Back to Learning Transfer Basics

One of the questions that I am often asked when L & D professionals are planning a Learning Transfer process is why do you recommend two or more 30-minute telephone calls vs. one face to face session for 60 minutes?

At the core, the focus of any Learning Transfer process is to support a person in holding themselves accountable to their own goals (Action Plans). With just one session there is no follow up beyond the initial program, and no accountability. It’s not just about getting to the heart of what’s going on it’s about creating a plan and having follow through to create change. This simply can’t be achieved in a single session. In other words: the “ah-ha” is nothing without behavioral change after it – secured by a further call or series of calls.

Additionally, working by phone is a very powerful and fast method of getting to the crux of the internal dialogue and thought patterns that govern behaviour – far more so than face to face. In my experience, we can achieve on the phone in 30 minutes what often may take an hour achieve face to face. Our coaching feedback from participants consistently contains surprise at how much ground is covered in just 30 minutes.

This is why for our Turning Learning into Action process we use a series of short phone calls to secure the Learning Transfer.

Easy.

Emma Weber is a recognized authority on the transfer of learning. As CEO of Lever–Transfer of Learning, she has helped companies such as Telstra, Oracle and BMW deliver and measure tangible business results from learning. She has also been a guest speaker at learning effectiveness conferences worldwide and authored the hugely successful book Turning Learning into Action. Much more detail around the issues and solutions examined in this article are available in the book – please feel free to download a free chapter. Emma and her team also developed Coach M, a coaching chatbot that delivers fully scaleable learning transfer. She is also a co-author of the books Making Change Work, and Designing Virtual Learning for Application and Impact. Her work and approach is also featured in Data and Analytics for Instructional Designers by Megan Torrance (Author), Foundations of People Metrics and Analytics – by Renjini Joseph and an ATD 10-minute case study series – Chatbot Coaching for Learning Transfer.