Tariro Makina

Whenever we run a programme at Lubuto, my favourite part is reading the feedback afterwards. This is not because it is always positive. It isn’t. But because it tells a story. A story of how people felt about the entire learning experience. Over time I have come to realise that the feedback itself is only part of the story. How people respond, how much they share, how honest they are willing to be, and what they choose to leave blank, reveals something much bigger. It reflects the kind of culture they operate in every day. And that is worth paying close attention to. What Feedback Really Tells Us There is a difference between evaluation data and cultural data. Evaluation data tells you whether the content was relevant and the facilitator engaging. Cultural data tells you something deeper about trust, and whether people believe their voices actually matter. When feedback is consistently glowing with very little constructive input, it is worth pausing. Overly positive responses across an entire group can reflect a culture where people do not feel safe enough to say what they really think. Vague answers or forms returned almost blank can signal the same thing. Silence in feedback is still a form of communication. How You Collect It Changes What You Get We have explored both QR codes and physical paper forms at Lubuto, and what we discovered was simple but significant: different audiences receive these very differently, shaped by comfort with technology, access to devices, and even levels of trust in digital platforms. Beyond practicality, the method you choose sends an unspoken message. Handing someone a QR code as they walk out of the door signals that feedback is an afterthought. The goal is always to match the collection method to the audience and context, not simply to what is most convenient for the facilitator. The Questions You Ask Determine the Answers You Receive A feedback form built entirely on rating scales will give you numbers. What it rarely gives you is insight. Questions like “What is one thing from today that you are still thinking about?” or “What would have made this experience more useful for you?” create space for honest, specific responses. They also signal to the participant that you are interested in their actual experience, not just a favourable score. Designing good feedback questions deserves the same intentionality as designing the learning experience itself. Timing and the Invitation to Be Honest By the time a session officially closes, people are already mentally elsewhere. Bags are packed, phones are back in hand, and there are a hundred things competing for attention in their minds. In that moment, a detailed feedback form is competing with all of it and the form rarely wins. Being intentional about when feedback is collected and not just that it is collected makes a real difference. Building a brief reflection moment into the session before the close, while people are still present and engaged, produces a different quality of response than a rushed form at the end. The invitation itself to share feedback is equally important. Participants need to feel genuinely free to be honest. This means naming why the feedback matters, acknowledging that critical responses are just as valuable as positive ones, and creating an environment throughout the day where honest contributions are welcomed, not just at the end. A Mirror Worth Looking Into There is a saying that “Feedback is a gift”. And I truly believe it is. But there is a fair amount of work involved in receiving it well and in making sure what you receive is honesty, not just a ticked box. Getting genuine feedback has to be earned through the safety you build in the room, the questions you ask, the method you choose, and the trust you demonstrate by actually doing something with what you hear. At Lubuto, feedback is not the end of the learning experience. It is part of it. Our L&D debriefs depend on it and we use it to improve how we show up at the next session for our learners.  So the next time you distribute those forms, it is worth asking: Have we done the work to deserve honesty? Because the mirror only works if people feel safe enough to look into it. We would love to hear your thoughts on learning feedback, whether you are participating in designing learning experiences or sitting in the room as a learner. How does your organisation approach feedback after training? Do you feel genuinely invited to share honestly, or does it sometimes feel like going through the motions? What has worked, what has surprised you, and what do you wish was done differently? Share your experiences in the comments below.

Training days are exciting for many reasons. For some people, they are a genuine opportunity to widen their knowledge and engage with colleagues on a different level. For others, they become a brief escape from routine, a space to push agendas in discussions or quietly “fire fight” from the back row, or just another chance to simply enjoy what is jokingly referred to as “eating the company’s money.” The room is often full, the conversations are lively, commitments are made, and energy runs high. Yet a week later, once everyone has returned to their workstations and daily pressures have resumed, they find themselves back at default settings. The promised change quietly competes with deadlines, emails, and operational demands and, more often than not, the usual ways of working win. Surely this is not the outcome we intend when we invest in learning initiatives. Why then does it happen? The uncomfortable truth to answer this question is that most organisations treat learning as an event, not a system. You plan for the day. You book the venue. You confirm the catering. You send calendar invites. You prepare slides. Operationally, the event is tight. But learning does not live in the event. Learning exists in the system around it. What happens before people enter that room, and more importantly, what happens after they leave it, determines whether anything truly shifts. Behind every learning experience that “works” is usually a web of invisible work. Conversations with leaders to understand the real business issue, not just the surface request. Clarifying whether the problem is actually a skills gap or something structural. Designing scenarios that mirror real tensions in the workplace. Anticipating resistance. Thinking through how managers will reinforce the behaviours once everyone returns to their desks. This is the part no one sees but this is also the part that protects your investment in learning and development initiatives. Operationally, the reality is that behaviour change outside of most learning experiences competes with daily pressure encountered when one returns to their desk. Deadlines do not pause because people attended a workshop. KPIs do not soften because commitments were made in a circle discussion. Because of this, if learning is not intentionally woven into workflows, team meetings, performance conversations and leadership modelling, the system will always pull people back to their default. Not because they are unwilling. But because systems are stronger than inspiration. Having a learning system in place assumes this tension from the start. It designs for problem solving and reinforcement. It prioritises involving managers and supervisors before the session, not after. It builds in application moments that connect directly to live or real world projects. It creates accountability structures that feel human, not punitive. It recognises that people are not just absorbing content; they are negotiating identity, habit and pressure. All of this requires more than a powerful training day. It requires alignment over an extended period of time. So when we ask a lot of questions before designing a programme for you, or when we propose follow-up sessions, manager toolkits, coaching or reflection checkpoints, it is not to complicate things or keep you in an endless cycles. It is because learning that sticks is engineered — not only to address symptoms, but to solve underlying issues. And the organisations that see real return on their learning spend are not those who run the most workshops. They are the ones who build systems that make change possible long after the food is finished and the slides are closed. Building a learning system is not a one-off effort. It’s a deliberate investment in people, processes, and culture. The organisations that see real impact are the ones that plan beyond the day of training, integrate learning into daily work, and measure success by behaviour and people transformation. Imagine if learning didn’t end when the slides are closed. What could your team achieve if every session became part of a living learning system? We’d love to hear how your organisation ensures learning actually sticks. Share your experiences, questions, or challenges in the comments below.