Learning transfer is the effective and continuing application of knowledge, skills and new behaviors gained in training and learning applied to the job in different contexts. Transfer is the only reason to conduct and finance training programs in organizations. How much do you think your organization is spending on training? According to Training Magazine's 2015 report, which is one of the industry's most trusted sources of data, the annual training expenditure in the U.S. alone is over $107 billion. These training expenditure figures are only taking into account direct costs. They're not taking into account cost of absence, replacement nor lost opportunities. Those replying to the survey stated that the highest priorities for training in terms of allocating resources were 29 percent increasing effectiveness, 19 percent to improving efficiency and 16 percent measuring impact. With those priorities and with so much money being spent on training, why are we seeing so little impact on performance? We believe that there's a universal problem with millions of dollars, pounds and euros being wasted on training that never sees the return in performance. It's a lost opportunity. With 70 to 90 percent of all money invested in training, not having the sort for impact and ultimately just being wasted. In the late 80s and 90s, there was a quite a paradigm shift that began in the training world, and it still continues today. Focus moved away from just looking at learning outcomes to looking at performance outcomes that occurred after the learning had taken place. At that time, there was an emerging field of research but it lacked a lot of clarity and more importantly, no clear definition of which of the factors were affecting learning transfer. So, which factors were barriers or catalysts, let alone a way to measure and diagnose them. So, Professor at Holten and his team decided that if they were to increase our life in training investments, then we needed a way to transfer learning from the classroom or learning event into job performance. So, I started to look at over 150 factors that affected learning transfer. And eventually through 15 years of research, uncovered the 16 factors that are critical if learning is to be transferred from the classroom or learning event to the job. These 16 factors were incorporated into a diagnostic tool, the LTSI. The Learning Transfer Systems Inventory, which covers three main areas ability or capability, motivation and the work environment. In a sense, learning or training transfer becomes another job behavior. In order for someone to do their job well, they need to have the right ability, they need to be motivated and they need to be working in an environment that encourages and supports them to transfer and apply their learning. The full factors that make up the ability category are content validity, transfer design, personal capacity and opportunity to use. Just the course or program content reflect job requirements accurately. Has the program been designed for easy transfer to the workplace? Do participants have opportunities to use their learning? And do they have the personal capacity, say the time and energy to apply that learning to their work? The motivation category is made up of motivation to transfer, learner readiness, performance self-efficacy, transfer effort performance expectations and performance outcome expectations. Highly motivated learners believe that if effort is devoted to applying the learning, then this will lead to changes in job performance and the outcome will be valued. They are ready and excited about applying their learning and belief that they can impact job performance if they wish. The final seven factors that influence learning transfer are associated with the work environment, managers support, managers sanctions, peer support, personnel outcomes positive and negative, performance coaching and resistance to change. While factors in the work environment so critical for learning goes back to their work, and attempts to apply what they've learned but get no support from their colleagues or their manager and the culture generally blocks any new approach. Any new learning or behavior rarely gets embedded and people just referred to how they used to do things over time. We will now take a look at each of the 16 factors individually and how they can be catalysts or barriers for learning transfer.
