5 Ways to Improve Transfer of Learning in the Workplace

5 tips for improving learning transfer in your organization

You’ve invested in employee training and want new hires to be able to apply everything they’ve learned to real-life work situations. To improve how well they do this, consider the following five tips.

1. Identify learning goals and outcomes clearly.

Before training begins, it’s essential to review each session’s purpose and identify its learning goals and outcomes. This is beneficial for two primary reasons:

1. Everyone understands the big picture: When everyone knows the purpose of a training session, they’ll keep the big picture in mind as they learn. Identifying learning goals is standard practice in education. You often see “Learning Objectives” sections at the beginning of textbook chapters, case studies or lectures.
2. Participants know what to expect: Participants get an idea of where the training is headed and what will be expected at the end of the process. When people know what the takeaways should be, they’re more aware of what they’re learning and which pieces of information are most important.

Here’s an example of clearly identifying learning goals during training: Say you’re training customer service agents to field phone complaints properly. At the beginning of the training session, you’d announce its learning goals and expected outcomes:

• Learn the proper way to greet customers.
• Understand when to transfer a customer to a superior.
• Know how to handle hostile customers.

Because the customer service agents know the expected outcomes, they’ll be more likely to focus on the materials related to these concepts.

2. Use real-world examples during training.

When training employees, it’s essential to use as many real-life examples and situational experiences as possible. If everything is a drill, they won’t be able to transfer much of what they learn from training sessions. 

To help trainees gain experience, let them shadow employees, field phone calls and get a taste of real-world situations. When combined with drills and exercises, these real-life experiences can facilitate a better transfer of learning and help develop leadership skills.

Matt Erhard, managing partner of Summit Search Group, says extending real-world experiences beyond training — through small, immediate post-training projects — can make the retention phase more active and successful.

“These hands-on tasks allow them to begin applying new skills in a supervised environment, where they can ask questions, get feedback and build confidence,” Erhard explained. “It also creates a space where early mistakes can be made in a low-pressure, low-stakes setting — ultimately improving both retention and the quality of their eventual transfer to day-to-day responsibilities.”

3. Get buy-in from managers and other stakeholders.

Managers should be involved in their future employees’ training. They know precisely how their departments operate and may prefer specific protocols that human resources (HR) doesn’t fully understand. Managers can share expectations with new hires and explain specific experiences they may encounter.

Training doesn’t happen in a vacuum; it needs reinforcement and support. Bradford Glaser, president and CEO of HRDQ, emphasized that managerial follow-through and workplace culture are critical for learning transfer to take hold.

“Often, the challenge isn’t the training itself — it’s what happens before and after,” Glaser explained. “If there’s no support from managers, if the environment doesn’t encourage trying new approaches or if there’s no follow-up, that learning tends to fade fast.”

If an employee must interact with other departments, those department managers should also ideally be part of the training program. For example, if you’re training your shipping people, have sales managers instruct them on notifying salespeople when their customers’ orders have shipped. This cross-departmental cooperation boosts efficiency while preventing silos, where one department doesn’t know what’s happening in other areas of the company.

4. Provide post-training support.

At the end of a training program, conduct a post-training briefing to ensure employees understand how to apply the skills they’ve learned. Set goals for how they’ll use that knowledge moving forward.

It’s also essential to provide participants with ongoing, accessible support. They should have resources where they can ask questions, revisit key concepts and speak up when they’re having trouble transferring knowledge to their jobs.

5. Pair new hires with a mentor.

After the training program, pair new hires with a mentor in their department. The mentor should be someone who has been in the position for a while and can show the new team member the ropes. The mentoring period can be limited — just until the new person feels comfortable doing the job.

This kind of one-on-one mentoring creates opportunities for what Jorge Titinger, founder of management coaching and leadership firm Titinger Consulting, calls “social learning” — a process that encourages and empowers new hires to learn more by interacting with and observing colleagues.

“This breaks significant barriers to knowledge and creates an intuitive learning environment where skills and knowledge are transferred seamlessly,” Titinger explained.

It’s crucial to give mentors and departmental collaborators a lighter workload during this time so they don’t feel pressured, overburdened or resentful of the new hire for taking their time and attention.

What is learning transfer?

Transfer of learning in the workplace is the process of taking everything learned about a job during an employee training program and then applying — or transferring — that knowledge to real-life work situations. In other words, it’s learning in one context and applying that knowledge in another.

Meghan Houle, founder and hiring expert at Conce, explained that learning transfer isn’t just about remembering information — it’s about turning knowledge into action by integrating best practices, skills and critical thinking into day-to-day work.

“It ensures that employees take what they’ve learned — whether it’s through training, onboarding, mentorship or formal development programs — and successfully integrate it into their day-to-day work,” Houle said.

There are three distinct types of learning transfer:

• Transfer from prior knowledge to learning: This is when a person has some experience or knowledge about a subject and then takes a class or training program that goes deeper.
• Transfer from old learning to new learning: This is when a person is familiar with a subject and is now brushing up on that knowledge due to new technology or developments in the field.
• Transfer from learning to an application: This is when a person takes a class or training program and is expected to use the knowledge and skills they learned in the real world. This learning transfer type is most relevant to workplace situations.

The 3 stages of learning transfer

While every organization is unique, most include three stages in the learning transfer process:

• Preparation
• Action
• Evaluation

Preparation

This stage occurs before training and involves preparing the training topics, materials and methodology. The new employee’s direct supervisor, your internal HR department or various managers typically handle this stage. 

In the preparation stage, the following training elements are addressed:

• Training topics and goals: Your training team will set specific business outcomes. For example, a goal might be, “The new hire will be able to achieve 70 percent of the team’s average productivity by the end of the first week and 90 percent by the end of the second week.” They’ll also set learning goals, such as “The new hire will be able to access and use our pricing database.”
• Materials: Your training team will decide on a training model and materials. For example, they may opt for in-person classes, self-driven reading assignments, videos or a combination. They’ll gather, write or record the appropriate materials and ensure they accurately reflect the company’s processes, policies and technology.
• Methodology: In addition to materials, the training team will choose a specific methodology. For example, the training may involve group classes, individual online learning sessions, on-the-job training, role-playing or a combination. It may also incorporate reinforcement strategies, such as mentoring or co-worker partnerships, to provide real-world guidance.

Action

This stage occurs during training. Your training team must conduct and monitor the training sessions and continuously ensure things are going smoothly, including the following:

• Training atmosphere: The training team must ensure all sessions are engaging. Bored employees won’t absorb knowledge. Presenters should be personable, friendly, animated (avoid monotones) and interactive. Sessions should include frequent breaks, varied content, short quizzes, games and humor. Consider providing refreshments during training, especially if it’s lengthy. You want to keep trainees’ attention and make them feel welcome.
• Logistics: The training team must efficiently manage logistics, such as reserving a room and designating trainers for in-person classes. They should test all technology ahead of time — including videos, microphones, computers and other equipment — to ensure everything works as expected. Presenters and trainers should know their schedules and locations and be prepared to present their materials with a thorough knowledge of the curriculum. 

Evaluation

Be sure to evaluate your training programs during each session or once training wraps up. This helps confirm that trainees understand what they’ve learned and that your sessions were clear and effective.

You can use formal evaluations (such as written tests), get informal feedback (such as asking questions after presenting information to assess knowledge transfer) or both. You can also conduct periodic evaluations throughout a new hire’s first several weeks or months to ensure they’ve retained the information and are using it effectively.

Why is learning transfer in the workplace so crucial?

Learning transfer issues have serious implications for employees, managers and business owners. Here’s why learning transfer in the workplace is so essential.

1. Poor learning transfer adversely impacts employees. 

Improving the transfer of learning sets employees up for success. In contrast, poor learning transfer creates confusion and frustration. 

For example, say you’re a newly hired employee who’s just completed the company’s training and onboarding process. You begin working but end up confused about how you’re supposed to perform your duties. You refer to your training materials, but they aren’t clear. You must decide whether to bother your manager by asking questions or guess at the best way to move forward. You’re confused, frustrated and feel underappreciated at work. You’re fearful of losing your new job.

2. Poor learning transfer frustrates managers. 

Say you’re a manager who recently hired someone to fill a position. You’re relieved that your department’s workload will be more shared and efficient. However, the new employee has made mistakes and seems to need your attention constantly. You find yourself frequently pulled away from other critical responsibilities and are starting to experience workplace burnout. 

You know the new hire went through a training program and should know what to do, but you don’t understand what went wrong. You’re disappointed and frustrated and may be rethinking your hiring decision.

3. Poor learning transfer creates chaos for business owners. 

Business owners rely on their teams to meet goals and grow the company. New hires are integral to business growth and success. However, it can be confusing and frustrating when new employees take a while to become fully functional, even after completing a training program. New hires who can’t hold their own impact company productivity and morale and business owners are left to deal with unhappy teams and managers.

Why is learning transfer so challenging?

While transferring something you learned to a new situation may seem straightforward, it can be challenging for the following reasons.

Knowing isn’t the same as doing.

People respond differently to training programs and even if someone understands a concept thoroughly during training, that knowledge might not translate to real-world success.

For example, consider a college football team. There’s a new crop of athletes every year and, sometimes, first-year students take a “redshirt” year. During this time, they practice with the team but don’t compete in games. The year is dedicated to learning.

Sometimes, a first-year student gets a chance to play. Even more rarely, they’re named to the starting lineup. They face the challenging task of transferring what they learned in practice to a live-game situation with variables they can’t control.

Even if the athlete performed exceedingly well in practice, they might not succeed right away.

Some training programs are poorly designed or executed.

Training programs that are not well thought out or well delivered can leave out critical information, bore the trainees or fail to focus on realistic workplace situations. Since employee training is vital to business success, it’s worth investing time and effort in evaluating and optimizing the process.

Post-training resources and support can be lacking.

According to Paul Naybour, founder and director of Parallel Project Training, insufficient time or resources can prevent employees from applying newly learned information to their daily work.  “Employees may struggle to implement new skills if they are overloaded with work or don’t have the necessary resources to practice,” Naybour said.

Erhard echoed this point, noting that support after training plays a big role in learning transfer. “Especially when it comes to complex topics, employees may not absorb every detail the first time,” Erhard explained. “Without reference materials or someone to turn to for clarification, that partial understanding can limit effective application.”

How managers should think about learning transfer

If an athlete’s success in practice doesn’t translate to actual games, coaches don’t question the player’s abilities. Instead, they look at how to improve learning transfer. For example, they might adjust their practice structure so players can carry more of what they learn on the practice field into game situations.

Business owners and managers should take a similar approach. When you recruit new employees with strong potential but see them underperforming, don’t give up on them. Instead, consider how you can improve your training so they can apply what they learned in the conference room on the sales floor.

Boost productivity and engagement by improving the transfer of learning

Your training program’s success depends on your ability to facilitate learning transfer among employees and participants. It’s not just about spending more on training. Instead, focus on equipping your programs with the right tools to support employees’ long-term success. It may not be easy, but the more time you invest in improving your learning transfer processes, the more dividends you’ll see.