Why Your Workshop Graduates Aren't Actually Using What You Taught (And How One Physical Therapist Solved This)
They think they've learned but...
"I'm doing everything you taught me!"
That's what Skulpan's students would tell him after his physical therapy workshops. But when he'd observe them treating patients, it was as if they hadn't learned his methods at all.
Have you ever experienced this? You pour your expertise into a training, but when you check back with your students weeks later, they're barely using what you taught them?
Here's the thing: It's not your students' fault. And it's not because your teaching isn't valuable.
The problem? We've been approaching teaching all wrong.
The Weekend Workshop Trap
For years, Skulpan had been teaching other physical therapists his unique approach to treating chronic pain patients. His method was powerful – it helped patients who typically avoided their exercises (because they hurt) to actually do them and see real improvement.
But despite running his series of 10 weekend workshops for years, his students weren't implementing his approach effectively. Even worse? They didn't realize they weren't doing it right.
This is what I call the Weekend Workshop Trap – trying to teach months worth of expertise in days and expecting it to stick.
The Mindset Shift That Changed Everything
Skulpan had taken several of my coaching courses and noticed something different about how I taught. Instead of trying to learn everything at once, we broke skills into tiny, daily practices.
When he came to me for help redesigning his program, he was already sold on this approach. He'd experienced firsthand how small, focused practice could lead to real change.
From Information Overload to Daily Growth
Here's how we transformed his workshop into a training that led to long-term learning:
Instead of teaching everything in a weekend, we broke it down into focused weekly themes with daily practice exercises. In week one, students focused solely on getting clear patient expectations – what did the patient expect to happen? How did they expect the physical therapist to help?
Each day, they'd practice these skills with their existing patients and submit their work online. Skulpan and their peers would provide feedback, offering small corrections when needed and validation when they got it right. Sometimes they'd discover they were doing things better than they realized – that kind of validation builds confidence.
This cycle of practice, feedback, and adjustment continued day after day, week after week.
The online format meant they could get quick corrections before small mistakes became habits. Instead of waiting weeks to find out if they were on the right track, they knew right away.
The Proof Is in the Practice
The results? His students weren't just saying they were using his methods – they were actually implementing them. Their practice had genuinely changed.
But it gets better.
Kaiser Permanente, a health care provider with 12.4 million members, hired Skulpan to run a pilot program and measured the results using their MAP scores (Member satisfaction, Access to care, and Provider performance). For the first time in years, they saw improvement in both member satisfaction and provider performance scores, which had previously remained flat.
The impact was so clear that Kaiser decided to make it an annual training program for their new physical therapists.
What This Means for Your Teaching
If you're creating courses or running workshops, here's what you can learn from Skulpan's experience:
Break your expertise into tiny, focused elements
Let students master one piece before moving to the next
Build in daily practice opportunities
Layer new skills on top of mastered ones
Are you seeing the problem with traditional workshops now?
When we try to teach everything at once, we actually teach nothing at all.
We're better off dripping training out over time ... and so are our students.
Want to learn more about creating courses that actually change how people work?
Check out The Atomic Course Blueprint. It shows you how to break your expertise into learnable chunks that students will actually implement.
Still here? You're a champ.
One thing you can do for me is reply to this email and share your experience with workshop learning. When did you realize your students weren't implementing what you taught?