Only 10 to 15 percent of what people learn in formal training gets transferred to the workplace....
That may not surprise most practitioners.. but in case it does, it is coming from a 2025 special issue on learning transfer (Kauffeld and colleagues 2025)
One of the most interesting things, leaders who used a goal-oriented app after training reported improved skills....Their direct reports however, noticed no difference.
Leaders felt they had improved... the people they lead didn’t really notice the change!
Can you relate?
See, transfer isn’t just up to the individual, when the environment, processes, and tools stay the same, they become the barrier. As always, if the system wasn’t designed for the new behavior it won't sustain.
So what are organizations missing?
While the paper does mention context as a barrier, it doesn’t provide an operational method for redesigning the system, or for diagnosing which factor is the main issue.
As per usual, without a diagnostic layer, organisations default to treating knowledge as the problem, however the gap between knowing and doing is more often friction, competing behaviors, and system design.
When something isn’t working, you need to know what kind of barrier it is.
Why you should care about the missing diagnostic layer
The diagnostic layer underneath your learning strategy should be asking what behavior needs to happen, what’s blocking it, and what fixes that specific barrier?
Use4 my SHIFT methodology:
-Specify the target behavior: The observable action and what competes with it.
-Hypothesise the barriers: Go deeper than labels...Low buy-in could be missing purpose, identity threat, or social isolation each needing a different fix.
-Intervene in the right sequence: Fix the system before you change "attitudes" what looks like a willingness problem often disappears once the structural barrier is removed.
-Facilitate: Use concrete findings and then engage stakeholders knowing their own barriers and your constraints.
Test for sustainability: if the behavior won’t sustain when nobody’s watching, the plan has a gap.
Your takeaway
If you’re running a programme where the behavior isn't changing, then change the way you approach it - most organisations have the map, but few have the diagnosis to help navigate the change.