Leading Change: TRAINING

Supporting the Transfer of Training

The goal of training involves more than simply teaching essential skills and knowledge to participants. It also involves ensuring that what is learned in the workshop is “transferred” to the workplace. The transfer of training should be of the utmost importance to the trainer because if a trainee learns what is desired but is unable or unwilling to apply this new learning back on the job, the trainer’s time and the organization’s resources have been squandered. For this reason, the “transfer problem” has been the focus of considerable debate and research.

In their book Transfer of Training, Mary Broad and John Newstrom (1992) offer a powerful model for better understanding and influencing the transfer of training. ...