Am working with a client right now that offers some very useful lessons for everyone.  In this situation, an outside training consultant is teaching managerial skills to mostly first-line managers.  Most of their direct supervisors--the middle layer of managment--have been through the training and are the ones sending their direct reports to training.  Sounds like a good situation for transfer, right?

Wrong!  We used TransferLogix and our Learning Transfer System Inventory (LTSI) to investigate whether there are any barriers to transfer.  Much to our surprise we learned that supervisors were OPPOSING use of the skills learned in this training. It didn't make sense because these were the same people who sent the trainee to the class!

When we talked to the client company, the HR Director immediately identified the problem. Several of the senior management team did not support the training because it was a different management style than they used.  This opposition "trickled down" through the organization so that trainees really couldn't use their new skills.

This case illustrates the powerful effect senior leaders have on the transfer system.  Leaders often underestimate the symbolic effect their actions--and inactions--have on their followers.  People in organizations watch senior management closely to identify what they care about, and what they don't care about.

The lesson is that senior leadership is a powerful leverage point for change.  Changing a transfer system needs a senior leadership champion.  If the senior leadership is a barrier (as in this case) then efforts to drive change from the bottom up will be a long, frustrating up-hill climb.  But if senior leadership embraces learning transfer, promotes it, and holds the organization accountable for it, then change can happen quickly.

One key is that you have to measure transfer because, as the old saying goes, "everything that's important in organizations gets measured."  If you don't measure transfer, how will you ever convince employees that the organization really cares about transfer?

So think about this: Who will be the senior "transfer champion" in your organization?  Show him/her the potential ROI improvement that's possible. Then, start leveraging his/her influence today to make learning transfer happen.