Budgets for training are growing rapidly. The learning platforms are getting better. More content is available than ever before.

Yet many organizations are facing an unpleasant real-world. Despite the increased expenditure into corporate education, its actual effect on performance is a bit sporadic.

Enterprises are not hesitant to invest in education. They’re trying to transform learning into quantifiable capabilities.

More Training Does Not Mean Better Outcomes

One of the most common misconceptions about enterprise education is more education is always a guarantee for better results.

It’s not. In many organisations learning has become quantity driven. More classes and better sessions. More sessions completed. In dashboards, it appears like progress.

In teams, few happens. Learning is viewed as a process, not as a system of performance.

The Disconnect Between Learning and Work

This is where the most impact is missed. Training often happens in isolation. Participants attend training sessions, learn concepts, only to return to the same environment where those concepts aren’t repeated or are not required.

There was no application. No follow-up. No accountability.

The knowledge is lost. If learning is not integrated in everyday work it is merely in the realm of theory. Learning that is theoretical does not enhance business results.

Completion Metrics Are Misleading Leaders

Many companies still rely on numbers of completed tasks to determine their success. It is simple to follow. It is simple to track. But it’s also a bit misleading.

Completion simply tells you that employees were present or completed something. It doesn’t tell you:

  • How well they comprehended it
  • No matter how they used it
  • How much performance has was improved

This can create a false perception of efficiency. The company is evaluating the activity, not the impact.

Generic Training in a Role Specific World

The work has become extremely specific.

A single team could require different abilities according to projects, tools or even business goals. However, training is typically provided in a standard style.

Similar content. Similar structure. Same expectations.

This decreases the importance.

Employees are disengaged when they don’t discern how training is linked to their work. If the relevance of training decreases retention and the application decrease along with it.

Lack of Manager Involvement

One of the most neglected areas is at the manager at the manager level. Managers are in charge of the setting where learning happens. If they’re not involved in the learning process, it is not tied to performance.

In high-impact organizations Managers:

  • Incorporate learning into real-world work
  • Keep track of progress frequently
  • Provide opportunities for the application of the skills

In the absence of this element, the best planned training fails to produce outcomes.

No Real Time Feedback or Reinforcement

Learning without feedback is not complete. Employees must know if they’re using their skills in the right way. They require guidance while they are learning, not just weeks later.

In many organizations feedback is often delayed or not available. This can slow down the process of the process of improvement and reduces retention.

Continuous feedback helps transform learning to progress. If it isn’t there, the process of learning is in uncertainty.

The Missing Link: Skill Based Thinking

The fundamental issue is straightforward yet crucial. Training is mostly focussed on content. High impact companies are moving to more skill-based models.

Instead of asking “What should we teach?” They instead ask
“What capability do we need to build?“

This alters everything. Learning becomes organized. The outcomes are obvious. The progress is measurable.

Companies that make this change begin to see real returns.

Numerous companies are working with partners such as edforce.co to create learning systems that link the development of skills directly to the performance of their business, rather than only delivering training courses.

What High Impact Organizations Do Differently

  • They don’t invest without thinking. They make their decisions in advance.
  • They align learning to business objectives from the beginning.
  • They measure the improvement of their processes, not only completeness.
  • They focus on application and not only the delivery.
  • They build continuous learning and not single-time training.

The most important thing is that they view learning as an important job function and not as a support task.

Final Thoughts

The issue isn’t the fact that companies spend too much money on training. The issue is that a lot of this spending isn’t turning into capacity.

As long as learning is not tied to actual work, reinforced by feedback, and evaluated through the performance of learners, impact is likely to be insignificant.

Enterprises that can close this gap do not only improve the quality of training. They will create more powerful, faster and more flexible teams. In the current competitive environment it is the most important competitive advantage and upgrading skills.