My Thoughts

Why Your Company's Training Budget is Being Wasted (And It's Probably Your Fault)

I walked into my client's Melbourne office last month and saw something that made my blood pressure spike faster than a Sydney house price. Thirty-seven people crammed into a conference room, all staring at their phones while some poor trainer droned on about "synergistic leadership paradigms." The irony was thicker than Vegemite on toast.

Here's the uncomfortable truth: most Australian businesses are throwing good money after bad when it comes to professional development. And before you get defensive, yes, I'm talking about your company too.

The £2.3 Billion Training Delusion

Let me paint you a picture. Australian companies spend roughly $2.3 billion annually on workplace training. That's billion with a 'B'. Yet productivity growth has been flatlining like a deflated footy in the middle of the MCG. Something's not adding up, and it's not the accountants' fault this time.

I've been in this game for seventeen years now, and I've seen the same mistakes repeated more often than Channel 7 reruns. Companies book generic training sessions like they're ordering pizza – quick, cheap, and one-size-fits-all. Then they wonder why nothing changes.

The problem isn't that training doesn't work. It's that most organisations approach it with all the strategic thinking of a drunk person at 2 AM ordering Uber Eats.

Your Training Approach is Backwards (Yes, Yours)

Most businesses start with the wrong question. They ask: "What training do we need?" Instead of: "What specific problems are we actually trying to solve?"

Last year, I worked with a Perth mining company that spent $50,000 on communication skills workshops. Solid investment, right? Wrong. Their real problem wasn't communication – it was that their project managers were making decisions without consulting anyone. No amount of active listening training was going to fix that structural dysfunction.

This backwards thinking is everywhere. Companies send people to leadership courses when what they really need is better systems. They invest in customer service training when their actual issue is product quality. It's like trying to fix a leaking roof by redecorating the living room.

The "Spray and Pray" Training Method

Here's where I'm going to ruffle some feathers: those big group training sessions you love so much? They're mostly theatre. Expensive, feel-good theatre that makes executives feel like they're "investing in their people."

I've sat through more of these sessions than I care to remember. Forty people in a room, half asleep, quarter on their phones, and the remaining quarter genuinely trying to engage with material that's about as relevant to their daily reality as a penguin in the Pilbara.

The retention rate for group training sessions averages around 22%. That means 78% of what you're paying for evaporates faster than water in Darwin's dry season. Yet companies keep booking them because they look good on HR reports and cost less per head than individualised approaches.

Small Groups Are Where Magic Happens

Now here's something that might surprise you: the most effective training I've ever delivered happened in groups of five or fewer. Always. Without exception.

When Telstra restructured their customer service approach in 2019, they initially planned massive training rollouts. Smart people, thankfully. They tested both approaches and found that small group sessions produced 3x better results. The difference was night and day.

Small groups allow for real conversation. Real questions. Real problem-solving based on actual workplace scenarios rather than hypothetical nonsense about "challenging customers" who sound like they were written by someone who's never worked retail in their life.

But small groups cost more per person. And there's the rub. Finance departments see the higher per-head cost and baulk, completely missing the point that effective training is an investment, not an expense.

The Follow-Up Failure

Here's where most companies really stuff things up: they treat training like a one-off vaccination rather than an ongoing process. You wouldn't go to the gym once and expect to be fit for life, would you?

I recently reviewed training outcomes for a Brisbane logistics company. They'd spent decent money on time management workshops six months earlier. Guess what happened? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Because nobody followed up, nobody checked implementation, and nobody reinforced the learning.

Training without follow-up is like buying expensive vitamins and leaving them in the drawer. The intention is good, but the execution is useless.

The "Checkbox" Training Trap

Let's talk about compliance training for a moment. You know, those mandatory sessions everyone has to attend so you can tick boxes for auditors and insurance companies.

Sexual harassment training. OH&S briefings. Diversity workshops. All important topics, absolutely. But the way most companies deliver this training is insulting to everyone involved.

Death by PowerPoint. Scenarios so removed from reality they might as well involve aliens. And delivery so dry it could start bushfires.

I worked with one company that boasted about their comprehensive harassment prevention program. Comprehensive? They showed a fifteen-year-old video followed by a quiz. That's not training; that's box-ticking theatre.

The Real ROI of Proper Training

When training is done right – and I mean properly right – the returns are spectacular. Not just feel-good returns, but genuine, measurable business impact.

Westpac's leadership development program (the one they redesigned in 2020, not the earlier version) produced measurable improvements in employee engagement scores within six months. Woolworths' customer service training overhaul directly correlated with their improved satisfaction ratings in 2021.

But here's the thing: both companies invested in ongoing, personalised training approaches rather than mass-market solutions. They treated professional development as a competitive advantage rather than a necessary evil.

The difference in approach is everything.

What Actually Works

Forget everything you think you know about effective training delivery. Here's what actually moves the needle:

Real scenarios, real consequences. Training that uses actual workplace situations rather than generic case studies resonates because people can immediately see the relevance.

Just-in-time learning. Micro-sessions delivered when people need them work better than marathon training days. Fifteen minutes of targeted learning beats four hours of general overview every single time.

Peer-to-peer elements. Your best employees teaching others often produces better results than external trainers. They understand the real challenges and can share practical solutions.

Measurement that matters. Track behaviour change, not satisfaction scores. Happy sheets tell you nothing about effectiveness.

The Manager Problem Nobody Talks About

Here's an uncomfortable truth: most training fails because managers don't reinforce it. And most managers don't reinforce it because they didn't receive proper training themselves.

It's a vicious cycle. Untrained managers send their people to training, then wonder why nothing changes when they themselves continue modelling the old behaviours.

I've seen this pattern repeated in companies across every industry. Mining, retail, professional services, manufacturing – doesn't matter. The fundamental dynamic is the same.

Stop Buying Training Like It's Toilet Paper

The biggest mindset shift needed? Stop treating training as a commodity purchase and start thinking of it as strategic investment.

This means:

Spending time on proper needs analysis
Choosing providers based on outcomes, not price
Building follow-up into the initial plan
Measuring results that actually matter
Accepting that effective training costs more upfront but delivers better returns

Most Australian businesses approach training procurement like they're buying office supplies. Cheapest option, bulk purchase, minimal customisation. Then they're surprised when the results are equally generic.

The Technology Red Herring

Before you start thinking that online learning platforms are the solution to everything, let me save you some disappointment. Technology is a tool, not a strategy.

Yes, e-learning can be effective. No, it's not automatically better because it's digital. I've seen companies spend hundreds of thousands on learning management systems that become expensive digital graveyards within twelve months.

The platform doesn't create engagement. The content and delivery method do.

Making It Personal

The training that sticks is training that connects with people's real work challenges. Not theoretical challenges. Not industry-standard challenges. Their actual, day-to-day frustrations and obstacles.

This requires trainers who understand your industry, your company culture, and your specific operational realities. It also requires honest conversation about what's actually happening on the ground versus what management thinks is happening.

Most companies aren't ready for that level of honesty.

The Action You Need to Take

Stop planning your next training initiative based on what everyone else is doing. Stop choosing providers based solely on cost. Stop treating professional development as something you do to people rather than with them.

Start by asking different questions:

What specific behaviours need to change?
What's preventing those changes now?
How will we know if training is working?
What support systems need to be in place?

And for the love of all that's holy, stop measuring training success with satisfaction surveys. Measure it with business outcomes.

Your training budget isn't being wasted because training doesn't work. It's being wasted because you're not being strategic about how you deploy it.

The choice is yours: keep throwing money at generic solutions and hoping for different results, or start investing in professional development that actually develops professionals.

Just don't say nobody warned you about which approach actually works.