Insaga Method

Most training ends where the real learning begins.

The learning event gets all the attention. The preparation and the follow-through — the other 50% of the arc — are where transfer actually happens.

Insaga Method — Fig. 11
Phase Schema · 2026

The Transfer
Arc.

01
Excitement
  • 1.1
    Needed
    addresses a real gap
  • 1.2
    Meaningful
    tied to identity & purpose
  • 1.3
    Relational
    anchored in relationships
02
Engagement
  • 2.1
    The Experience
    immersive, social, full-presence

The During phase is not where transfer happens. It's where the conditions for transfer are set.

03
Extension
  • 3.1
    Shared
    visible to your peers
  • 3.2
    Applied
    tried in real conditions
  • 3.3
    Integrated
    meaning made, loop closed
Insaga MethodFig. 11

The Transfer Arc is a learning transfer model that maps the full journey from preparation through experience to sustained application — and identifies where most programmes stop short.

The problem

A peak with no arc.

Research consistently shows that only 15–20% of participants apply their learning in ways that produce meaningful results. Not because the training was bad. Not because the participants weren't motivated. But because the learning journey was designed to end at the door.

Most L&D investment goes into the experience itself — the workshop, the programme, the facilitation. That work matters. But without deliberate design for what comes before and after, the event becomes a peak with no arc. The insight fades. The intention doesn't become action.

The Transfer Arc

A model of how learning moves.

The Transfer Arc is a model of how learning moves across three phases — before, during, and after the learning event — and where, in most programmes, the arc breaks.

The first phase, Pre, is about Excitement: establishing meaningful learning goals before the room comes together. Not logistics, not pre-reading — but genuine preparation that connects the participant to why this matters to them. The second phase, During, is about Engagement: live, social, full-presence learning where the experience does what only the experience can do. The third phase, Post, is about Extension: the loops of applying and reflecting that turn a good experience into a lasting change.

Most programmes invest almost entirely in the second phase. The Transfer Arc shows what the other two make possible.

What makes transfer happen?

Seven conditions, three phases.

Transfer requires specific conditions across the full arc — preparation that makes the learning matter, an experience worth showing up for, and structured follow-through after the room empties. Most programmes invest in the middle and treat the rest as logistics. The middle is where the conditions are set, not where transfer happens.

01 · Pre

Excitement

Preparation that connects the participant to why this matters — before the room comes together.

Needed. addresses a real gap.

The learning answers a problem the participant already feels. Without a real gap to close, attendance is compliance — and compliance doesn't transfer.

Meaningful. tied to identity and purpose.

The work connects to who the participant is becoming, not just to a competency framework. Identity is what carries learning back into the days that follow.

Relational. anchored in relationships.

A manager, a sponsor, a peer — someone in the participant's working life knows why they're here and is paying attention. Learning rarely survives a room that doesn't care it happened.

02 · During

Engagement

Live, social, full-presence learning — where the experience does what only the experience can.

The Experience.

Immersive, social, full-presence. The room exists to do what no document, video, or async module can — let people try the work in front of each other, with stakes, and feel the difference. The During phase is not where transfer happens. It's where the conditions for transfer are set.

03 · Post

Extension

Loops of applying and reflecting that turn a good experience into a lasting change.

Shared. visible to your peers.

What the participant tries is seen by the people they learned with. Visibility creates accountability — and a small audience of peers is more durable than any individual commitment.

Applied. tried in real conditions.

The work meets the actual job — a real meeting, a real conversation, a real decision. Not a simulation, not a journal prompt. Application under pressure is what turns a model into a habit.

Integrated. meaning made, loop closed.

The participant returns to what they tried and names what they learned. Reflection closes the loop — without it, the experience stays an experience and never becomes practice.

What the research shows

Decades of evidence, one conclusion.

The learning transfer problem is not new. It has been documented, measured, and studied for decades. What's changed is our ability to do something about it.

Weinbauer-Heidel · Transfer Effectiveness, 2018

Across more than 70 empirical studies, twelve transfer determinants explain the gap between training completed and behaviour changed. The strongest predictors sit outside the learning event itself — in goal clarity, organisational expectations, and post-programme application support.

Brinkerhoff · The High Impact Learning Organization

In a now-canonical finding, only 15% of participants apply training to produce meaningful business results, 70% try and fail, and 15% never try at all. The differentiator isn't the quality of the event — it's the design of what surrounds it.

Knowles · The Adult Learner

Adults learn when they are ready to learn, when the content connects to their experience, and when the learning is oriented to immediate application. Each of these is a design choice — and each lives mostly outside the workshop walls.

We've compiled the full research case — the studies, the conditions, and the design principles that follow from them — in our white paper.

White paper

The Other 50%

A research guide to the learning transfer gap

Why does most training fail to change behaviour — and what does the evidence say about fixing it? This white paper lays out the research behind the Transfer Arc: the studies that define the problem, the conditions that determine transfer, and the design principles that follow. Forty pages. Fully cited. Written for facilitators and L&D professionals who want the argument, not just the conclusion.

Insaga is built around the Transfer Arc.

Before, during, and after — it gives facilitators the tools to design for all three phases.

See how it works