Work with your trainees to find out why they think learning transfer can’t be done, and then brainstorm ways with them to deal with the barriers they have identified.
You will probably need to define what you mean by ‘learning transfer’.
What resistance do the trainees expect to encounter?
What rigidity in the culture do they think they will need to overcome?
What do colleagues think and do as the trainees return to their job after training?
Here are three more questions that will help you reveal some of the barriers to learning transfer.
Within the context of learning transfer…
- What frustrates you on a regular basis?
Go on, you should play along with this yourself right now and write down a couple of things before going to the next question.
Now… - What are you indignant about? Again, write down a couple of things.
Here’s the big one… - What are you tolerating now that used to frustrate you or make you indignant?
Stop… and really think about that question 🙂
What are the pros and cons of those ‘tolerations’?
By the way, it’s important to ask those questions in that order to get the most from them.
Next, ask the trainees… how can we fix these barriers?
And ask them… what three things they would wish for relating to learning transfer if they had a magic wand.
Here is another idea…
Run an exercise in the training event where one group argues why the training will make a difference, and the other why it won’t.
This exercise will reveal a lot about the attitude the trainees have towards the training itself, their perception of the how the culture supports (or not) training events, and even what they think the training outcomes are.
What messages do these exercises about learning transfer send to your trainees?
