5 Tips For Transferring Learning Back To The Workplace

How To Help People Take And Apply What They Have Learned

One of the criticisms sometimes aimed at training is that it's too theoretical or too distant from reality and that it doesn't make a real difference to people's performance.

This isn't always a fair criticism but you do need to do all you can to make sure that anything people learn in the training room has the best chance of having an impact when they get back to work.

Here are 5 tips to help you.

Tip 1.

Do some work before the training to find out about the participants and to start them forming links between the training and their work.

You need to know as much as you can about the people you're going to be training and the work they do.

If you work for the same organisation, that may be easy. If you're an external trainer, or from a different department ( or even a full - time internal trainer ) that may involve a bit more research.

Talk to people, interview the participants if you can ( I know that's not always possible ) or at least send out questionnaires to ask people about what they do, what challenges they face and how they think the training will help them.

Also, if possible, get them to do something before the course to link it with their real situations. For example, if it's a Time Management course, ask them to fill in a time log recording their activity over a day or two. This will get then thinking in advance about the training and it will allow you to use real examples when they get there.

Tip 2.

Following on from this, as I just said, use real examples from their working life to illustrate any points you make.

This is particularly crucial if you're using any theories or models, which people might see as irrelevant or divorced from their own lives.

If you're from the same organisation, or have the same background as them, you can use examples from your own experience to do this. But you can also ask them for their own examples.

If you use a model of some sort, ask them straight away how they can see connections between this and the work they do. If they suggest it's not relevant to them, ask how it could be made more relevant. You could even ask them to redesign the model, or adapt the theory, to put it into their own language and root it in the situations they come across regularly.

Everything has to be as real and as relevant as possible.

Tip 3.

Get other people involved from the organisation.

For example, get some senior people to come along and talk about their experiences, the skills they think have made a difference to them or what they're looking for from the people on the course.

If it's not practical to get people to come, interview them before the course and play the interviews as part of the training material. Failing that, ask the participants to find someone to talk to before the course and give them a list of questions to ask, then get them to report back.

Tip 4.

Always be asking people what they're going to do with anything they've learned and what difference it will make to them.

Action plans are sometimes dismissed because they tend to get put away after a course and never referred to again, but this is sometimes because they aren't seen as an integral part of the course, they're left until the end and seen as a bit of a chore.

Allow time for individual reflection and for group and pair discussion as you go through the course so there's plenty of opportunity for people to think about what to do next. Get them to write down some goals and commit to them. You could pair people up and make them accountable to each other for what they do after the course.

Tip 5.

Following on from this, try to get involved in what happens next or, at least, to set up supportive activities if you can.

For instance, you could send out follow - up questionnaires asking people how they have put ideas into practice or what difference the training has made to them.

Also, ask what barriers may have prevented them from putting these things into practice or what further support they need to help them.

This can help to show up any internal barriers in the organisation, such as lack of resources or management support, which have an impact on their performance. This is useful evidence if anyone suggests that your training hasn't made any difference when, in fact, the problem lies elsewhere.

If you can, arrange for the participants to meet someone after the course - a mentor or manager perhaps - to discuss what they got from the training and how to take things forward. This will encourage them to take thair action plans seriously and it will get other people involved who might be able to help.

I realise that not all of these things will be possible but, if you can implement at least some of them, you'll have a much better chance of making your training relevant and of having a lasting impact which, after all, is the whole point isn't it?

www.transformyourtraining.com is the website for trainers who want to be outstanding. You can get information to help you design and deliver training which is engaging, interactive, memorable and effective. Visit www.transformyourtraining.com