Why your Training Fails and How to Fix it

For some, the word ‘training’ makes them think of growth, self-fulfilment and overall positive vibes. For others – it conjures images of endless PowerPoint slides, monotonous lectures, and a sense of time that could have been spent more productively. If your training sessions are more likely to induce yawns than spark enthusiasm, it’s time to take a look in the mirror!

Today we’re exploring why training usually fails and how to transform it into an engaging, impactful and valuable experience for your learners.

Training isn’t the solution

The first and very likely reason your training isn’t working is because it wasn’t the right solution to begin with. What happens very often is a performance issue is discovered, and the manager says, “Let’s have a training!”. Customers complaining? Training! Software errors? Training! Conflict in the team? Training!

The problem with this approach is that you don’t dig into the heart of the challenge. If you truly want to figure out what’s going on, you need to ask 2 questions about employees jobs:

Do they have the knowledge and skills? And
Do they have the right attitude and motivation?

If we plot these two questions on a chart, we get four possibilities. This is called the Performance Analysis Quadrant or PAQ.

Learning and Development (and by extension) training, only works in the specific situation when the employees are motivated and willing to do their jobs but are lacking skills and knowledge. L&D can rarely help with attitude problems directly because this is something other people usually handle – like managers, HR, coaches, mentors and so on. But what L&D can do is help connect the dots and point to the right solution, even if it isn’t training-related. Or, alternatively, work in a 1-on-1 setting with the manager to help them solve their problems by themselves.

How to fix it?

Anytime you get asked to design and deliver training, the very first question out of your mouth should be, “What challenge are we trying to solve?”. If it’s skills- and knowledge-related, continue talking about the training. If it isn’t, help the person figure out what the problem is and how it can be solved.

Training isn’t relevant

Another popular reason why people may not like training is that it isn’t relevant to them and their work. If people are coming to your session, chances are they expect to find answers to very specific challenges. And if your training isn’t giving them answers, then it’s seen as a waste of time. A seasoned sales professional will need to know how to handle objections during sales calls or techniques for closing deals effectively. If your training only focuses on basic communication skills, it won’t resonate and will be seen as a waste of time.

How to fix it?

To avoid this, you need to profoundly understand your trainees and their jobs. You need to know what their titles are, what is their previous experience, and why they need training.

This last one means knowing their pain points, when they occur, who is involved, and what’s the most appropriate way to fix it.

Some practical ways to gain this information are through pre-training surveys or shadowing and observations. This initial step will help your training pop and make it so much more relevant and valuable.

Trainees don’t know about the training

It can be annoying to find out that you missed an interesting training just because you didn’t know about it. Often, trainers believe that if they build it, people will come. But the reality is different!

How to fix it?

Trainers need to don their marketing hats. This means utilizing multiple channels to announce and remind employees about upcoming sessions. You could leverage company-wide emails, internal social networks, bulletin boards, and even direct messages from managers to team members. It’s also beneficial to communicate the value and objectives of the training, making it clear how it relates to their roles and personal development. Additionally, scheduling reminders and providing calendar invites can help ensure the training stays on their radar. Remember, visibility is crucial – if they don’t know about it, they can’t benefit from it.

For the full article: https://exemplarglobal.org/why-your-training-fails-and-how-to-fix-it/