Today is a big day!
My new book 'Learning Transfer at Work: How to Ensure Training >> Performance' has arrived from the printers and will shortly be available on Amazon.
It's been a long journey and I'm grateful for the many contributions that have added a richness of thought I could never have achieved on my own...
To celebrate, I'm giving away a few copies :-)
All you have to do is join the dicussion here by commenting on this page with your thoughts and questions on Learning Transfer. What does it mean to you? What questions do you have? How do you make a positive difference to employee's skills and an organisation's capability as Robin said?
To get you thinking on the topic, take a look inside the book at the first few pages to get an idea of what Learning Transfer is all about.
Then join the discussion by commenging on this page. Let's get talking!
I look forward to reading your thoughts and picking a few winners.
Best wishes,
Paul
Comments
Hi Pete,
You touch on a couple of very important points. One is asking the right questions, but one of the distinctions I make is that the initial questions in response to someone asking for a training course must not assume that some kind of learning initiative is the solution. That is, they must do performance consultancy rather than learning consultancy. There is a big difference between these two and many people in L&D don't get the difference. The majority of performance problems in the workplace do not actually need any kind of learning initiative to fix them.
The other vital thing you touch on is the cultural expectations of someone who has been on a training course. I even heard one delegate saying once after a course that he would not use what he learnt because he would be considered to be showing off. The transfer expectations and that culture were zero which meant that no matter how good any training courses were, they were unlikely ever to be implemented.
Cheers, Paul
This book is exactly what I need. One thing our company is good at is building knowledge in people, but not so much in learning transfer. Getting someone else view and ideas would really help to work towards embedding a different mindset for our people.
Hi Louise,
It's interesting that you say you are good at building knowledge in people. Another term for this is knowledge acquisition, but of course, knowledge acquired doesn't necessarily result in any change in behaviour. This is sometimes been called the knowing-doing gap. And of course, in London, they say "mind the gap" :-)
And I think you are right that it is predominantly a mindset issue.
Cheers, Paul
Great topic, this is a an area that I would imagine a lot of people and businesses struggle with (ours included). It is definitely an area for improvement for us in 2019 and particulalry pertinent as we plan to have a large focus on personal development next year. Looking forward to reading.
Hi Simon,
You are not at all alone in finding learning transfer on your radar where in the past it was not so near the top of the list.
Please do keep in mind what the personal development is for rather than treat it as an end game in its own right. Personal development in service of what?
Cheers, Paul
L&D at work is crucial. I believe sometimes employees can feel as if the company is forcing the L&D route in employees faces to “look good” and even though it’s positive, employees can turn it into a negative experience after all the hard work that’s been involved in coordinating the project. I would love to have a copy of your book so I can use your useful and helpful tips into how to overcome such obstacles. L&D is amazing through upskilling the workforce it’s just the different ways to go about it which would be great to know. I’m just about to start my CIPD Level 5 so this book would be very useful to have. Congratulations on the book! Kind regards Katie Owen
Hi Katie,
Good luck with the Level 5!
I often think that L&D has an amazingly strong and large lever it can use to shift things for an organisation, but all too often, they can't find the right fulcrum, and so the power of their leverage is wasted. Finding the fulcrum is more of a mindset shift than anything else, and then promoting that shift into the organisation.
Cheers, Paul
As an L&D manager it would be great to get further insights about how to review our training and really recognise the value it has provided to our employees. This looks to have great endorsements and would really enjoy taking a read
Hi Natalie,
I am not sure if you saw the message, but everyone on the thread has won a book. Caught me in a generous mood :-)
Get in touch and let me know where to send it.
Cheers, Paul
Hi Paul I did send you an email but you must not have received it. If you could email me on Natalie.045182@gmail.com