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Transfer of Training: Ten Tips For Effective Skill Transfer

Written by: Vicki Heath

Article Overview: Many organizations fall short in seeing the benefits from their employee training programs. Participants can easily return to the workplace eager to apply their newly learned skills. In no time, however, with heavy workloads and little supervisor support the enthusiasm wanes. It’s back to “business as usual”. This means frustration all around and more wasted training dollars. Here are ten pointers that you can use on your next program to help you maximize transfer to the workplace.

Transfer of Training: Ten Tips For Effective Skill Transfer

Does this happen in your organization? A request comes through to the training department to roll out a course on the new invoicing system. Course designers and trainers then spend considerable effort in putting together and delivering a training program that they think meets the needs of managers and employees. Employees attend and at the conclusion of the program are all fired up about putting the new skills into use. The trainers regard the program as a great success. However, a few weeks later the Training Manager receives a call from a disgruntled supervisor complaining that the training was a waste of time and money. It seems that beyond the initial enthusiasm, the training participants had quickly lapsed back into the old ways of doing things. What went wrong?


If your organization is struggling to see the skills learned during training transferred to actual application in the participant’s job, here are ten pointers to help you figure out why. Think here about your last course in which the training was not transferred successfully.

· Did instructional designers, trainers and line managers work together in partnership or was work on the program done in isolation with little collaboration?

· Were non-training solutions seriously considered or was a training request received and an off-the-shelf solution delivered?

· Were training outcomes stated in behavior and performance terms or were outcomes unstated or stated in fuzzy terms?

· Were training objectives tied to stated organizational objectives or were they left floating in the organizational ether?

· Were managers and supervisors actively involved before, during and after the program or was the program divorced from the employee's day to day work?

· Was post-training support provided back in the workplace, such as coaching and on-the-job aids, or were employees left to flounder with no opportunity to practice?

· Were new procedures and role expectations clearly communicated to employees or were they left wondering why they were nominated for the program?

· Were workplace performance expectations agreed with employees prior to the training, or was it back to "business as usual"?

· Was the training integrated with a well thought-out and implemented change or improvement program, or was the training a single point "silver bullet" solution?

· Did you measure the organizational impact of the program or rely solely on "happy sheets" for feedback?


How did your last training program measure up? From your answers, draw up an action plan that you can implement for your next program. Remember, the responsibility for transferring training to the workplace is not the sole responsibility of the trainer. It is also neither the sole responsibility of the training participant nor their manager or supervisor. It is a shared responsibility between all three parties acting in partnership. Only with all three roles collaborating to ensure that skills are transferred to the workplace will training participants change their behavior back on the job and the organization reap the benefits of training.


2006 © Business Performance Pty Ltd. All rights reserved.

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