Training Industry Magazine - May/June 2020 - 38

Look again at the purpose above.
Another way to think of this is - What
you do in the training room matters, but
what your trainees do afterward matters
more. In 2012, a group of researchers
conducted a meta-analysis of the
science of training and development in
organizations and found, "Successful
training is not a one-time event but an
iterative process that considers the
elements leading up to training as well
as important factors after training."
It's clear that training should never
be sent on a solo mission. Training
should never be presented, like
James Bond, as the lone hope for
saving the world. Training should be
executed as part of a team, where the
other players are just as important.
Alternatively, you can expand your
concept of training, so when you think
of training, it includes everything from
the initial analysis through the final
measurement. When you do this, the
classroom component is just one of
the pieces of the program.
Ultimately, this is about learning transfer.
Arguably, if there is no learning transfer,
the training was not successful. So, you
must ask the question: Are the trainees
effectively using the content presented
to them in the training event, and if
not, why?

UNDERSTANDING
LEARNING TRANSFER
Learning transfer relies on learners
choosing to take action after the
training event. If they do nothing, or
not enough, learning transfer does
not happen, and the training has
failed. The key is to make sure that
learners act. It is the lack of action,
and therefore lack of learning transfer,
that is at the heart of the low success
rates for training identified in so
many surveys.
Most training done in organizations
pays little attention to learning
transfer. It is one of the elephants

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in the L&D strategy room. The case
for proactively driving the learning
transfer process is self-evident,
yet so many learning professionals
choose to behave as if the elephant
is not there. On the rare occasion
anyone points out the elephant,
there is usually an acknowledgment
of its existence, followed by a slide
back into the usual explanations for

The good news is that you can
transform your training events into
effective development programs. Yes,
it takes more work, but what's the
point in continuing to do something
that isn't working well? There is a
saying often misattributed to Einstein:
"The definition of insanity is doing the
same thing over and over again and
expecting a different result."

WHAT YOU DO IN THE TRAINING ROOM
MATTERS, BUT WHAT YOUR TRAINEES DO
AFTERWARD MATTERS MORE.

traditional delivery: "Let's just get
the people through this program
that the head of operations wanted."
They are held captive by culture,
context and traditional practices.
L&D professionals are busy; they
are short on time, resources
and energy.

ADDRESSING THE
ELEPHANT IN
THE ROOM
The learning transfer elephant
is big and should be impossible
to ignore, because ignoring it is
expensive. Besides, it really annoys
the elephant. Every training program
should be focused on making sure
that what is learned in the classroom
is subsequently deployed in the
workplace and has a positive and
sustainable effect on performance.
Otherwise, why do the training
at all?

To give yourself the bandwidth to
expand your training to include
learning transfer activities, consider
whether you would be better served
by training less people and providing
better results for the people you do
train. When you can demonstrate the
new way you approach training gets
better results for the organization, the
door opens to asking for and receiving
more resources.
The next question has two parts: What
needs to be done, and who needs to
do it?
To get the right things done, the work
of Dr. Ina Weinbauer-Heidel and her 12
levers for effective learning transfer is
highly recommended. The levers focus
on three areas - the mindset of the
trainee, the design of the program and
the workplace environment.
When you look through the 12 levers,
it becomes obvious that a variety of
people need to be involved in learning
transfer activities. This includes the
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1529100612436661
Training Industry Magazine - May/June 2020

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