From Classrooms to Kitchens: Lessons from Education for Smarter Training
- Tricia Taylor
- Mar 20
- 6 min read
Most of my work focuses on teaching and learning in schools—helping educators apply research to improve student learning. But learning isn’t just relevant to schools; it applies to every industry—especially those where employees must quickly acquire new skills and knowledge.
Fast-paced workplaces—whether in hospitality, healthcare, retail or corporate environments—often expect employees to learn on the job while juggling multiple demands. Let’s take hospitality as an example. Restaurants, hotels and bars are full of fast learning and constant multitasking (or switching between tasks)—but they’re not always set up to help people learn effectively.
And many of these employees are young adults. According to Stephen Waters, founder of Watershed, a UK management development company, about 50% of hospitality workers in the UK are under 25. Young workers are not just inexperienced, but biologically they are still developing key cognitive and social skills that shape how they learn and respond to challenges. (Brains are still developing well into our 20’s.)
Industries, like hospitality, can use what we know about educational evidence and experience to help. As a guest speaker at a Watershed workshop, I recently spoke with a group of hospitality leaders in London about how it relates. We covered a lot of ground but here are four ways educational evidence and cognitive science can create better training and stronger teams, especially for younger people.

1. Working memory is small—so training needs to be spaced
Working memory is like a bucket that can fill up—and it can hold only a few pieces of information at a time. If too much information comes in at once, the bucket overflows before it ever makes it into long-term memory. Learning works best when information is spaced out and reinforced over time, rather than crammed into a single session. We actually learn by having enough time to forget a little and having to re-remember it.
In the workplace, this means:
New hires are expected to take in a huge amount of information in a short time—menus, procedures, customer service skills— with little understanding of the science that explains the importance of revisiting key information.
Many work environments, like restaurants, are full of distractions—multiple conversations, loud noises, time pressure.
Try This:
Break training into smaller chunks. No one learns everything in one go—space out learning over time so employees have a chance to recall and apply knowledge.
Use retrieval practice. Instead of explaining something once and assuming it will stick, ask employees to recall key information multiple times
Provide structure. Use visual menus, checklists, or quick reference guides so employees don’t have to rely entirely on memory.

2. Experts are terrible at explaining things to beginners
Using hospitality again as an example, as one workshop participant pointed out, managers instinctively know how to create ambience—but simply telling a new employee to "create ambience" isn't enough. They need to break it down, identifying the specific elements that contribute to it—lighting, music, pace of service, tone of voice—so employees understand how to put it into practice.
This is less obvious to experts, because they aren't aware of how much they know. This is called the Curse of Knowledge and it happens when people forget what it was like to be a beginner. They explain things too quickly, assume too much prior knowledge (like industry jargon), or leave out key steps.
This can play out in the workplace when, for instance, new hires are taught things too fast and expected to “just pick it up”; they feel lost because they aren’t familiar with the jargon, acronyms or even simple procedures that seem automatic to experienced managers. They may even be afraid to ask questions because it seems like everyone else already knows what to do.
Try This:
Check for understanding. Instead of saying “Got it?”, ask “Can you explain that back to me?”
Break tasks into micro-skills. What seems like one skill (e.g., “Take an order”) is actually several smaller skills (making eye contact, writing quickly, clarifying special requests). Teach them step by step.
Identity key terms. Create a list of the core knowledge that is needed in order to access. In schools, this could be the subject-specific vocabulary.
3. Purpose fuels learning—but young workers need help seeing it
David Yeager, author of 10 to 25: The Science of Motivating Young People, highlights that people aged 10–25 are particularly motivated by purpose—the belief that their work matters beyond just earning a paycheck. When young people see their work as meaningful, they are more motivated, more resilient, and more likely to persist through challenges, says Yeager.
Yet, in many fast-paced industries, like hospitality, retail and customer service, workers often struggle to see a bigger purpose in their roles. Some might view their jobs as something to get through rather than as opportunities to develop valuable skills or create experiences. As one restaurant manager said: "The learning environment is not just about training people to carry three plates or know what's on the menu … or know how to fill out a spreadsheet. It’s about social growth.”
Shifting this perspective is key. When young workers see their roles as opportunities to build transferable skills—communication, adaptability, problem-solving—and as a chance to create meaningful experiences for customers, they engage more.
Try This:
Reframe the job through purpose. Instead of saying “Your job is to take orders,” say “You create an experience that makes customers feel welcome.”
Give specific process feedback: Instead of just saying, “Great job with that guest!” (outcome feedback), process feedback highlights what contributed to success: “I noticed that a warm greeting and quick problem-solving made the guest feel valued and taken care of.”

4. Relationships: Why high expectations shape performance
Research in classrooms shows that people rise (or fall) to the expectations set for them. If a teacher, or manager in our example, believes in an employee’s potential, they are more likely to coach, support, and challenge them—leading to actual improvement. If a manager assumes someone will fail (or has preconceived ideas about the person’s ability or attitude), they may unintentionally give less training, less feedback, and fewer opportunities. (I explain this further in the graphic below.)
Try This:
Set clear, high expectations—but also provide the tools to meet them.
Check your own assumptions: Ask yourself if you have preconceived ideas about this person or that generation.
Create a culture of belonging: When employees feel valued, trusted, and part of a team, they engage more fully and are less likely to leave. Let them know you have high expectations for them.

Final Thoughts
Helping people learn effectively isn’t just about training them faster—it’s about understanding how the brain works and creating the right conditions for learning.
Recommended Reading
Connect the Dots: The Collective Power of Relationships, Memory, and Mindset in the Classroom by Tricia Taylor with Nina Dibner A practical guide to applying cognitive science to education—offering evidence-based strategies that are just as relevant for workplace learning as they are for the classroom.
10 to 25: The Science of Motivating Young People by David Yeager A must-read on how young people learn, grow, and find purpose—perfect for leaders working with under-25s in any industry.
Why Don’t Students Like School? by Daniel Willingham A deep dive into how memory, attention, and problem-solving work—explaining why traditional training often fails and what actually helps people retain information.
Pygmalion in the Classroom by Robert Rosenthal & Lenore Jacobson A groundbreaking study on how teacher expectations shape student performance—offering powerful lessons for leadership, coaching, and workplace development.
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