Advice

Why Your Company's Training Budget is Being Wasted

The projector wasn't working, the facilitator was reading directly from PowerPoint slides that looked like they were designed in 2003, and half the participants were checking their phones under the table. Sound familiar? That was me at a $15,000 "leadership intensive" in Melbourne last month, watching another training budget get flushed down the drain faster than water in a Brisbane storm.

After seventeen years in the corporate training space across Australia, I've seen more training disasters than successful programs. And the brutal truth? Most companies are throwing money at training like they're feeding coins into a broken pokies machine, hoping something magical will happen.

The Cookie-Cutter Catastrophe

Here's what drives me absolutely mental: organisations spending tens of thousands on generic, one-size-fits-all programs that have zero relevance to their actual workplace challenges. I watched a mining company in Western Australia send their entire leadership team to a "synergy workshop" that focused on trust exercises and personality tests. Meanwhile, their biggest issue was safety compliance failures that were costing them millions.

The training industry has become obsessed with fancy buzzwords and feel-good activities instead of solving real problems. Half these programs are designed by consultants who've never actually managed a team in their lives. They're creating theoretical solutions for practical problems.

But here's the thing that'll make you uncomfortable: sometimes the most expensive training providers deliver the worst results. I've seen $500-per-person workshops that transformed entire departments, and I've witnessed $5,000-per-head executive retreats that achieved absolutely nothing except some nice Instagram photos.

The Pre-Training Diagnosis Nobody Does

Most companies skip the most crucial step entirely. They don't properly diagnose what's actually broken before they start throwing training solutions at it.

Last year, I worked with a Sydney-based financial services firm that was convinced they needed customer service training because their satisfaction scores were tanking. Three conversations with their front-line staff revealed the real issue: their computer system was so slow that customers were getting frustrated waiting for basic transactions. No amount of smile-and-dial training was going to fix that fundamental operational problem.

The best training investments start with honest conversations. Not surveys (people lie on those), not management assumptions, but actual discussions with the people doing the work. Sometimes what looks like a skills gap is actually a systems problem, a culture issue, or simply poor communication from leadership.

The Follow-Up Failure

Here's where 73% of training programs completely fall apart: the day after. Everyone comes back from the workshop feeling motivated and equipped with new tools, then reality hits. Their manager hasn't changed, the systems are still broken, and there's no reinforcement or support for implementing what they've learned.

I call this the "training holiday effect." People get a temporary high from learning something new, but without ongoing support and application opportunities, everything fades within weeks. It's like going to the gym once and expecting to get fit.

The companies that actually see results from training are the ones that treat it as an ongoing process, not a one-off event. They have managers who actively support skill development, they create opportunities for people to practice new behaviours, and they measure actual behaviour changes rather than just satisfaction scores.

The Internal vs External Delusion

Every organisation thinks they need external trainers to be credible. Complete rubbish. Some of the most effective training I've witnessed has been delivered by internal experts who understand the specific context, challenges, and culture of their workplace.

There's this weird assumption that expertise only counts if it comes with a hefty consulting fee and a PowerPoint template with stock photos. Meanwhile, you've probably got someone in your accounts department who could run brilliant Excel training, or a operations manager who knows more about effective communication than any external facilitator.

Don't get me wrong - external trainers have their place, especially for specialised skills or when you need an objective perspective. But stop defaulting to outsiders when you've got untapped expertise sitting right in your building.

The Timing Disaster

Most training gets scheduled at the worst possible times. End of financial year when everyone's stressed about targets. Middle of busy season when people can't focus on anything except getting through the workload. Or right after major organisational changes when nobody knows if they'll still have a job next month.

Effective communication training works best when people actually have headspace to absorb and apply new concepts. But we treat professional development like a box-ticking exercise that needs to happen regardless of timing or context.

I've seen companies run leadership development programs during major restructures. Brilliant logic there - let's teach people how to lead effectively while simultaneously making them wonder if their role will exist next quarter.

The Measurement Myth

"How do we measure the ROI of training?" Every executive asks this question, then proceeds to measure completely the wrong things. They track attendance rates, satisfaction scores, and completion certificates like they mean something.

Real training effectiveness shows up in reduced turnover, improved performance metrics, fewer customer complaints, or increased innovation. But these outcomes take months to materialise and require proper baseline measurements that most organisations never bother establishing.

The companies that actually understand training ROI are the ones measuring behaviour changes, not feelings. They're looking at whether people are actually doing things differently six months later, not whether they enjoyed the catered lunch.

The Leadership Lip Service

Here's the uncomfortable reality: most training failures start at the top. Senior leaders approve training budgets, then completely ignore the development of their own teams. They send middle managers to leadership programs while demonstrating terrible leadership behaviours themselves.

I worked with one company where the CEO was notorious for interrupting people in meetings and making decisions without consultation, yet they spent $50,000 on "collaborative leadership" training for their department heads. The cognitive dissonance was staggering.

Training only works when it's part of a genuine commitment to development that starts with leadership. If your executives aren't actively modelling the behaviours they want to see, you're wasting your money.

The Skills vs Culture Confusion

Too many organisations try to use training to fix cultural problems. You can't train your way out of a toxic culture, just like you can't train people to be innovative in an environment that punishes risk-taking.

Skills training works when the underlying culture supports skill development. Culture change requires completely different interventions - usually involving leadership changes, system modifications, and sustained behavioural reinforcement over months or years.

Professional development courses can absolutely support culture change initiatives, but they can't drive them. That's like trying to teach someone to swim while they're drowning - you need to address the immediate environmental factors first.

The Technology Bandwagon

Online learning platforms are the latest shiny object that everyone thinks will solve their training problems. Don't get me wrong - technology can enhance learning enormously when used appropriately. But I've seen too many companies buy expensive e-learning systems, upload generic content, then wonder why engagement rates are terrible.

The most effective technology-supported training combines online resources with face-to-face application and discussion. Pure e-learning works for information transfer, but skills development requires practice, feedback, and human interaction.

Some of the best training outcomes I've witnessed happened with minimal technology - just skilled facilitators, relevant content, and opportunities for immediate application.

The Action Plan

So what actually works? Start with proper diagnosis. Talk to your people about their real challenges, not what you think their challenges are. Look for patterns in performance data, customer feedback, and operational metrics.

Design training that addresses specific, measurable problems. Make it relevant to people's actual work context. Ensure managers are equipped to support skill development after formal training ends.

Measure behaviour changes, not satisfaction scores. Create opportunities for practice and reinforcement. And for goodness sake, model the behaviours you want to see from the very top of the organisation.

Most importantly, stop treating training as a silver bullet for every organisational problem. Sometimes the issue isn't skills - it's systems, leadership, or culture. Training is a powerful tool when used appropriately, but it's not a cure-all for poor management.

The companies that get real value from their training investments are the ones that approach it strategically, measure it properly, and integrate it into broader organisational development efforts. Everyone else is just burning money and wondering why nothing changes.

And please, for the love of all that's holy, make sure the projector works before you start.