…..Organisational gaps can be a process, policy or culture issue
…..Outcomes and SMART expectations need to be agreed on before a training is commissioned
Sandra Ihenacho, CEO of M.Bryan consulting ltd, a learning and development (L&D) practitioner, has stressed that most training needs in organisations are, in fact, process, culture or policy issues often misdiagnosed as skill gaps.
The long-standing practice of treating workplace training as a quick fix to most organisational gaps came under critical scrutiny as learning and development professionals gathered for a knowledge-sharing event aimed at disrupting “training for training’s sake”.
The event featured insights from consultants including Nkechinyere Ojiego, lead partner, Kholas consulting, trainers, and human resource practitioners united by a singular call for organisations to utilise budgets for training that only translates into real workplace behaviour change.
Ihenacho, Africa’s leading voice on training transfer effectiveness explained, “It’s not every issue that training can fix. But what do we do? We keep sending people for courses without checking if that’s really what they need”.
Drawing on years of consulting experience, she described how many organisations continue to commission expensive programmes without asking the right questions such as agreeing on the outcome after the training, defining SMART expectations.
She cited a case in which a company requested communication training for its managers. Yet when she probed further, the issue turned out to be entirely different.
“The HR person at the company said their managers were not communicating well. I asked what that meant.…I asked three different people and got three different answers…. ‘Communicating well’, which is ambiguous,” she said.
“After a 45-minute conversation, the root problem was revealed to be the failure of senior managers to cascade directives to their teams within the 48-hour window mandated by company policy…..So I asked her how she would like to cascade the and how to measure it. That’s when it clicked”, Ihenacho said.
Establishing the link between training and behavioral change
Sandra introduced a diagnostic model called the Needs Validation Process (NVP) which describes ensures training is only recommended after establishing whether the challenge truly stems from a lack of skill or knowledge.
“If we had gone ahead and trained based on CEO’s assumptions, she would’ve wasted money, and blamed us for no results,” she said while citing the example.
Referencing another company, Ihenacho described how she refused to commence training for an international organisation until pre-training data was supplied to enable post-training evaluation.
“The outcome vindicated her insistence: performance jumped from 45 to 95 percent, and a manager requested that a staff member be removed from a Performance Improvement Plan. “That’s what happens when you follow process,” she added.
Melanie Martinelli, CEO of the Institute for Training Transfer Effectiveness in Switzerland, added an international perspective to the conversation.
Martinelli explained how the institute had codified over 100 years of training transfer research into a practical tool, a model comprising 12 key levers that influence whether training leads to sustained behavioural change.
These include stakeholder involvement, manager support, relevance of content, clarity of expectations, and post-training reinforcement.
“Transfer must be intentional,” she said. “It must be baked into every phase before, during and after the training.”
She outlined the global implications of ineffective training. “If you’re spending $100,000 on training and you haven’t considered transfer, then $85,000 of that could be lost. That’s 85 percent training scrap.”
Referencing the work of Robert Brinkerhoff, a professor of educational leadership and transfer scholar, Martinelli explained that in a typical session of six learners, only one would apply what they had learnt unless proper support mechanisms were in place.
“There are four people who want to try but fall back into old habits because they needed more support in the organisation. We let them down,” she said.
“There’s always going to be that one who won’t try, and that’s okay. But we should be saving the four.”
Lack of of culture relevance to externally designed interventions
Margaret Jackson, managing partner of Ghana-based Rainbow Consult, and a development and training expert called for a fundamental rethink of how programmes are designed and implemented across Africa.
She pointed to a disconnect between initial enthusiasm, contextual understanding, and long-term impact.
“There’s a lot of enthusiasm initially for programmes, and sometimes things don’t work out as everybody hoped”, stressing that effective learning must begin with a clear diagnosis of performance gaps and be built on instructional models that reflect local learning habits and realities.
The importance of coaching and post-training support
Beyond curriculum design, coaching and post-training support were identified as critical, yet frequently overlooked, elements of successful learning transfer.
She argued that training without follow-up coaching rarely results in meaningful behaviour change.
“You see, you can’t transfer if you are not coached,” she emphasised, pointing to the importance of having skilled mentors or supervisors guide the implementation of new knowledge and skills.
Moreover, several practitioners recommended that supervisors be trained before their junior colleagues to ensure alignment and support across organisational levels. “Supervisors need to come for the course first… That’s how they operate”, they said.
Another key issue Jackson discussed was the reluctance of the organisations and stakeholders to publicly acknowledge failure.
She observed that once feedback from beneficiaries reveals flaws or poor uptake, institutions are often slow to respond, fearing reputational damage.
This she warned, leads to wasted resources and missed opportunities for learning and reform.
Best practices of companies utilising training effectiveness
An example of an effective training transfer cited at the event, was MTN Nigeria’s legacy policy, Making Training Pay Off (MTPU), which required employees and their line managers to agree on specific outcomes before attending any programme.
“People knew they would be held accountable, hence their attitude to training changed,” a participant noted.
Another company was cited as one that collaboratively developed Trainer Code, an agreement committing all facilitators to embed clarity, post-session planning, and supervisor engagement into every workshop.
The company also implemented a simple three-step manager strategy known as 5-0-5: Five minutes before training to discuss expectations; zero interruptions during the session; and five minutes afterwards for a debrief.
“We started measuring whether participants felt supported by their supervisors. That changed everything,” the Ihenacho said.
Peer accountability also proved powerful. Participants were paired into learning partners and asked to check in with each other on their first baby step after training.
“It wasn’t rocket science, but about naming the transfer barriers and doing something simple about them”, she said.
The session culminated in the launch of the Training Transfer Effectiveness (TTE) Movement, an initiative already active in Ghana, Kenya, Rwanda, Zimbabwe and Nigeria. With a target to work with over 500 organisations by 2030, the movement is establishing national hubs, publishing white papers, and hosting regional conferences to promote accountable training practices across the continent.
Martinelli will facilitate a 2-day masterclass on training transfer effectiveness in Lagos in November 13 to 14, 2025.
More details can be found here
