You agreed on a development goal. A month later, it is still in the notes, and the workweek looks exactly as it did before. Before asking for more effort, ask what opportunity the person actually had.
Our suggestion: look at the work together. You might change a priority, arrange cover, practise within an existing task or postpone an optional goal. There is no standard allowance that suits every role, and not every goal needs a separate course.
Start with the opportunity, not a verdict on motivation
Ask: “Where could you have tried this in the work you actually had?” Then check your part: access, equipment, a colleague’s help or permission to spend longer on a task.
If the direction itself is unclear, return to what the person wants from work. Required skills for the current role need a separate, clear explanation; do not present a requirement as an optional career experiment.
Research finding: opportunities to apply learning matter; this is not a tested timetable.
Grossman and Salas (2011) review how workplace support and opportunities to practise relate to using trained skills. Their training review does not validate our agreement below.
Why start with the opportunity?
Our suggestion: an agreed goal describes a desired change, but it does not settle how that change fits into a working week. If the person was expected to keep the same queue moving, asking why they did not practise leaves an important part of the agreement unexplored. Clarifying that part gives both of you something specific to decide.
It also leaves room for a different explanation. Perhaps time was available, but the goal was unclear or the task was too difficult to attempt without help. Perhaps the person no longer wants this direction, or an agreed action was simply not taken. Those situations call for different conversations: support, a revised goal, or a clear discussion of the commitment and what happened. Checking capacity is a starting point for understanding, not a conclusion that workload explains every missed goal.
Make the choice fit the work
A reserved hour can help when someone else can cover the work. In a small team, it may be more realistic to practise during an existing assignment with an experienced colleague. Include that colleague’s time, and allow for learning to take longer than familiar work.
Sometimes the useful change is reducing a deliverable or agreeing a later deadline with the people who depend on it. Do not quietly transfer the pressure to somebody else. If you cannot authorize the change, say what you will ask for and when you will report back.
For example, ask your manager: “Could we move the reporting deadline or arrange cover for Lea’s routine requests while she practises? Without that, we need to postpone this optional goal.” Explain whose work changes and what decision you need; keep the request separate from an approved arrangement.
Postponing an optional goal is also a choice. Agree what would prompt another conversation, rather than repeatedly promising “when things calm down”. Check applicable rules and company arrangements for mandatory training, working time and changes to duties; this is not a reason to delay required safety training. Use the appropriate company process for health, conduct or formal performance matters.
Practitioner experience: Laura Overton on connecting learning with work.
Overton’s CIPD analysis (2025) recommends involving managers beyond course attendance. This is practitioner advice, not evidence that our proposed workload changes will succeed.
What makes one option fit better than another?
Our suggestion: consider what the person needs to practise and what happens if it goes wrong. Learning within an existing task can give the practice a clear purpose, but an urgent customer case may leave little room to pause, ask questions or correct a mistake. A reserved session, a suitable practice example or observation with permission may fit better. A course can still be the right choice when the necessary knowledge or instruction is unavailable in the team.
If the working week is already full, protected time means someone covers the work, something moves, or the scope changes. If learning time is already part of the role, first check whether the person can actually use it. A plan that depends on the manager absorbing an extra hour indefinitely needs a discussion about whether that is sustainable. A one-off trial can clarify what support is needed; it does not solve a continuing staffing gap. Where no workable arrangement is available, explain what would need to change and revisit the deadline together.
One promise, then a different work plan
This support-team example is fictional. Its times illustrate a choice, not a recommended allowance.
First conversation. Lea wants to learn to investigate more complex customer cases. Her manager promises supervised practice. Neither changes the queue rota.
Next conversation. No practice has happened. The manager wonders whether Lea still wants the goal, but asks first. Lea says the queue needed covering throughout the week. The manager checks the rota and realizes they never agreed who would handle Lea’s routine requests while she practised. That explains a missing opportunity; it does not establish everything about Lea’s motivation.
A revised arrangement. They consider a protected practice period, learning during an existing case, or waiting until cover is available. Lea prefers the existing case. For one initial practice session, the manager agrees with the team to cover Lea’s routine requests personally and confirms that the experienced colleague has time to help.
Before: practice exists only in the plan
Lea still covers the same routine queue. Nobody has agreed to cover it.
When could practice actually happen?
Cover still needs to be agreed.
After: a trial with named support
One initial session: Lea spends 40 minutes on an existing complex case while her manager covers routine requests. Within those 40 minutes, an experienced colleague has 20 minutes allocated to help.
Have you accounted for the manager’s and colleague’s time, including their other work?
Try this only after agreeing cover and the colleague’s changed priorities. Review whether it happened.
At the following conversation, they will check whether the session happened, what Lea learned and whether to repeat it, adjust it or stop there. It is not a promise of faster case handling or promotion.
Review the conditions as well as the result
“Did you get the opportunity we agreed? What could you try, and where did you need help?” Those answers may lead to more practice, a different approach, a revised goal or no further experiment. A completed course or a free calendar slot alone does not show what someone can now do.
Research finding: willingness differs from pressure; a missed goal does not diagnose either.
Deci, Olafsen and Ryan (2017) distinguish autonomous from controlled motivation. Their review does not let us infer either from a missed development goal.
If promised support repeatedly fails to appear, revisit what needs to change, including your own commitments. Keep the employee’s preferences and ordinary role expectations visible alongside the capacity problem.
A capacity agreement you can adapt
Our suggestion: keep only the lines that help. An unapproved request should stay visibly unapproved.
What you want or need to learn:
Where you could practise during work:
What we will change, cover or reduce, if needed:
Who must agree, and what is still unapproved:
Support I will arrange as your manager:
Who owes the next update, and when:
When we will review what happened, or reconsider a pause:
Use the preparation checklist to bring the unresolved decision back. ModoPersona can bring existing notes and commitments into 1:1 preparation; deciding what work can move still belongs to the people responsible for it.
Sources
- Rebecca Grossman, Eduardo Salas (2011). The transfer of training: what really matters. International Journal of Training and Development, 15(2), 103–120.
- Edward L. Deci, Anja H. Olafsen, Richard M. Ryan (2017). Self-Determination Theory in Work Organizations: The State of a Science. Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 4, 19–43. Author copy.
- Laura Overton (2025). How L&D can create value: Role of line managers in supporting skills development. CIPD. Full text.