Why Training Fails

Sometimes when I conduct my workshop on Effective Meetings, one of the participants will ask, "Where's my boss?" And I say, "Your boss claimed to be an expert on holding effective meetings."

Then the person laughs. "My boss needs to attend your workshop more than anyone in our company. And without our manager's support, no one will use this."

This is bad because if no one uses the ideas presented in a workshop, the client will conclude that training doesn't work. And then the company might abandon all training.

Here are three important issues that determine the effectiveness of training.

1) People follow the leader. Any training program will be more successful if management supports it. This is why I always involve top executives in planning my workshops. I also ask them to attend. And I recommend follow-up sessions to review the material covered in the workshop. In fact, I only work with people who value and support learning.

Training has earned a bad reputation because many programs were just thrown over the fence at employees who were sent to be fixed. It’s unlikely that any training program conducted under these conditions will accomplish much.

Key Point: Gain management support before scheduling any training program.

2) Each of us has control over our area of responsibility. And each of us lives in the environment that we create.The participant mentioned above can conduct effective meetings, even if top management continues to hold bad meetings. In fact, someone who demonstrates sound leadership by holding effective meetings could end up replacing the boss who holds bad meetings.

There are two parts to every learning experience. The first part involves mastering new skills. The second (and critical) part involves choosing to use them.

Key Point: You can be an effective leader even when others aren’t.

3) Some people play make-believe. Many years ago I received an evening phone call from a colleague who wanted to know if I could recommend a good book on how to hold effective meetings. It seems this person was scrambling to find material for a workshop that was scheduled to start the next morning.You will learn more from an expert, rather than from someone who is delivering a book report. In this case, I recommended either of the two books that I had written on how to hold effective meetings.Many companies hire trainers who build training programs based on books that they read. And some entrepreneurs agree to speak on topics that are purely academic for them. The best trainers ARE the message, which means that they live and breathe and use what they teach. They can answer any questions, meet any needs, help with any situations that the participants may bring up. They truly know their topic.

Key Point: Hire a trainer who wrote the book instead of one who (you hope) read a book.

Any training program can succeed, if delivered to people who want to improve by an expert who can show them how.