Top 5 Learning & Development Mistakes Companies Are Guilty of Making

Learning and development should be an engaging journey for the employees. But most companies get it wrong. Their learning programs are often filled with irrelevant content, the sessions are boring, and the program is pushed toward the learners at the wrong time. L&D professionals also fail to measure the ROI of training programs to find out the impact it’s having on learners. This blog talks about how companies and L&D professionals can fix the above issues.

As an L&D professional, are you worried why your company’s training and development program is not hitting the bull’s eye? 

Well, you aren’t alone. 

Here are some facts for you. 

A Mint report stated in 2021, that 77% of Indian companies are providing training to their employees. The evolution of the latest technologies and the shift to a digital economy has made it essential for companies to invest heavily in learning and development programs. Using effective training and development programs companies are trying to upskill their talent so they can get aligned to roles and the company’s vision. According to Training Industry, organizations all around the world spent 35700 crores on training in 2020. 

But are the training and development programs able to achieve their goals? 

A survey done by People Matters revealed that 55% of learners said they need additional training to perform better, 38% found that the training programs aren’t aligned with their job roles, and 32% complained that training should’ve been more social. 

Why do you think employees are dissatisfied with their organization’s learning and development programs? 

1: Lack of training before onboarding 

Companies often fail to train their fresh hires before onboarding and directly assign them to priority projects. As a result, the new hires are not able to respond to their duties well and the projects get affected and the company suffers a loss. 

And when the company rolls out a training program to minimize the above risks, they often schedule the training when the employees are deep down under the workload. It becomes difficult for them to attend training sessions. Even if they are attending, they are in a hurry to finish the training and go back to their work. 

Solution 

With the help of learn before joining and fresher readiness programs, companies can prepare their new hires before onboarding and assigning them to priority projects. Learn before joining programs helps new hires to: 

• Learn about the company’s policies and regulations. 
• Identify the business goals. 
• Understand the structure of their department. 
• Get familiar with their job responsibilities. 
• Learn about the tools and technologies they’ll be using to fulfill their job roles. 

The learning environment is also a key factor here. The training programs should be flexible and be backed with mentor support to answer learners’ doubts whenever needed. Moreover, learners should be able to apply newly gained skills to their jobs without delay. 

2: Lack of role-based training 

Most companies favor traditional training methods – one course for all because they are less costly. One course for all doesn’t help in the current digital world. With the evolution of technologies, every role now requires specialization. Learners often complain that the training program covers technologies and skills that have become obsolete and are no longer required to do their current job. They’re being stuffed with a lot of irrelevant information. 

Solution 

L&D professionals should urge companies to opt for role-based training programs. Role-based training programs are tailor-made programs that include all the relevant information needed to fulfil the job responsibilities. It’ll help learners to get aligned with the job roles and the company’s goals. 

3: Lack of skill retention 

L&D programs often unload a huge amount of information on learners and by the time learners get a chance to apply their new skills to their jobs, it’s too late. The learners soon forget the knowledge they’ve gained. German psychologist, Hermann Ebbinghaus, found out that if new information isn’t applied within six days, we’ll forget about 75% of it. 

Solution: 

Making assessments, a part of your training programs will help learners to apply the knowledge they’ve gained. It’ll also help you to find out how learners responded to your training programs. 

By opting for virtual labs, you can give your learners a hands-on learning experience. Your learners will learn and simultaneously apply the skills to real-world scenarios. The more they practice, the more it will help to retain the information. 

It’s also better to go for bite-sized learning instead of unloading a huge amount of information at once. 

4: Lack of immersiveness in learning 

Most companies around the world have opted for remote or hybrid work models. Their training programs have also transformed into virtual sessions. When employees hear they must enroll in the company’s virtual training program, they may feel – Oh, here’s one more boring online training program I’ve to attend. 

And it’s not their fault. In their life, employees have participated in various virtual training sessions that were dull, boring, filled with dry slides, and buttered with a lot of irrelevant stuff. They don’t want another training program that bores them. 

Solution 

Using a platform that supports immersive learning, you can keep your learners engaged in virtual sessions. When learners confront immersive scenarios repeatedly, their participation increases, they compete with other learners, they are attentive and focused, and they fully absorb the learning material. Instead of finding the learning session dull and boring, they get hooked on it. 

5: Lack of continuous learning 

Companies roll out a training program for their fresh hires and forget to develop their personalities further. Companies that don’t support a continuous learning environment face huge employee resignations and a lack of employee disengagement. It’s being reported that 40% of employees with poor training or no training leave the company within the first year and 46% of employees feel uninterested at work because of no opportunity to learn and grow. 

Solution: 

To stay ahead in the competitive market, companies need to be innovative and create a workforce that can adapt to the changing needs easily. And to create this workforce, companies need to create an environment that encourages continuous learning. Here are some benefits of continuous learning. 

• Learning new skills will keep the morale of your employees high.  
• They’ll perform better at their jobs. 
• Your employees will keep advancing in their careers. 
• They’ll contribute more to the organization. 
• There will be fewer resignations, hence companies will save money on rehiring and retraining new employees. 

The above tips and suggestions will help you to avoid the major mistakes that most companies are making while creating their learning and development programs.