There are many drivers that impact whether an individual applies their learning and changes behavioral performance or not. As we've seen some are linked to content of their learning and the appropriateness for their work. Others relate to their personal motivation and whether what they're being asked to do makes sense, has meaning, and they understand the purpose. We're now going to look at the third category of factors, which have, in our experience, often the most influence on whether learning is applied or not. And that is the seven factors that act as enablers or barriers in the work environment. Let's take a look at the first two factors. Manager support and manager sanctions. Manager support is the extent to which managers support and reinforce learning or the use of training on the job. Manager sanctions, is the extent to which individuals perceive negative responses from managers when applying their learned skills. Manager support is one of the most basic or essential factors in learning transfer. Managers need to actively support and reinforce learning on the job. From our experience, we know that to ensure learning transfer, managers need to be engaged, they need to reinforce the new behavior, they need to set clear goals, and give recognition, and notice when people are applying their learning. They need to show support and lead by example, and ensure prior commitments by both parties are met. Support from the manager should promote doability of the new way of working or behavior. Individuals often believe they are unable to implement learning due to them not being capable. So, not having the skills or knowledge, or because of their restrictive environment. Managers should be showing learners that it is doable through exemplifying the new behavior or the new way of working, by removing any barriers within their work environment, and supporting and encouraging new behavior at all times. Management support and transfer effort, performance expectation, that we saw earlier, work closely together to increase transfer motivation. The scoring on these factors help us understand the strength of a learner's belief, that applying learning leads to a valued outcome. Be it public recognition, self-satisfaction, or improved performance. Let's take a look now at the second factor in the work environment category, and that is the flip side to manager support, manager sanctions. Which is the degree to which managers oppose the application of the individual's learning on the job. It may seem strange that managers would block a learner from applying their new knowledge and skills to the workplace, which could lead to improvements. They may feel threatened by the change. While they may insist that things should continue the way that they've always been done. Often learners encounter opposition when they return to work. And this can be due to the manager not understanding the relevance of how the training fits the work situation, or more often them not being involved in either the needs assessment, design, or engaged at any stage of the learning process. Opposition from managers can undermine an individual's best efforts to apply their learning. If managers are not accountable for effectively supporting learning transfer and for the performance outcome of their employees and teams, so it's not included in their appraisals or performance standards, then individuals risk relapsing over time to form a behavior and old ways of working. It's important managers balance their behavior. If a learner is not performing at the level they anticipated, many managers tend to react with hostility and impatience to low performance. It does take time to change behavior and positive reinforcement is critical in this learning transfer phase. In research studies, it's been shown time and time again, the motivation to learn and to transfer that learning to the job is significantly linked to a positive learning transfer climate. So, a culture that recognizes new ideas, encourages high performance, risk taking, and is quality and innovation driven. Collectively, these influences support a high-performing work system and eventually a learning organization. The importance of the manager reinforcing behavior to support that system is clear. Managers who reinforce self-efficacy by giving individuals the flexibility to try out new tasks under different conditions, builds a body of knowledge, increases their natural ability to perform the task, and builds self-efficacy in their ability to do it. Basic human functioning is influenced by the personal, say self-efficacy, behavior, social recognition, and environment influences. So, a sense of cohesion in the work area, which implies the core of our motivation may be extrinsically reinforced. Hence, the managers reinforcing the positive is very important.
