A long-standing client once asked me a difficult question: “We’ve invested in training for years – why haven’t we seen meaningful change?” Around the same time, a new client expressed frustration about a recent training intervention delivered by another consultant. “It was well delivered,” they said, “but nothing has changed.” Both conversations pointed to the same uncomfortable truth. Many organisations invest heavily in training yet struggle to see any real impact. This is not a new problem. It was captured provocatively by David Maister in his famous argument that most training is useless. When I first encountered that idea in 2007, it fundamentally shaped my thinking as a learning and performance professional. It influenced my presentation at the Association for Talent Development Conference in Chicago in 2010 and later became the foundation of my postgraduate thesis at the University of the West Indies. Over the years, one insight has remained consistent: the problem is not training. The problem is what we expect training to do and how we support it.
At its core, training is not about learning and certainly not about certificates, travel allowances, nice hotels, time away from work or the nice jollof rice served during lunch; it is about CHANGE.
At its core, training is not about learning and certainly not about certificates, travel allowances, nice hotels, time away from work or the nice jollof rice served during lunch; it is about CHANGE. Yet most training interventions are designed around knowledge transfer and, sadly, ticking boxes and creating pleasurable experiences – what people need to know and how they experienced the training. This aligns with what Kirkpatrick describes as Levels 1 and 2 of evaluation – reaction and learning. Organisations measure attendance, satisfaction scores, and knowledge acquisition and assume that impact will follow. It rarely does. The real test of training lies at Level 3 – behavioural change. Do people do things differently after the training? Research on transfer of training consistently shows that the answer is often no. Employees attend programmes, acquire knowledge, and return to environments that do not support, reinforce, or even expect change. This is why training so often fails.
“There must also be deliberate effort to create awareness and desire for change. When employees understand why change is necessary and see leaders visibly supporting it, they are far more likely to engage meaningfully.”
In my own work, this realisation led to a deeper question: what does it take for individuals to change? The answer lies beyond the classroom. The ADKAR model, developed by Jeffrey Hiatt, provides a useful lens. It suggests that successful change requires awareness, desire, knowledge, ability, and reinforcement. Most training interventions, however, focus primarily on knowledge and ability – what people learn and how they apply it – while neglecting the equally critical elements of awareness, desire, and reinforcement. When these elements are missing, learning does not translate into change. This insight led us to develop the Learning Impact Model (the name of our company at founding), an approach that integrates training with change management principles and extends the focus beyond the classroom. It emphasises that training is not an event but a process that unfolds before, during, and after the intervention, involving multiple stakeholders: participants, trainers, HR and L&D professionals, line managers, and executive sponsors.
Organisations must begin by defining the specific behaviours they expect to change before the training takes place. Research in goal setting and performance management shows that clarity of expectations is a critical driver of behaviour. Without this, training remains abstract and disconnected from real work. There must also be deliberate effort to create awareness and desire for change. When employees understand why change is necessary and see leaders visibly supporting it, they are far more likely to engage meaningfully.
Organisations must also invest in the quality and relevance of the learning experience itself. Research in adult learning and experiential learning shows that knowledge is more likely to be retained when it is practical, contextual, and immediately applicable. However, this is where most organisations stop, and this is where the real problem begins. The most critical shift must happen after the training. Reinforcement is where most training efforts break down. Research in organisational behaviour and performance improvement shows that behaviour change is sustained only when it is reinforced through systems, accountability, and follow-up. Yet, in many organisations, training ends with a feedback form and perhaps a follow-up email.
To address this, organisations must adopt a far more disciplined and structured approach to measuring training effectiveness. We can monitor behavioural change over time by defining the behaviours to be changed, assessing them before the training, and then tracking progress longitudinally – 30, 60, 90, 180 and even 360 days after the intervention using a combination of self-assessment and line manager evaluation, while constantly cross-referencing them to business results like revenue, referrals, efficiency and so on. This aligns directly with Kirkpatrick’s levels 3 and 4 and provides a much clearer picture of whether training is making a difference. More importantly, it creates accountability. When participants know that their application of learning will be tracked, when line managers are actively involved in evaluating progress, and when executives expect to see tangible results, training shifts from an isolated activity to a performance intervention. Research on accountability systems consistently shows that what gets measured and reviewed gets done and sustained.
Ultimately, the effectiveness of training is not determined in the classroom but in the workplace. Organisations that continue to treat training as an event will continue to be disappointed. Those that reframe training as a change process supported by clear expectations, leadership involvement, structured reinforcement, and disciplined tracking will begin to see real impact. Training is not useless. But training without change is.
Omagbitse Barrow is the chief executive of Efiko Management Consulting, and he supports organisations and leaders to translate their strategy to results.
