In last week’s blog, we explored why traditional manual handling training has failed to deliver real injury reduction, from outdated instruction and poor teaching methods to training that simply doesn’t reflect the real-world physical demands of work. This week, we’re diving into the following:
The assumption that just knowing the right technique is enough.
If only it were that simple.
“I Know What to Do – I Just Forgot”
Sound familiar? It highlights a huge flaw in the way most training is designed.
Just because someone understands what to do doesn’t mean they’ll actually do it. Especially not:
When the rubber hits the road, we don’t default to what we know — we default to what’s habitual.
A real-world example
I recently had a client tell me one of their team members injured themselves during an awkward task. My client said:
“They’d done the manual handling training – they were competent, they should’ve known what to do.”
The message was clear – the worker had the knowledge, so the injury was their fault!
But when I asked whether they’d been using the habit change resources we provided — toolbox prompts, reinforcement material, movement cues, the answer was
“No.”
One training session. No follow-up. Nothing in toolbox meetings. Nothing in health and safety check-ins. No reinforcement. No repetition. No reminders.
Nothing!
So let’s be clear: that worker didn’t fail the training — the training system failed the worker.
We Understand This in Sport – But Forget It at Work
Imagine this: you take one golf lesson and you’re shown how to swing with proper technique. The instructor gives you a few tips, a diagram, and maybe even a printout.
Would you expect to suddenly start hitting 250m drives like a pro? Of course not.
You’d understand that real change comes from:
So why don’t we apply the same thinking to physical performance at work?
Whether you’re lifting a wheelbarrow, handling meat carcasses, or loading pallets in a warehouse, it’s still a physical skill. One that needs to be embedded, not just understood.
Habits Happen at the Level of the Nervous System
Neuroscience tells us that when we repeat a behaviour often enough, we literally rewire our brain and nervous system to make that action automatic.
It moves from the “thinking” part of the brain (prefrontal cortex) into the “doing” part (basal ganglia). That’s when behaviour becomes effortless and instinctive — like driving a car, typing, or putting on a seatbelt.
Until that happens, we’re relying on conscious effort. And conscious effort gets overwhelmed the second things get busy, stressful, or unfamiliar.
So What’s the Fix?
We need to stop treating training as a one-off event and start treating it as the start of a behaviour change process.
That means:
And most importantly, designing programmes that actively build new habits — not just deliver new information.
What First Move Does Differently
Our First Move programme is based on the belief that physical intelligence isn’t taught — it’s trained.
We don’t just show people the right way to move. We help them:
And we work with companies to make sure it’s not just talked about once, but practised and embedded every day, until it becomes automatic.
Next week we’ll unpack the actual how of habit change — what the science says about creating automatic behaviour and how workplaces can use that knowledge to build movement habits that last.