Key Takeaways
- L&D should diagnose barriers before prescribing more training. Awareness, desire, knowledge, ability and reinforcement can reveal whether the problem requires training or changes to processes, workload, incentives or manager behavior.
- Managers play a critical role in helping employees apply learning on the job. They can provide coached practice, review work samples, give feedback and reinforce new behaviors through regular one-on-ones.
- Training transfer depends on more than what happens in the classroom. Employees need opportunities to practice new behaviors, access to necessary resources, feedback and workplace conditions that support application and repetition.
- L&D can use the ADKAR model to identify and address barriers to adoption. Understanding where employees struggle helps L&D select targeted tactics that address awareness, desire, knowledge, ability or reinforcement.
After a merger, two business units adopt a new operating model. It sets out who makes decisions, how work moves between teams and where accountability sits. Employees attend briefings, managers receive process maps and join workshops. Three months later, decisions still follow the old reporting lines. Teams seek approval from the same people as before, and meetings preserve the boundaries the merger was meant to remove. Soon, someone asks learning and development (L&D) to deliver the training again.
More training will have little effect, however, if managers distrust the new decision rights, fear losing influence or see senior leaders bypass the model whenever deadlines tighten. Those barriers sit in the environment around the learner. A refresher course would repeat the structure without changing the conditions that keep the old one alive.
Diagnose Before Prescribing More Training
The ADKAR® Model, developed by Prosci founder Jeff Hiatt, offers a practical way to examine what prevents adoption. It describes five outcomes an individual needs for a change to succeed: Awareness of why the change is needed, Desire to participate, Knowledge of how to change, Ability to perform at the required level and Reinforcement to sustain the new behavior. [1] Formal instruction primarily supports Knowledge. Practice and coaching can also build Ability. Awareness often depends on a credible explanation from leaders. Desire is influenced by personal consequences and opportunities for involvement. Reinforcement grows from what managers ask for, measure and recognize after people return to work. Treating all five as purely training needs leads to ineffectiveness and frustration.
One Change With Several Barriers
Delivering training too early on is a common mistake during change initiatives.
In one real example, a large organization was introducing Copilot to improve daily operations. Employees were invited to artificial intelligence (AI) training, but use remained limited. Some could not see its relevance; others worried about losing professional value. Some needed better prompting skills, while others lacked practice time or manager support. Limited knowledge was only one of the barriers identified.
L&D therefore worked with leaders to clarify the strategic priority and selected the AI use cases with the highest business value, building Awareness. Employees helped shape those use cases and discussed personal benefits and concerns, supporting Desire. Targeted training built Knowledge; coached practice on real tasks, protected time and technical support helped to build Ability. Managers were asked to review application in regular meetings and recognize useful improvements to support Reinforcement. Addressing all five ADKAR milestones connected learning to business needs and created the conditions for sustained adoption.
What Happens Post-Training Is Critical
The example above illustrates why manager behavior matters after training. Baldwin and Ford’s review of training transfer identifies trainee characteristics, training design and the work environment as influences on whether learning is generalized and maintained on the job. A well-run course can build knowledge and provide initial practice. Once people return to work, they also need opportunities to use the new behavior, feedback on their attempts and support when real situations become more complicated than classroom exercises.
5 Questions to Ask Before Training
Before building or buying another course, L&D can ask five questions to diagnose the true need:
- Can the people affected explain why the change is necessary and why it is happening now? (Awareness)
- Do they see a reason to participate, and what do they expect to gain or lose? (Desire)
- Do they know what they need to do differently? (Knowledge)
- Can they perform the new behavior under real working conditions, and is anyone already doing it successfully? (Ability)
- What happens when they use the new approach? Do managers’ actions, measures and routines encourage repetition? (Reinforcement)
The answers should shape the intervention. Have managers ask employees to explain and demonstrate a task, then compare that performance with what happens in their daily work. If employees can perform the task in practice but struggle on the job, examine access, processes, workload, incentives and manager behavior. Look for approval steps that block the new approach, targets that reward old behaviors or managers who ask employees to bypass the agreed-upon process. Several barriers may coexist.
What This Means for L&D Leaders
Build adoption coaching into existing manager development programs. Have managers practice reviewing a work sample, identifying what prevented successful application and agreeing on a next step. Teach them to distinguish between a need for additional instruction or practice and obstacles related to workload, processes or conflicting expectations. Managers can then use these same questions in regular one-on-ones to reinforce learning after training.
Knowing where to focus helps L&D choose practical tactics based on actual barriers. For instance:
- Awareness Tactics: Equip sponsors and managers with a brief explanation of why the change matters and what it means for the team. Collect employee questions and check understanding through discussion.
- Desire Tactics: Ask what employees expect to gain or lose. Involve them in shaping the new approach, and bring concerns about workload, incentives or roles to the leaders who can address them.
- Knowledge Tactics: Define the behaviors that need to change and use role-specific demonstrations, realistic exercises and job aids. Ask employees to explain or demonstrate the steps, then address gaps rather than repeat the entire course.
- Ability Tactics: Arrange coached practice on real tasks. Agree on protected time and peer support with managers, then check independent performance. Assign technical or process barriers to the relevant owner.
- Reinforcement Tactics: Equip managers to review a work sample during existing one-on-ones, provide feedback and recognize progress. Agree on follow-up dates before training and ask process owners and HR to address routines or incentives that reinforce old behaviors.
L&D can bring these roles together with a simple agreement: the behavior to change, the support required, who will provide it and when progress will be reviewed. L&D leaders can use these questions to track adoption and direct support where it is needed.
