Why Training Fails - and How to Stop Wasting Money on It.

If you google “money wasted on training” you will get a lot of different figures, all of which are thoroughly depressing . I read an article recently that claimed only 25% of training and development is effective so if you have invested and feel it’s been a waste of money you are not alone.

That isn’t, by the way, an excuse to stop all together because the statistics you need to be aware of are how much importance employees put on their development and on feeling invested in. So, what do you do?

Well first try and understand why the training didn’t work. Ask yourself these questions:

• Was it the right subject?
• Was it targeted at the right people?
• What were you looking to achieve?
• Were you asking people to work on weaknesses rather than utilise strengths?
• Was it a gimmick?
• How was it delivered?
• What expectations did your employees have – do they know there was an expected outcome?
• What activities happened to help embed the content?
• If it looks like your training didn’t work all is not lost. Three easy things you could still do are:
• Revisit the session content with your team and reflect on the content – what did they learn?
• Get them to create an action plan to share detailing specifically how they will use what they have learnt
• Create opportunities for practice in the workplace and time for reflection and feedback

Next time though it would be even better if you make sure the training is aligned with business and personal goals. That attendees understand in advance what the expected outcomes are and how they will benefit themselves and the business. Where possible tailor the content to your business and culture. If you don’t treat training as valuable, neither will your employees.