The transfer of training can be considered the Achilles heel of the training process. When trainees fail to use their new knowledge and skills on the job, training resources are wasted, and business results go unrealised. Research shows that the most problematic type of training transfer relates to soft skills training. To better understand the factors that influence the success of the transfer of soft skills training, we review studies published in top academic journals between 1988 and 2017. Our review reveals that three groups of work factors influence the post-training transfer of soft skills: job-related factors, social support factors, and factors related to the organisational facilitation of learning. The effects of specific factors vary by transfer stage. Our review also suggests that future research should devote more attention to the stages of transfer and consider both the behaviours of supervisors at each stage and the use of transfer-enhancing interventions.

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This paper describes a field experiment with a self‐leadership training aimed at helping human service professionals to improve their detached concern and proactivity. Whereas detached concern refers to a state in which human service professionals blend compassion with emotional distance in their interaction with clients, proactivity refers to self‐starting and change‐oriented behaviour to enhance personal or organizational effectiveness. Based on self‐leadership theory, we hypothesized that self‐leadership training can enhance detached concern and proactivity. Moreover, based on behavioural plasticity theory, we hypothesized that training participants who are low in occupational self‐efficacy are more susceptible to the external influence of self‐leadership training, than individuals with higher levels of occupational self‐efficacy. We conducted a field experiment with a sample of 223 human service professionals who were either assigned to a training group (n = 94), or a wait‐list control group (n = 129). In a 3‐month follow‐up study, we found that self‐leadership training had a positive effect on detached concern and that the intervention was especially effective for participants with low to medium initial levels of pretraining occupational self‐efficacy. However, the intervention did not affect participants' level of proactivity. This study adds to the literature on workplace learning by demonstrating the potential of a self‐leadership training for the transfer maintenance of newly developed soft skills (i.e., detached concern and proactive behaviour) to the workplace and by pinpointing occupational self‐efficacy as an individual predisposition that influences training success.

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This three-wave study examined the training-to-work transfer process of a self-leadership skills training programme for crime scene investigators working for the Dutch police force. The transfer process is complex and depends on numerous factors. Two important steps forward are taken in the present study. First, we take into account all transfer steps in one study to gain insights into the transfer process, and second, by being specific about the work situation in which transfer outcomes should occur, we address the “criterion problem” that is often mentioned in transfer research. Based on the Ability Motivation Opportunity model, we hypothesised that the posttraining transfer process starts with being motivated to transfer and that this motivation increases the use of self-leadership during work. Another aspect that may facilitate the use of trained skills is supervisor support, as it offers opportunities to use self-leadership skills during work. In turn, self-leadership skills at work were hypothesised to lead to increased work performance. We tested our transfer model in two different work situations experienced by crime fighters. Our findings show that the use of self-leadership skills is positively related to the detached concern of crime fighters in specific situations. Additionally, our findings show that the use of self-leadership skills mediates the relation between the motivation to transfer and work performance in specific situations. Finally, our findings show that including different transfer steps (i.e. the motivation to transfer, use of skills, and performance), different performance measures, and different work situations in the transfer process provides more insight into when and how transfer-to-work after training occurs. These findings suggest that if organisations aspire to improve such transfer, then they should be specific about the intended posttraining behaviours and performance and the situations in which these outcomes should emerge.