The July issue of T&D features an article titled The New Finish Line of Learning authored by Fort Hill. Click here to read it.

The article begins, “Training’s job isn’t done, and training won’t be rewarded with continued investment unless learning is transferred and applied in a way that improves performance. Anything that falls short of the new goal line is at risk. Fortunately, we now know what it takes to turn great learning into great results.”

The article details what it takes to reach the new finish line, including treating training as a process, driving follow-through and application, and engaging both managers and participants.

A stunning chart of responses collected at ASTD ICE 2008 in San Diego makes clear the size of the opportunity for improvement. The chart shows that 80% of learning leaders polled said that less than 20% of participants transfer what they learn in a way that improves performance. Imagine what that means for leadership development, change management, coaching, process improvement, strategic initiatives or any training that is meant to develop your people. The vast majority of what they’re learning is rarely being applied in the workplace.

The article is one more step in Fort Hill Company’s long term commitment to increase the value that Learning and Development delivers to those we serve. We have been pleased to partner with ASTD to increase the visibility that Learning Transfer is receiving at its major conferences.

We hope this article will be a great resource for you to pass on to your line managers and colleagues. It will help them imagine the contribution learning can make to your business, when improved performance because of well-applied training becomes the norm rather than the exception.

The Fort Hill Company announced today a series of workshops based on its best-selling book: The Six Disciplines of Breakthrough Learning: How to Turn Training and Development into Business Results.

According to Cal Wick, founder of Fort Hill and lead author of The Six Disciplines, “Learning leaders all over the world have told us how valuable the book has been in helping their organizations get even greater value from the training and development they deliver. They asked us to create a workshop that would give them hands-on practice applying the Six Disciplines to their own programs.”

Kathy Myers, formerly president of deBono Thinking Systems, helped us put together a highly interactive, engaging workshop with an outstanding workbook and reference manual and a complete set of tools and checklists in electronic form.

The workshop explores each of the disciplines in depth with exercises, case studies, tools, and best practice examples:

A number of open-enrollment workshops are already scheduled and posted on the Fort Hill website (www.forthillcompany.com). We also offer customized, in-house, one- and two-day workshops and an on-line webinar version.

“We are gratified by the positive reception these workshops have received,” said Wick, “and about the success stories we hear from participants about the results they have achieved.”