My Thoughts

Why Your Company's Training Budget is Being Wasted: A Hard Truth From the Trenches

Three weeks ago, I watched a group of senior managers spend $47,000 on a two-day leadership retreat that included trust falls, group painting sessions, and something called "empathy mapping through interpretive dance." The facilitator wore crystals and spoke about "aligning chakras with corporate values."

I've been in corporate training for seventeen years now, and I can tell you with absolute certainty: most companies are flushing their training budgets down the drain faster than a broken toilet at the Melbourne Cup.

Here's the brutal reality nobody wants to discuss at board meetings.

The Generic Training Trap

Walk into any corporate training session in Sydney, Brisbane, or Perth, and you'll see the same bloody PowerPoint slides that have been recycling since 2007. "Communication is a two-way street." "There's no 'I' in team." "Think outside the box."

Meanwhile, your sales team can't handle an angry customer, your managers avoid difficult conversations like the plague, and your new hires quit within six months because nobody taught them how your actual systems work.

The problem isn't that companies don't invest in training. It's that they're buying off-the-shelf solutions for custom problems.

Last month, I consulted for a Perth mining company that sent their entire leadership team to a time management training course that was designed for office workers. These blokes manage rotating shifts, equipment breakdowns, and safety protocols in remote locations. The course taught them about email organisation and calendar blocking.

Brilliant.

The Follow-Up Fantasy

Here's something that'll make you laugh (or cry): 87% of companies measure training success by how many people attended, not by what actually changed afterwards.

I once worked with a telecommunications company that proudly reported "100% attendance at our customer service excellence workshop." Six weeks later, their Net Promoter Score hadn't budged. Customer complaints were actually increasing.

When I asked about follow-up sessions or skills practice, the HR manager looked at me like I'd suggested they sacrifice a goat. "Follow-up? We already did the training."

This isn't unique to telecoms. I see it everywhere. Companies treat training like vaccination – one shot and you're immune forever. But skills aren't vaccines. They're muscles that need regular exercise.

The reality is that people forget 50% of new information within 24 hours. Without reinforcement, that expensive communication workshop becomes an expensive coffee break with biscuits.

The Consultant Carousel

Don't get me started on the external training consultant merry-go-round. Companies hire different providers for leadership, communication, sales, and compliance training. Each consultant uses different methodologies, different terminology, and different frameworks.

Your poor employees end up with training whiplash. One month they're learning about "situational leadership styles." The next month, a different consultant teaches them about "authentic leadership presence." By month three, they're drowning in leadership theories and can't remember which approach to use when.

I worked with a Melbourne retail chain that had seven different consultants running workshops across their stores. Seven! Each one claiming their approach was "evidence-based" and "industry-leading." The store managers were so confused they stopped implementing any of it.

Smart companies pick one approach and stick with it. They find consultants who can deliver multiple training modules using consistent language and frameworks. But most companies just book whoever's available and cheapest.

The Motivation Myth

There's this persistent belief that all employee performance problems stem from lack of motivation or poor attitude. So companies book motivational speakers and team-building events instead of addressing the real issues: unclear processes, inadequate tools, or simply not knowing how to do the job properly.

I remember a financial services firm that brought in a expensive motivational speaker to fire up their underperforming sales team. Turned out the real problem was their CRM system was so clunky that sales reps were spending three hours a day on data entry instead of selling.

No amount of rah-rah speeches was going to fix that.

Sometimes the problem isn't motivation. Sometimes it's competence. And sometimes it's the bloody system that needs fixing, not the people using it.

The Skills That Actually Matter

After nearly two decades in this game, I can tell you which training topics actually move the needle:

Difficult conversations. Every workplace has them. Nobody teaches people how to handle them properly. This should be mandatory training for anyone who manages people or deals with customers. Communication training courses that focus on real scenarios, not theoretical models, are worth their weight in gold.

Decision-making under pressure. Most leadership training focuses on strategic thinking and vision. But day-to-day leadership is about making quick decisions with incomplete information. This skill determines whether your managers sink or swim during crises.

Basic project management. Even if people aren't official project managers, they're constantly juggling multiple priorities and deadlines. Simple frameworks for organising work and communicating progress prevent most workplace stress and conflicts.

Industry-specific technical skills. This sounds obvious, but companies often neglect ongoing technical training in favour of soft skills development. Your accountants need to stay current with tax law changes. Your IT team needs cybersecurity updates. Your customer service reps need product knowledge refreshers.

The Assessment Problem

Here's where most companies completely lose the plot: they don't assess what people actually need before throwing them into training programs.

They assume everyone needs the same level of development. They don't distinguish between new graduates who need foundational skills and experienced workers who need advanced techniques. They don't identify individual strengths and development areas.

I worked with a Brisbane logistics company that sent their entire operations team through "basic computer skills" training. Half the team were digital natives who could code websites in their spare time. The other half were older workers who genuinely needed help with Excel and email. Guess how engaged each group was?

Smart companies do skills assessments first. They identify gaps at individual and team levels. They customise training content based on actual needs, not perceived needs or whatever package deal the training provider is pushing.

The Internal Expert Oversight

Companies spend thousands flying in external consultants while ignoring the expertise sitting in their own offices. Your best performers often make your best trainers – they understand your specific challenges, your company culture, and your industry context.

But instead of developing internal training capability, companies keep hiring outsiders who need three days just to understand your business before they can deliver relevant content.

I've seen brilliant results when companies identify their top performers and train them to become internal coaches and mentors. These people can provide ongoing support and reinforcement that external consultants can't match. Plus, other employees actually listen to them because they have street cred.

Making Training Actually Work

The companies that get training right do several things differently:

They start with clear performance outcomes, not activity metrics. They measure behaviour change and business results, not satisfaction scores and completion rates.

They integrate training with actual work projects. Instead of standalone workshops, they use real challenges as learning opportunities. People learn by doing, with coaching support along the way.

They create systems for ongoing reinforcement. Regular check-ins, peer coaching sessions, and refresher modules. They treat skill development as a continuous process, not a one-time event.

They align training with career progression. People engage more when they see clear connections between skill development and advancement opportunities.

The Bottom Line

Stop wasting money on feel-good training that doesn't change anything. Stop buying generic solutions for specific problems. Stop measuring success by attendance instead of outcomes.

Your training budget could be your competitive advantage – if you use it strategically. But right now, most companies are just subsidising the training industry's Ferrari payments.

The good news? This means the bar is set pretty low. Companies that actually think through their training strategy will stand out immediately.

Your employees want to develop and grow. They just need training that's relevant, practical, and connected to their real work challenges. Give them that, and you'll see results that justify every dollar spent.

Give them trust falls and interpretive dance, and you'll keep wondering why nothing ever changes.

Looking for more insights on workplace training and development? Check out these related articles: Why Companies Should Invest in Professional Development | The Role of Professional Development in Changing Job Markets | Communication Skills for Career Growth