It can be very intimidating to think about changing your organization's learning transfer culture. Most likely the culture you have around learning transfer--or the lack thereof--has been in place for a looooong time. Changing your culture is not a quick fix process, but rather a journey.

You have to think of it as an organizational change process just like any other change process, not just a technical improvement. Because learning transfer has been ignored for so long people's attitudes about transfer are very well entrenched and will take time to change.

So let's put learning transfer change in a change perspective:

Start small and improve over time. Take it step by step.
Start where the culture will allow and "stretch" people in small steps.
Create quick wins to gain credibility in the organization.
Find out who the champions are in management and align with their organizations.
Be patient. As long as you are moving forward and getting better you are on the right track.
Recognize successes and publicize them as change leaders.


There is an old saying: How do you eat an elephant? Answer: one bite at a time. The same is true of the learning transfer problem in organizations. You can't expect to undo decades of problems in a few months.

The only question you need to ask yourself is "are you moving the needle on your transfer rate each and every day." If you are making progress, then you are doing the right things.