5 Reasons Why Learning Programs Don't Deliver and 5 Fixes

Many learning programs have a bad reputation. Too much learning uses up time and resources and produces little return on investment (ROI). Unfortunately, this is true. Who's to blame? Everyone involved from management, learning providers and learners. The manager who wants everything (lack focus) or wants seismic shifts in culture with half day interventions. The learning provider who says yes to everything or falls back on lecturing and PowerPoint. Lastly, the participant who wants a magic pill to become qualified for a three-step promotion based on a certificate from a one-day course.

Whenever I have had the opportunity to assess non-performing learning programs I find there are often one or more of the following five critical errors made.

1. Not Aligned to Strategy - The learning was not tied to strategy. Aligning with strategy can give a great deal of focus to what is offered and at what level.

2. Wrong Person - The wrong people attended. It's great that people have ambitions but sending someone to a learning program that does not apply to their immediate role or soon to have role, is not appropriate. The skills can't be applied, practiced and developed.

3. No Objectives or Accountability - No discussion and preparation around why the learning is being pursued and what the objectives are. This discussion is essential to success because it allows you to establish what success is. Evaluation starts here at the beginning, not at the end.

4. Poor Quality - The quality of the content or delivery is lacking. Great content, design and delivery are critical, regardless of the format (webinar, mentoring, workshop, etc.).

5. Poor Design - The learning event is treated as a finite experience, rather than a single waypoint on a longer journey. Pre and post learning event support helps the learner to prepare, reflect, apply, receive feedback and share. All essential elements to learning, retention and application. Without application there will be no ROI.

If you reflect on any unsuccessful learning programs, do you see one or more of these issues present?

Too often I find the evaluations examine specific details of the learning, seeking an explanation for the failure to deliver results. These five critical errors play a far more significant role in the bigger picture and will wreak havoc on your results well before a single weakly written piece of content or a sub-optimal facilitation of a discussion.

Five Fixes:

1. Align to Strategy - Align learning offerings with strategy. Im a fan of less is more. Focus. Raise the skills, knowledge and abilities of the organization in one to three key areas for a period of time (6-12-24 months), then move on to the next set of priorities.

2. The Right Content, For the Right People, At the Right Time - Carefully select learners and encourage growth that is appropriate. The right intervention at the right time for the right person really helps to contribute to success.

3. Articulate Goals and Assign Accountability - Facilitate goal setting discussions and make managers and learners accountable.

4. Work with a Learning Professional - Work with learning professionals. Learning design and facilitation is a science and an art with well-established methodologies. For example, see the Competencies set out by the Institute for Performance and Learning.

5. Plan a Learning Journey - Maintain the momentum and continue the journey. Set goals before. Develop skills, knowledge and abilities during the learning and follow-up after to help the learning be practiced and applied. Opportunities need to be made available to learners to practice their new skills, knowledge and abilities, feedback provided and monitoring for application and impact (ROI) is needed.

Now some questions that may come up.

What about all of the other learning we are providing now? With focus, the number of offerings can be contained. This forces a prioritization process. I find often a disproportionate amount of energy is allocated to very low ROI activities. This focus is not synonymous with leaving people unsupported. Promote and support self-directed learning and peer to peer learning. The skills in self-directed learning are transferable and applicable throughout an individual's career. How often is the full day Excel course really needed? Online resources and peers can often address needs more quickly and efficiently. If someone needs substantial skill development in something basic, this may raise questions around recruitment and fit, not the performance of the learning department.

What about super stars who may not need to develop in the areas prioritized? Integrate them into the program delivery. Get them to help develop others. This keeps them engaged and allows them to develop additional skills like leadership, communication and coaching.

How do we get managers to have these goal setting and support discussions? This needs to be one of the first focus areas initially. Clarifying roles and responsibilities with regard to learning and equipping managers and staff to have these conversations is essential. Without accountability and goal setting, the ship is lost at sea with no destination or captain. It would be naive to expect effective results from this type of scenario.

How do we achieve accountability? From the goal setting discussions, the objectives need to be captured and then revisited, supported and reported. The manager and the learner will both want to work together to achieve success when being held accountable through a reporting process. This structured approach to development also facilitates discussions and produces focus. The once half-day out of the office event now becomes something that is prepared for and followed up with application, feedback and monitoring. The commitment increases due to the process while at the same time the selection of opportunities should become more refined and intentional.

Can you see a place to apply one or more of these fixes? Design for Success 1 Align With Strategy 2 Provide The Right Content, For the Right People, At the Right Time 3 Articulate Goals and Assign Accountability 4 Work with a Learning Professional 5 Plan a Learning Journey