Twelve Tips for Training Transfer to the Workplace
By Susan Heathfield

Can you turn your training participants into learning magnets who can’t wait to attend their next training opportunity? Absolutely. Can you expect improved work performance as a result of the time, energy, and money you invest in training? Absolutely. You just need to pay attention to:

What participants do during the training session makes all the difference to training transfer to the workplace. Use these twelve ideas to address complaints about training (I don’t have time; it’s a waste of time; my boss won’t let me do anything I learn anyway) and spark improved performance with training transfer to your workplace.

Twelve Tips for Training Transfer

• The trainer makes a difference.
One of the most effective training sessions I ever attended was at General Motors. As part of a corporation-wide culture change process, all employees attended an educational session.

The key ingredient was the instructor. He was a GM Executive; he expected each individual attending the session, in turn, to instruct the people who reported to them. The ability to train others is one of the most important indicators of training retention. (An organization development consultant assisted with the sessions as well, since not every manager was confident of his ability to train.)

Alternatively, participants react more favorably to trainers who have experience in their industry. They appreciate facilitators who have experienced and addressed the issues and situations highlighted in the training. The more closely the instructor can link the training to participants’ real life experience, the better for training transfer, the application of the information later on the job. 

•  Present training as part of a consistent message from the organization.
Classes must build on each other and reinforce the content learned in earlier sessions. Too many organizations approach training as a potpourri or menu of available classes and sessions.

When there is no interconnection between training sessions, and the information provided in the training sessions, organizations lose a great opportunity to reinforce basic shared skills, approaches, and values. Training must reference earlier sessions, draw parallels, and reinforce content.

As an example, one university supervisory development program introduced an effective feedback process in a communication class. This feedback model was then reinforced and emphasized in the conflict resolution session, the performance management session, and the motivation session. Participants received a consistent approach, emphasized across sessions, to ensure the transfer of the training information to the workplace. 

•  Ask each individual’s manager, and the manager’s manager, to attend the training session with their staff.
When three management levels of an organization attend training together, participants may be more willing to try out the ideas learned in training. This is especially effective if participants see their manager trying out new skills as well. This is also important for reinforcement of the training following the session, the subject of the third article in this training transfer series.

•  Provide training in “chunks” that are scheduled over a period of time.
I find people learn more in training sessions that provide chunks, small amounts of content, based on a couple of well-defined objectives. Participants attend these sessions, perhaps a couple of hours per week, until the subject is learned.

This allows the participants to practice the concepts in between the training sessions. Both the content of the training and the application of the concepts are reinforced at each subsequent session.

This also allows people to discuss their successes and difficulties in applying the training in their actual work session. The instructor can help participants practice the training content by giving assignments that are debriefed at the next meeting.

•  Train people in skills and information that are immediately applicable on the job.
“Use it or lose it,” is a common refrain about training. This is a true statement. Even with strategic skills such as listening, providing performance feedback, and team building, set up situations in which practice is immediate and frequent, to help participants retain the training.

In application-oriented training such as software training, don’t bother with the training unless participants have the software. In fact, training is often more effective if they experiment with the program first, before attending the session.

•  The trainer can set a positive, productive tone for the session and the later application of learning with a positive, informative, honest opening that stresses behaviorally oriented objectives.
How the instructor opens the training session begins the process of managing participant expectations. (“You will be able to do the following as a result of attending this session…”)
According to Jim Clemmer, of the Clemmer Group, "Research clearly shows far more people act themselves into a new way of thinking than think themselves into a new way of acting." Participants need to know what expectations they can have of the session so the objectives must be realistic and not “over-promise.”

At the same time, the opening should stress “what’s in it for me,” the WIIFM participants will experience as a result of their wholehearted participation in the session. Emphasize “what’s in it for the trainee,” the value of session, and the value of the information during the entire session.

•  Make use of session pre-work during the actual training session.
Asking people if they “read the article” or “thought about” the concept is not enough. SFC Chris Mitchell, an instructor with the U.S. Army, who specializes in experiential learning and small group techniques, offers the following example of integrating pre-work in a training session.

“The best pre-training exercise that we have used is to send out a list of focus questions. The only instructions provided were, 'Answer the questions as completely as possible and keep the answers private.' When the participants arrive at the workshop, have them meet in a central location with a chalkboard. On the chalkboard write a message saying, 'Feel free to discuss your questions and answers.'

"After 20 minutes the trainer should enter and ask the group what they were discussing.

Then you carry on from that point. We found out that if students were given a topic of discussion, presented from several viewpoints, and then allowed to 'pre-discuss' the topic, the topic was better understood and better retained." 

•   During the training session, practice active learning principles; honor a variety of learning styles.
Recognize that a range of activities and information applications will appeal to participants’ varied learning styles. Use real life examples, analogies, case studies, small roup discussion, presentation, and experiential exercises.

Provide visual support materials such as films and transparencies for people who learn visually. Activities will appeal to your hands-on crowd. Ask participants to provide examples of the concept you are training from their experience.

By keeping the training varied, exciting and stimulating, you help people retain the content. By appealing to the variety of learning styles in your group, you enhance participant learning.

Examples and application exercises ensure people can connect new material to their current practice and what they already believe. This, in turn, ensures transfer and application on the job. Active Training by Mel Silberman is an excellent resource for additional ideas.

•  Increase trainee investment in the session by engaging them in tasks requiring action.
Provide easy ways for participants to take notes; periodically ask participants to jot down application ideas. Ask them to share these ideas in a small group. Ask people to underline the most important concept on a page; circle the ideas that most apply to their circumstances.

Request that participants identify how their supervisor can help them apply the training. Make action planning an ongoing activity during the session, instead of a too often time-crunched activity at the end of the session. 

•  Provide reference materials and job aids for review after the session.
Include participant input into the materials, making participants more likely to use the documents. Katie Norton, of Katie Norton Consulting in Santa Fe, New Mexico, suggests, “I have been conducting customer service training for a large, private medical practice and as follow-up to the training we have developed a Customer Service Manual.

"This manual contains the suggestions, ideas, tips, and 'rules' for each of the departments that came out of the training sessions. It will be part of the orientation for all new employees and will also be distributed to all existing employees once it is complete. We will also conduct annual (or more frequent if necessary) refresher courses for the staff." 

•  During the session, discuss how to address real life scenarios, and barriers participants believe they will encounter when they apply the training.
According to Dr. Allison Rossett, Professor of Educational Technology at San Diego State University, in "That Was a Great Class, But..." from Training and Development Magazine, “Too often, training professionals don't prepare participants for the real world in which they will attempt to use what they learned in class. Trainers should work on performance barriers in the domain they can control, their classrooms.

"They can share data from the needs assessment on unearthing barriers and offer ways to overcome them. Trainers can also discuss with participants their managers' or co-workers' possible objections. The participants can practice their responses.

"In other words, trainers can inoculate participants against the thoughts, words, and deeds of resistance. They can share suggestions from participants who were able to transfer what they learned in training and who came up with successful approaches to get more computer resources, supervisory support, and so forth." 

•  Assign or self-select a training partner.
One of the more effective sessions I have attended supplied me with a training partner. The role of the training partner was well-defined and agreed upon by participants. We contacted each other for six months following the training program to compare notes and assist with application challenges. I developed an excellent professional colleague in the process.

A list of program participants does not provide enough incentive; it generally languishes in the pocket of the materials binder on a shelf.

Whether you facilitate training sessions or select them for others, these twelve tips should help you present sessions that work. The content, from sessions that apply these ideas, is absorbed by participants and actually used to improve performance back on the job.

Reprinted from About.com

Susan Heathfield is a management and organization development consultant who specializes in human resource systems, issues, and opportunities. Susan's specialty consulting areas include management, personal and organizational change management, performance management and development, organization transformation, executive coaching, and group facilitation.

She is a professional facilitator, speaker, and trainer on topics including interpersonal relationships, organization effectiveness and development, management excellence, marketing services, communication, and leadership. Susan is also a writer. Prior clients, for various services, include Michigan State University, Pall Corporation (Gelman Sciences), Microsoft Corporation, ReCellular, Inc., Fisher-Barton, Aeroquip, Temple Israel, Western Michigan University, Michigan Modernization Services, and many associations.