Organizations invest significant time, energy, and resources in developing their people. They build leadership programs, launch learning initiatives, bring in experts, create digital learning experiences, and give employees time away from their daily responsibilities to build new skills.
But even the most engaging learning experience has limited impact if nothing changes once employees return to work.
The environment plays a huge role. But so do the people. And that’s especially where managers and leaders make the difference.
One doesn’t have to be a trainer or learning designer to influence learning. Leaders play a critical role in whether new knowledge becomes new behavior, or gets quickly pushed to the background by the noise of the status quo.
Ask Yourself: What Happens After the Training?
Managers and leaders don’t need to become a trainer or learning designer to influence learning. Nor do they need to be some quasi-subject-matter expert in every learning program to be an effective pillar of support. But there is an undeniable truth that leaders play a critical role in whether new knowledge becomes new behavior, or gets quickly pushed to the background by the noise of the status quo.
To gauge whether you are helping knowledge survive the transition from learning environment to the real world, ask yourself the following questions:
Do I provide helpful feedback?
Specific, timely feedback helps employees understand what effective application looks like, and where they can improve. Without it, even motivated learners may struggle to turn new knowledge into consistent performance.
Am I allowing space for debriefing?
Learners don’t emerge from a training or workshop with a full understanding of how they’ll use what they learned. They need time to identify where and how they’ll integrate what they learned into their workflow.
Do I reinforce learning concepts?
Identifying and referencing new ideas, models, or skills in team conversations, priorities, and decisions signals that learning matters beyond the course itself.
Am I available to coach?
Applying a new skill in a real-world situation can be challenging. Employees need space to ask questions, test their approach, and learn from missteps. Coaching helps bridge the gap between knowing and doing.
Supporting Learning Transfer Proactively
Leaders don’t necessarily need to wait until after an employee has completed learning to be a support to them. They also have an opportunity to influence learning before anyone ever enters a course, workshop, or program.
Leaders who are generous and willing to share their perspective can help ensure learning is grounded in reality rather than built around generic assumptions:
1. Connect learning to real work.
Help employees identify where a new skill or concept applies before the learning experience begins. Connect it to upcoming projects, recurring challenges, important decisions, or business priorities. The clearer the connection, the easier it is for learners to see why the learning matters.
2. Create opportunities to apply.
Don’t assume employees will automatically find opportunities to use what they’ve learned. Look for meaningful ways to let them practice. Give them room to test a new approach, make adjustments, and learn from the outcome. Application doesn’t always happen perfectly the first time, and that’s exactly why support matters.
3. Bring the realities of the work into the learning.
Managers have firsthand insight into the situations employees actually face: the difficult conversations, recurring problems, common mistakes, competing priorities, and decisions that don’t come with an obvious answer. Share that insight with the people designing learning. The richer the context, the more relevant, realistic, and actionable the learning experience can become.
The Real Success of Learning
The success of a learning experience isn’t determined by how many people attended, how much they enjoyed it, or even what they remembered immediately afterward.
It is by what changes.
Do people approach problems differently? Make better decisions? Demonstrate stronger skills? Have more productive conversations? Deliver better results?
Those outcomes rarely depend on the learning experience alone.
Learning may introduce the change, but managers and leaders help determine whether that change has a chance to take hold. The managers who make learning experiences the most impactful for employees aren’t the ones who simply ask, “Did you complete the training?” They ask, “What takeaway felt the most relevant to you, and how can I help you make the most of it?”
Ready to Build Learning Experiences That Bring People Together?
Transformative learning doesn’t happen by accident — it’s designed. Let’s build experiences that turn your people’s shared knowledge into your organization’s greatest advantage. Contact Apti to get started.