Why Most Training Fails and How to Make Yours Work
We invest significant time and resources in upskilling and reskilling our employees—encouraging or mandating their attendance at professional development courses, webinars, and training sessions. But are these investments actually leading to the transformations we hope for?
Unfortunately, for many employers, it doesn’t look like it. Research shows that we often attribute more to these short-sprint, one-off efforts than they truly accomplish. Only 12% of employees actually apply new skills learned from training provided by their employers. We often place unrealistic expectations on training, assuming that a brief, two-hour workshop can significantly enhance an employee's capacity. Even more concerning is our tendency to prioritize inputs over outcomes: we focus more on conducting the training sessions rather than ensuring their desired impact. Instead, true training success goes beyond the training session itself; it lies in understanding participant realities and identifying optimal ways to fundamentally shift their mindsets and capacities.
The reality is that gaining expertise and building capabilities takes time and—let’s face it—real-life experience. Most of us can relate to the fact that the majority of what we do in our jobs day-to-day, we learned by doing them in our jobs day-to-day. So why do we attribute so much to short training sessions? What is the best way to leverage these relatively light efforts? And, more importantly, what does effective training look like—and how do we know when we’ve achieved it?
Overestimating the Impact of Training
Our overreliance on quick fixes is not a new phenomenon. It’s true in adult learning efforts across sectors and industries and it’s true in more traditional forms of education as well. Human beings are naturally optimistic, which often leads to the self-serving bias, where we attribute negative results of training to external factors rather than the quality of the training itself. If a training session doesn’t lead to employees applying their learnings successfully, we are more likely to blame it on participant characteristics, for example, rather than shortcomings of the training they delivered.
On the other hand, we are also hardwired to attribute positive reactions to the training we develop due to confirmation bias. This bias may lead us to seek out or interpret information in a way that confirms our belief that the training has been highly impactful while discounting or ignoring contradictory evidence. Our confirmation bias can lead us to have an exaggerated understanding of the impact of short training sessions.
We tend to overestimate the impact of trainings we create because our minds rely on shortcuts, making us vulnerable to biases. By recognizing these biases and taking time to reflect before making important decisions in training design, we can challenge our assumptions and reduce the influence of these biases.
About the Author
Dr. Maraki Kebede
Maraki is a Project Leader at The Decision Lab. Her research focuses on social and spatial equity in education globally, and has been featured in peer-reviewed journals, edited volumes, and international conferences. Maraki has worked with several international organizations to craft pathways to empower underserved school-aged children and youth in Africa, including UNESCO, the World Bank, the Institute of International Education, and Geneva Global Inc.
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