As 2025 approaches, leadership development remains a top priority for HR leaders. According to a recent Gartner report highlighted in People Management, 75% of HR leaders acknowledge the growing importance of leadership programmes, yet only 36% feel confident that their current efforts are effectively preparing leaders for the future. To make these investments truly count, it’s essential to focus on one often-overlooked factor: learning transfer.

Don’t Just Train Embed Learning Transfer for Maximum ROI

It’s not enough to run a well-structured workshop or eLearning module. For leadership development to translate into real business value, you need to ensure that learning is transferred from the classroom into the workplace. Without this, organisations risk falling short of their goals.

We’ve seen this first-hand with a major automotive client where learning transfer was at the heart of a leadership development initiative for their franchise partners. The programme was designed to identify and nurture non-management talent, helping them transition into leadership roles. By embedding learning transfer principles through structured coaching, behavioural observation and validation, and rigorous ROI tracking participants not only completed the training but applied the skills in their day-to-day roles, driving tangible results.

Key outcomes included:

• 96% participant satisfaction rating the programme as good or excellent
• 85% achieved over 110% ROI, far surpassing initial projections
• A 96% success rate in behavioural application, validated by sponsor feedback

This experience reinforced what we’ve long believed and know to be true: leadership development without learning transfer is an incomplete investment.

Five Essential Measures to Guarantee Learning Transfer

To ensure your leadership development efforts deliver real results, consider these five key measures:

1. Pre-Training Alignment: Ensure the training content is directly relevant to the learners' job roles and aligned with business objectives.
2. Managerial and Peer Support: Engage managers early to foster a supportive environment for applying new skills.
3. Post-Training Reinforcement: Provide coaching, regular check-ins, and follow-up sessions to reinforce learning.
4. Systems Thinking: View training as part of a larger organisational system, ensuring it aligns with broader performance initiatives.
5. Measure and Report on Impact: Track the application of learning, tie it to performance metrics, and report back to demonstrate ROI.

Why Leading Results?

At Leading Results, we don’t just deliver trainingwe ensure it sticks. By applying Professor Elwood Holton’s 16 factors of learning transfer and a systems-thinking approach, we help organisations transform learning into measurable performance improvements. Our experience spans a variety of industries where we’ve delivered high-impact programmes that achieve real ROI.