In a three-year evaluation study, KnowledgePool analysed the 'learning outcomes' of over 10,000 learners by questioning them, and their line managers, on the transfer of learning to the workplace and performance improvement.
The results show 69% of learners use what they learn and experience significant performance improvement. A further 6% of learners don't use what they learn, yet they experience performance improvement anyway. However, 9% of learners use what they learn, but their learning does not lead to significant performance improvement, and 16% don't use what they learn and don't experience performance improvement either.
Kevin Lovell, learning strategy director at KnowledgePool, said: "By combining the 9% and the 16%, we get 25%, so we can conclude that a quarter of all training fails to deliver a significant performance improvement."
KnowledgePool's study highlights four reasons why learners are unable to convert their learning into performance improvement: lack of support from their line manager; they attend courses that are ill-suited to their needs; they attend courses when they know they will not use what they learn and 'bad timing' (either the work requirement came and went before the training took place or they'd forgotten what they had learned before they had the chance to apply it).
"Organisations should encourage line managers both to work closely with learning and development teams, to ensure training is properly targeted, and to help learners apply what they learn," added Lovell. "When learners do receive line manager support, 94% go on to apply what they learned. There's a positive correlation between the transfer of learning to the workplace, line manager support and performance improvement. Sadly, too many line managers assume that when the training finishes, that's the end of the process."
