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Make the Most of Your Learning in 2026!

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Best Practices to Get the Most From Your Learning Assets

When your employees go to training, do they actually use what they learned once they’re back on the job?

Think about it. How many times have you seen a great training session — energizing, insightful, full of potential — only to discover days, weeks, or months later that nothing really changed? And when you ask what happened, you hear things like:

“I don’t do that in my job.”
“My manager said we don’t do it that way here.”
“I won’t need that until June… training was in March, so I forgot everything.”
“I was so busy I couldn’t slow down to try something new.”

Sound familiar?

This is exactly why transfer of learning is such a critical topic. Organizations invest money and energy into training, and they expect (and deserve) a return on that investment. Training should never be “training for training’s sake.” It should strengthen skills, improve performance, and ultimately help the organization achieve its goals.

In a world where learning and performance improvement solutions can be created faster than ever, the challenge isn’t creating learning opportunities. The challenge is making sure employees are using what they’ve learned on the job.

The good news? There are tried-and-true best practices that will help you get the most from learning assets.

Identify Skills and Knowledge

Before you design your learning experience, you need to clarify what exactly you want employees to do differently.

You’ll need to:

Create an impact map to align learning with organizational goals.
Focus on skills and knowledge that are business-critical and weed out anything that won’t produce the desired behavior or result.

This is the foundation. You’ll want to keep these top of mind as you design your learning solutions.

Select or Develop the Learning

Once you’ve determined the required skills and knowledge, build learning that mirrors real work.

Write learning objectives that reflect what workers do on the job.
Select a delivery method that supports those objectives and helps learners achieve
Match the practice environment to the workplace. The more authentic, the better the transfer!
Include copious amounts of practice. No practice = learning that doesn’t stick.

Engage with the Learning

Engagement starts before learners walk through the door.

Have managers talk with employees beforehand about why they’re attending/taking the learning event and what’s expected after.
Invite only those who need to attend the learning event.
Don’t skip practice! Repetition and hands-on application are the heart of learning transfer.

The key is importance and relevance, as relevance equals engagement.

Use the Learning on the Job

Transfer becomes visible as employees use what they’ve learned on the job.

After the learning event, have managers talk with employees about how to apply their newfound skills and/or knowledge.
Provide progressively challenging opportunities to apply the learning. Start small and build confidence and capability.

Without on-the-job application, skills and knowledge fade fast. With it, the learning becomes part of everyday work.

Maintain the Skills and Knowledge

Sustaining performance requires intentional reinforcement.

Ensure employees continue using their new skills and knowledge.
Leverage expert employees to teach and coach less experienced ones.

Maintenance is not about repeating the training; it’s about embedding skills in the workflow.

What’s Old Is New Again

You can maximize learning transfer by paying attention to all five best practices. These practices aren’t revolutionary — and that’s the point. Even in an AI-accelerated world, effective learning transfer still depends on timeless principles: clarity, relevance, practice, application, and reinforcement.

Whether you are designing learning and performance solutions with the latest technology tools or using traditional methods, these techniques will help ensure your investment pays off where it counts: on the job!