What is Performance-Based Learning?
- August 11, 2025
What is Performance-Based Learning?
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Why do smart, capable people sit through training and then… change nothing?
When it comes to learning, most people don’t realise there are many different ways to teach and learn.
Often, when we decide we want to teach others (whether in a corporate training room, an online program, or a leadership workshop) we tend to default to what we’ve experienced ourselves: the classroom model.
In this traditional setup, a teacher stands at the front delivering information while learners passively consume it. This is knowledge-based learning:
- lecture lessons
- theory-focused delivery
- and usually a single method of assessment: can you remember the information well enough to pass the test?
It’s all about consumption and retention.
This model is designed for the industrial-age classroom. It allows teachers to efficiently transfer a minimum standard of knowledge to large groups. It was scalable for its time and a way to teach to the masses.
Knowledge-based learning is of course important, but alone it’s incomplete for today’s performance demands. Especially in our rapidly evolving age where information is readily available to all of us. Here’s the thing: theory alone doesn’t change results. As Benjamin Franklin put it: “Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn.”
Now, does this sound like something new and innovative? In reality, this approach reflects how humans have learned for thousands of years. For most of human history, learning was experiential. We learned by doing, observing, and applying, long before the industrial-age classroom model took over. It’s not about abandoning classrooms and lectures, but about designing your learning experiences in a way that’s natural to how we grow.
What is Performance-Based Learning?
In today’s world, where knowledge is everywhere and adaptability, and results are what stand out — knowledge is just step one. Learning is not all about passing a test. It’s about real transformation in those you lead.
In Performance-Based Learning, information is our raw material, but it’s not the end goal. Our focus shifts from simply knowing something to being able to apply it in real-world scenarios.
Performance-Based Learning is:
- Interactive lessons
- Applied, skill-based training
- Action and execution-focused
- Experiential and simulation-driven
- Diverse in assessments, measuring actual performance, not just memory recall
Instead of asking, “Do they know it?” the question becomes, “How do they demonstrate it?”
It’s less about consumption and retention, and more about application and execution.
This matters because learning isn’t just about transferring information. It’s about creating measurable transformation.
Performance-Based Learning Starts at Design
When leaders decide they want to create a program, it comes from a place of wanting to share their expertise with others. Whether it’s a company training or a signature course, most will start to design it with what’s called a content-centred approach.
In a content-centered approach, you start by listing everything they think people need to know. Then you make your outline with that material, organise it into modules, add quizzes or tests at the end, and then voila the information has been delivered. This is how you typically map out your lesson plans for classroom learning.
But if you’ve ever shared information in a program, you know that teaching them what they need to know does NOT mean they’ll implement it. And if you’ve ever offered company training, you’ll know that offering the training does NOT mean it will lead to business results.
And that’s because: information alone doesn’t create transformation.
Knowledge is just one component of learning. The real shift happens when people apply the information. Engaging with it, integrating it into their behaviours, decisions, and actions.
Performance-Based Learning flips the process. When designing your program, whether that’s an online signature program or your company training. Instead of starting with “What should they know?” you start with “What do they need to be able to do?”
When you begin with the end measurable result in mind, you quickly realise that knowledge is only part of the equation. Yes, they will need knowledge to inform their next steps. But they’ll also need skills and guidance for how to develop them. They’ll need behaviours and experiences to strengthen them. For other aspects they’ll need decision-making, tools, resources, and the right learning environment all play a role in producing the desired outcome.
Why Performance-Based Learning Works
Performance-Based Learning is effective because it’s grounded in how the brain actually learns and retains information.
- Neuroscience of Retention: People remember what they actively work with. Through recall, practice, and emotional connection.
- Adult Learning Principles: Adults learn best when the content is relevant, self-directed, and applied to real situations.
- Measurable ROI: In corporate settings, tying learning to performance outcomes allows leaders to track tangible improvements.
- Confidence Through Competence: Moving from abstract concepts to repeatable behaviours builds lasting confidence.
Because every part of the learning process is designed around a measurable action, the results are clear, improved skills, stronger confidence, and yes, deeper knowledge.
The Benefits of Performance-Based Learning
Whether you’re leading inside an organisation or building your own signature program, adopting a performance-based approach changes the game.
For Visionary Leaders & Consultants:
- Your programs stand out as results-driven, not just inspirational or informational.
- You create measurable success and growth at scale, not just "feel-good" sessions.
- You can charge more because the value is proven in outcomes, not promises.
For Organisations:
- Training drives actual results, not just compliance or "box-checking".
- Employees experience real growth, challenge, and confidence.
- Performance becomes a shared standard, creating a stronger learning culture.
Does Performance-Based Learning Take More Work?
Now, when you make this shift from compiling information to designing learning experiences, a common question I hear is: “Isn’t that a lot more work?” The truth is, it’s a lot more work to create a knowledge-based program. With a lot less results.
When you create a knowledge-based program, you add all this information thinking that it’s what will get your people results. So you research, you invest, you buy. But more information doesn’t lead to results.
So, what do you do? You add more information.
A new course. A new webinar. More content. Company training libraries that have hundreds of lessons in the library. You get on the hamster wheel of this content-centered approach, because what you really need is to go deeper with the materials that you have.
When you switch to performance-based design, you trim the fat. You remove anything that doesn’t lead to closing those performance gaps of what people need to be able to DO, and work with laser-focus on what will actually move the needle.
You take LESS content, and go deeper in layers of not only consuming it, but applying, reflecting, executing. All in a way that builds real confidence and most importantly—real change and results.
Who Can Take a Performance-Based Learning Approach?
If you teach, lead, or have a program, you can move towards Performance-Based Learning. When you sit to design your next program, don’t jump straight to organizing and compiling that magic information. Instead, try this:
- Define the end performance: What exactly should learners be able to do?
- Identify essential skills/actions: Keep it focused on the smallest set of capabilities that drive results.
- Map content to actions: Only include knowledge that directly supports those skills.
- Design for practice: Build in roleplays, simulations, or real-world projects.
- Create feedback loops: Allow for iteration and improvement.
- Measure and adjust: Use performance metrics, not just completion rates, to refine your program.
And most of all, remind yourself that you aren’t here to deliver content. You’re here to design learning experiences that will lead to the transformation and results you want for your people.
Carmen Morin is an Instructional Design Strategist, 7-figure education industry founder, and consultant. She specializes in performance-based training and development, and helps founders turn their expertise into scalable income and thought leadership through unmatched education programs.
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