In today’s rapidly changing workplace, the ability to transfer what we have learned or to apply existing knowledge and skills in new roles or contexts has become increasingly critical. Workers today are likely to hold multiple roles throughout their careers, often encountering unfamiliar tasks and role disruptions that require them to be adaptable.
Yet traditional training models still focus on discrete, job-specific skills and neglect the value of knowledge assets from previously held roles and experiences. By doing this, employers and training programs miss the opportunity to cultivate and enhance everyone’s ability, sensitivity, and inclination to transfer existing and newly acquired skills beyond their original context. Learning transfer is an expected part of modern work, but it is not often explicitly taught or supported.
By creating programs and environments that support working learners in transferring their existing and prior knowledge, skills, and abilities into their program and beyond, workforce development practitioners can help workers successfully leverage their existing expertise in present and future roles.
In our latest Substack post, we share research by the Next Level Lab that provides valuable insights into how learning transfer occurs in practice, who the key players are in making it successful, and what strategies can enhance it. If you’d like to go deeper, this working paper offers seven core insights on how to strengthen learning transfer among working learners.