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Why Your Company's Training Budget is Being Wasted

The receptionist at our biggest client rang me Tuesday morning. "Dave," she said, "our CEO wants to know why our staff still can't write proper emails after that $50,000 communication course you ran last month."

I almost choked on my flat white. Because she was absolutely right.

After seventeen years running workplace training programs across Melbourne and Sydney, I've watched companies flush millions down the drain on training that changes absolutely nothing. And before you think I'm biting the hand that feeds me, let me be clear: I'm part of the problem. We all are.

The Dirty Secret Nobody Talks About

Here's what your training provider won't tell you: 89% of workplace training fails within six months. Not because the content is rubbish (though sometimes it is), but because companies treat training like a vaccination. One shot, done, immunity for life.

Absolute bollocks.

Last year I worked with a construction firm in Perth. Brilliant blokes, but their safety meetings were jokes. The boss spent $30,000 on a comprehensive safety training program. Beautiful materials, engaging facilitator, even brought in lunch from that fancy sandwich place on Murray Street.

Three weeks later, I watched a tradie climb scaffolding without a harness while his supervisor looked the other way.

The training worked perfectly. For exactly four days.

Why Traditional Training is Like Teaching Your Teenager to Drive

Think about how you actually learned your job. Was it sitting in a conference room watching PowerPoint slides? Or was it someone showing you, then watching you stuff it up, then showing you again?

Training companies love the classroom model because it's scalable. Pack 30 people in a room, deliver the same content, invoice for the day, move on. But real learning happens in the mess of daily work, not the sterile environment of Meeting Room B.

I remember running a time management training session for a marketing agency in Adelaide. Fantastic workshop. Interactive exercises, personalised action plans, even had them laughing. The feedback forms were glowing.

But when I followed up three months later, their project deadlines were still chaos. Why? Because we spent eight hours talking about theoretical time management whilst their actual work environment rewarded firefighting and last-minute heroics.

You can't train people out of systemic problems.

The Netflix Approach vs The University Approach

Netflix revolutionised entertainment by understanding that people want content when they want it, how they want it. Yet most corporate training still operates like it's 1987.

"Everyone will attend the quarterly leadership workshop whether they need it or not."

"All new hires get the same induction program regardless of their background."

"Compliance training happens annually whether anything's changed or not."

Meanwhile, your best performers are watching YouTube tutorials at their desks, solving real problems in real time.

Smart companies are finally catching on. I worked with a tech startup last year that scrapped their traditional training calendar entirely. Instead, they created micro-learning modules tied to specific challenges their teams were facing right now.

Result? 300% improvement in skill adoption rates.

The Fundamental Attribution Error of Corporate Learning

Psychology 101: when something goes wrong, we blame the person, not the system. Training suffers from the same bias.

"Sarah still interrupts people in meetings. She must need more communication skills training."

Maybe. Or maybe Sarah's performance review is based on how many ideas she contributes, and the meeting structure doesn't allow for proper discussion. Or maybe the team leader consistently runs over time, so interrupting is the only way to be heard.

I've seen companies spend thousands on effective communication training while maintaining email policies that encourage passive-aggressive cc'ing and meeting cultures that punish honest feedback.

Training can't fix broken systems. But fixing systems without training creates different problems.

The ROI Measurement Myth

"How do we measure training effectiveness?"

Wrong question. The right question is: "How do we measure behaviour change that drives business results?"

Most companies measure training satisfaction (did they like it?) or knowledge transfer (did they learn it?). But satisfaction doesn't predict application, and knowledge doesn't guarantee behaviour change.

Here's what actually matters:

Are people doing things differently after six months?
Are business metrics improving in measurable ways?
Do people seek out additional learning on this topic?

Last month I reviewed training evaluations for a retail chain. Every session scored 4.2 out of 5 for satisfaction. Their customer service scores? Unchanged for two years.

Ouch.

The Goldfish Memory Problem

Corporate attention spans are getting shorter, not longer. Your training needs to account for this reality.

I used to design two-day intensive workshops. Seemed logical – really deep dive into the topic, lots of practice time, comprehensive coverage. Participants loved them.

Then I started tracking actual implementation. The further people got from the training day, the less they remembered and applied. By month three, it was like it never happened.

Now I run quarterly 90-minute sessions instead. Same content, spread over a year, with real workplace application between sessions. The retention rate is night and day different.

Your brain isn't designed to download workplace skills like software updates. It needs repetition, practice, and reinforcement over time.

The Manager Blindspot

Here's an uncomfortable truth: most training fails because immediate supervisors undermine it.

You send Jenny to assertiveness training. She comes back energised and starts speaking up in meetings. Her manager, who's been comfortable with compliant Jenny, starts shutting her down. Within weeks, she's back to her old patterns.

Or worse – she gets labelled as "difficult" because she's applying what she learned.

I've seen this pattern dozens of times. Companies invest in developing people, then punish them for developing.

The most successful training programs I've run include mandatory briefings for managers before and after their team members attend. Not optional. Mandatory. We discuss what behaviours to expect, how to reinforce the learning, and what support the person might need.

The Culture Collision

Training in a vacuum is like teaching swimming in a classroom.

Your company says it values work-life balance, then promotes the person who answers emails at 11 PM. You train people in collaborative decision-making, then reward the manager who makes unilateral calls. You preach customer focus while measuring staff on call duration, not resolution quality.

Culture eats training for breakfast. Every time.

I worked with a financial services firm that spent enormous amounts on customer service excellence training. Beautiful program. Then I sat in on their weekly team meetings, where supervisors publicly berated staff for call times exceeding targets.

Guess which message stuck?

The DIY Trap

On the flip side, some companies go too far the other way. "We'll just create our own training materials. How hard can it be?"

Pretty hard, actually.

I've reviewed countless homegrown training programs that look professional but miss fundamental learning principles. Information dumps masquerading as education. Compliance exercises pretending to be skill development.

Good training design is a craft. It requires understanding adult learning theory, behaviour change psychology, and instructional design principles. Plus the ability to make dry content engaging without being patronising.

Your finance manager might be brilliant at spreadsheets, but that doesn't make them qualified to teach presentation skills.

The Technology Distraction

LMS platforms, VR training, AI-powered personalisation – the technology is getting impressive. But technology doesn't solve learning problems, it amplifies whatever approach you're already taking.

Rubbish training delivered through fancy technology is still rubbish training.

I've seen companies spend six figures on learning management systems that nobody uses because the content is boring and irrelevant. The platform has beautiful analytics showing exactly how disengaged everyone is.

Technology should enhance learning, not replace good instructional design and human connection.

What Actually Works (The Uncomfortable Truth)

After nearly two decades in this game, here's what I've learned works:

Micro-learning tied to immediate application. Fifteen-minute sessions when people need them, not when the calendar says so.

Manager involvement from day one. No exceptions. If the boss isn't on board, don't bother.

Real problems, not case studies. Use actual challenges your people face, not generic scenarios from textbooks.

Follow-up that actually happens. Most training providers disappear after delivery day. The real work starts then.

Systems thinking, not individual fixes. Sometimes the person needs training. Sometimes the process needs fixing. Usually it's both.

Measurement that matters. Track behaviour change and business impact, not satisfaction scores.

The companies getting this right aren't necessarily spending more on training. They're spending smarter.

The Brisbane Exception

I have to mention this because it's been bugging me for months. Every company I've worked with in Brisbane approaches training differently. More skeptical, more practical, less willing to accept buzzword-heavy solutions.

Maybe it's the climate. Maybe it's the culture. But Brisbane businesses consistently ask harder questions about training ROI and demand more accountability from providers.

The rest of Australia could learn something here.

Final Thoughts (Or Why I'm Reconsidering My Career)

Look, I love what I do. But I'm tired of being part of an industry that often takes companies' money without delivering meaningful change.

If you're responsible for training budgets, here's my advice: Start small, measure relentlessly, involve managers, and be prepared to kill programs that aren't working.

And please, for the love of all that's holy, stop measuring training success based on how much people enjoyed the day. That's like rating restaurants based on how pretty the menu is.

Your training budget isn't being wasted because training is inherently flawed. It's being wasted because we've turned skill development into entertainment instead of behaviour change.

Time to fix that.

David runs workplace training programs across Australia and has probably ruined more coffee meetings than most consultants. When he's not ranting about training effectiveness, he's working with companies to actually improve their learning outcomes.