The Components of transfer of learning...

When training does not transfer, it is likely that employees will perceive training to be a waste of their time and employers will continue to question the benefit of their investment in training. In my previous post I wrote about the cost of “Scrap training”. I was looking at how to mitigate that cost when I found some interesting notes and research about the components that affect the transfer of training. 

The strategies below are derived as the combination of research by -

• Broad and Newstrom (1992)-  focused on three time periods (before, during, and after training) and on the responsibilities of three separate organisational roles (the role of the manager, the trainer, the trainee). 
• Milheim (1994) also presented a model for the transfer of training that included pre-training strategies, during training, and post-training strategies.
• Baldwin & Ford (1988)Theoretical models that examine the impact of different training input variables such as trainee characteristics, training design variables, and work environment factors on the transfer process 

I tried to be brief, I promise! This hopefully serves as a reminder or checklist of things to think about when designing your next program. Happy Learning...

“Pre Training” checkpoints- 

Improve motivation and readiness: 

• goal setting, participation in decision-making, and providing information concerning the purpose and intended outcomes of training.

Improving self-efficacy: 

• reducing any perceived threat to the trainee by initially emphasizing the learning outcomes and de-emphasizing performance outcomes 
• helping the trainee to develop better learning strategies to use during training, eg. summarizing the main points, use of mnemonics to aid retention,etc.
• developing a plan for how the trainee will utilize the skills

Improve organisational climate:

• identify external factors that may restrict the ability to utilize new skills in the workplace 
• assisting the trainee to identify organizationally valuable outcomes from training (better performance? promotion?)·
• positive reinforcement and desirable rewards that could be contingent on the correct use of the skills learned

“During training” checkpoints-

• making the training setting similar to the work setting as possible, 
• outlining a principle that can be applied across a range of problems or situations
• the provision of stimulus variability or using a variety of examples to illustrate a principle, 
• the conditions of practice (that is, how often trainees practice the tasks, what kind of feedback is provided, and how complex tasks are simplified). 

“Post-training” checkpoints- 

• specific goal cues that target improved performance resulting from transfer of training (these may be self-set or assigned goals), 
• social cues where supervisors and fellow workers are supportive of the trainees’ attempts to transfer their training, / reduce likelihood of being criticized
• appropriate task (or structural cues) such as access to equipment or resources/ reduce situational constraints
• positive reinforcement for better performance through the transfer of their learning
• a link between trainees’ transfer of training and their access to further training as well as their future job success. 

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