When and why training programs fail
By William Seidman I frequently encounter training failures. Companies spend a lot of money on training and processes that don’t work. Fortunately, we’ve had tremendous success ensuring that individuals and organizations have the attitudes and skills required to achieve extraordinary performance. Why, then, do so many programs fail? Reasons for Training Failures:
- Content is too theoretical and abstract – it is not seen as relevant to the job and the learner has to make too big a jump to apply it
- Content is too micro and detailed (and is often coupled with compliance-focused rewards and punishments) alienating the learner
- Content is poorly delivered by either ineffective e-learning systems or excessive dependence of poor media such as PowerPoints
- Training initially gets people excited, but there is no mechanism for practicing the skills enough to internalize the learning
- Management treats the training as someone else’s concern and provides little or no on-going support communicating that the training is important and relevant
