But we are going to try.
What makes the attempt to expose the myth even more difficult is that it must first be described before it can be crushed…so it finds print once again.
While it seems like common sense based upon the scarcity of well-design and strategically implemented training these days, it is not true that “only 10% of skills actually result in transfer to the job.”
So how did this false tale get started and repeated (and unfortunately lived) so often?
A friend of mine pointed us in the right direction. It originated in an article published in 1982 by David L. Georgenson on the transfer of training. Georgenson was simply posing a “what if” question. He wondered how often the skills that were learned in training actually changed the way one performed on the job. He cited no studies and conducted no research. But the topic was of interest and his words caught on as if they were factual, not rhetorical.
Beware the oft-told tale until you verify the source. And please, to transfer skills back on the job, make your training relevant and follow-through.
