that friction and make it easier to fit development into the flow of daily responsibilities. A focused burst can address one decision, behavior, or skill without asking learners to absorb an entire curriculum at once.

Short sessions also support repetition. Learners can encounter a concept, try it in practice, receive feedback, and revisit it later. This pattern strengthens recall and helps transform information into a usable capability. It is particularly effective for procedures, communication habits, product knowledge, compliance reminders, and manager routines.

Design Around Performance

The starting point should be a business or performance problem, not a preferred delivery format. Before creating a burst, clarify what employees must do differently, under which conditions, and how success will be recognized. This keeps the content specific and prevents a series of disconnected tips from being mistaken for a learning strategy.

Strong learning bursts usually contain a small number of elements: a clear objective, a realistic context, an opportunity to make a choice, and immediate feedback. A sales representative might respond to a customer objection, while a new supervisor might practice giving corrective feedback. The closer the activity is to the job, the more useful the learning becomes.

Choosing The Right Learning Burst

Microlearning is not a single method. Different formats serve different purposes, and the best choice depends on the behavior, audience, and workplace environment.

Learning format Best used for Design priority Common risk
Short video Demonstrations and explanations Show a specific action Passive viewing
Scenario Judgment and decision-making Make consequences visible Unrealistic situations
Job aid Immediate task support Keep instructions easy to scan Outdated content
Quiz or retrieval activity Recall and reinforcement Test application, not trivia Measuring memory alone
Manager-led discussion Reflection and transfer Connect learning to current work Inconsistent facilitation

A blended sequence can be more powerful than any individual format. For example, a short demonstration can be followed by a scenario, a job aid, and a manager conversation. Each component has a defined role, and the overall experience supports awareness, practice, application, and reinforcement.

Build For Application And Reinforcement

Learning bursts should appear close to the moment of need. A customer service employee may benefit from a response framework before a difficult interaction, while a project leader may need a concise decision tool before a planning meeting. Timing gives the content practical relevance and increases the likelihood of use.

Reinforcement should be planned from the beginning rather than added after launch. Spaced reminders, peer discussion, practice assignments, and manager check-ins help learners move from initial understanding to consistent performance. A sequence of small experiences can create a stronger transfer pathway than one large event followed by silence.

Managers are essential to this process. They can set expectations, observe behavior, recognize progress, and address barriers. When leaders refer to the same language and tools used in the learning experience, employees receive a clear signal that the program matters in everyday work.

Measure Adoption And Business Impact

Completion rates are easy to collect, but they do not show whether learning changed performance. A stronger evaluation approach tracks several stages: whether employees accessed the experience, whether they understood it, whether they applied the behavior, and whether relevant business indicators moved.

This is where Predictive Evaluation model principles can help learning teams forecast likely adoption and impact before investing heavily in development. Early measurement planning encourages stakeholders to define evidence, assumptions, and success indicators while the program is still being designed.

Useful measures may include quality scores, cycle time, customer satisfaction, sales conversion, employee retention, safety behavior, or manager-observed performance. The right metrics depend on the original business need. Microlearning should be judged by the value of the capability it supports, not by the number of short assets published.

Connect Content With A Learning Strategy

A collection of learning bursts can become difficult to manage if it lacks a clear architecture. Enterprise learning strategy provides the structure: audience segmentation, capability priorities, sequencing, governance, accessibility standards, platform decisions, and ownership. This makes it easier to scale successful experiences and retire content that no longer serves the business.

Custom instructional design also matters. Internal language, job realities, organizational culture, and workflow constraints should shape the experience. Subject matter experts can contribute valuable accuracy and context, while learning professionals translate that expertise into practice-oriented activities. Perspectives on the strategic value of learning can also help position these programs as business capabilities rather than isolated training events.

A practical rollout should begin with a focused audience and a meaningful use case. Pilot the experience, examine learner behavior and performance evidence, gather manager feedback, and adjust before expanding. This approach reduces waste and creates a stronger case for continued investment.

Practical Recommendations

Learning bursts work best when they are deliberately connected to organizational priorities. Use them to solve specific performance problems, reinforce larger development programs, and support employees at the point where decisions are made.

Keep the operating model simple enough for consistent delivery, while preserving enough flexibility for different roles and regions. These practices can provide a reliable starting point:

  • Define one observable behavior for each learning burst.
  • Use realistic decisions, examples, and job conditions.
  • Pair digital activities with manager reinforcement.
  • Plan adoption and impact measures before launch.
  • Review usage, performance evidence, and content relevance regularly.

Your team can begin by selecting one high-value capability and mapping the moments when employees need it most. Dave Basarab Consulting can help translate that need into an enterprise learning strategy, custom learning experience, delivery plan, and evaluation approach that connects development with measurable results. Start with a focused learning burst, establish the evidence of success, and build from what works.

Learning to Performance

Learning to Performance, a complete training approach, gives companies world-class training to drive significant return. This approach includes upfront work (Impact Mapping, design), training (for staff and company executives), and post-training efforts to ensure training transfer. This unique recipe - the key for successful training and adoption - is changing the way companies implement training. This methodology could work with any content for organizations in any industry.

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