Rethinking Corporate Training: Does your company’s L&D drive performance?

In 2018 companies spent over $85 billion on corporate training programs that intend to propel employee productivity and close organizational skill-gaps. Business leaders allocated generous budgets towards learning & development programs with the profound belief that it will help foster learning, push productivity, and enhance employee satisfaction. However, less than 35% of the stakeholders were actually satisfied with the final result, which made them grow weary of the outflow of money that had no measurable ROI.

Corporate training programs can be unsuccessful for various reasons. But here are the three most prominent reasons:

Corporate training programs and business outcomes do not align

Many organizations do not take the time to analyze how a training program would impact long-term organizational goals and business outcomes. Training programs are created and executed in isolation of the broader company goals and vision. Business leaders along with subject matter experts need to make the link between the high-level business goals and the outcomes of a training program. They need to identify and comprehend the skill sets that are lacking within their current team and then layout a well-defined development plan that should ultimately align with the training program.

Modernized workforce, outdated training processes

A huge chunk of the new workforce in need of corporate training is either millennials or GenZ. They do not find the traditional training modules engaging, or even stimulating. To add to the ‘theory-fatigue’, there’s often a severe lack of real-world application. Also, in the current busy workplace, traditional training modules expect employees to free up days from their schedule. These modules can hardly be scaled or be platform agnostic. The need of the hour is a fully customizable blended training approach model, a unique training experience for your company with measurable outcomes.

 One day training followed by learning vacuum

As many training managers will tell you, training and simulation alone cannot accomplish the task of reskilling and upskilling. You need a feedback method to assess learning levels. Without follow throughs by managers and supervisors, even the most dedicated employees start to lose the skills they acquired during training. Remember, the thumb rule in play is that it’s never about the subject of the training itself, but how it will enhance the productivity of different teams and team members.

What are the ways to make corporate training programs more effective?

Learning leaders today are grappling with a new ecosystem. Technology has impacted all parts of our lives and employees are not just busier but are also constantly faced with information excess. Therefore, a focused approach to continuous, bite-sized, and effective training isn’t just an option, it is a must.

5 Steps to a Successful Employee Training Program: