Training is Your Secret Weapon—If You Use It Right
Why Most Training Programs Fall Short
Businesses pour time and money into training, but most of it doesn’t stick. Employees sit through hours of onboarding, flip through PDFs, and nod along in meetings, only to forget almost everything by the time they actually need it.
It’s not that people don’t care or aren’t paying attention. The problem is how training is built.
Most businesses treat training as a one-time event rather than an ongoing process. Employees are expected to absorb everything upfront, but without reinforcement or context, that information fades fast.
Training is more than just onboarding—it’s a core driver of business success. As we explored in The Role of Training in Driving Organizational Success, well-structured training programs do more than just reduce mistakes. They improve retention, boost efficiency, and create a culture where employees feel supported and empowered.
But training only works if it’s designed to match how people actually learn and work. This is doubly so with people who might think differently, like those with ADHD or Autism.
The Hidden Cost of Bad Training
When training isn’t effective, it slows everything down.
Employees leave faster. If someone never feels like they’re set up for success, they’ll find another job that does.
Mistakes pile up. Unclear instructions lead to confusion, rework, and costly errors.
Productivity drops. People spend more time asking for help, searching for answers, or fixing what went wrong instead of doing their jobs.
Inconsistency takes over. If training isn’t structured well, two people doing the same job might end up doing it two completely different ways.
For small and mid-sized businesses, these issues don’t just cause frustration. They put a cap on how much a company can grow.
How to Make Training Work
The goal isn’t more training. It’s better training built around how people actually learn and work.
1. Keep It Hands-On
Most people learn best by doing. Watching a training video or sitting through a lecture might introduce a concept, but real understanding comes from applying it in a real-world scenario.
The key is to make training interactive, engaging, and memorable, because passive learning doesn’t stick for the masses.
How to Make Training More Hands-On
Simulated Scenarios – Instead of just explaining a process, put employees in a situation where they have to problem-solve on the spot.
Example: A customer service team might role-play different types of difficult customer interactions, using real case studies instead of generic scripts. Even better if you can create realistic scenarios from historical internal cases rather than just industry specific.
Live Shadowing & Reverse Shadowing – Traditional job shadowing helps, but what if new employees trained the trainers?
Example: After shadowing a task, have the trainee explain or demo the process back to the trainer. If they can teach it, they truly understand it. In an interesting turn of events, the new employee might find a flaw or soft spot that can be brought up to the trainer, ultimately making your process stronger in the long run.
Gamify Training with Challenges – Adding competition or milestone tracking makes training feel less like a chore and more like a game.
Example: A company could set up a “Process Improvement Bingo” where employees check off inefficiencies they spot and suggest solutions. Depending on your business type, there are even opportunities to use real gaming in order to train. This is something that the military does for safety and cybersecurity training, and that McDonald’s has even done using a Nintendo 3DS.
Use Real Projects Instead of Mock Exercises – Too many training programs use hypothetical scenarios instead of real ones.
Example: Instead of a marketing team practicing ad copy on fake campaigns, let them work on a low-risk, live campaign with guided feedback.
Mistake-Driven Learning – Let employees experience controlled failure in training. People remember lessons far more when they’ve made a mistake and corrected it.
Example: IT teams could intentionally misconfigure a system during training, letting employees troubleshoot the issue instead of just reading about common errors.
As Thomas Edison said:
2. Train in the Right Context
A big reason training fails is because people learn things they won’t need for weeks or months. By the time they do need it, they’ve forgotten.
For instance, I remember receiving training in the Air Force on fire extinguishers - the types, how to use them, etc. I don’t remember what was IN the training, specifically, but I know I was trained on it. Fire Extinguisher training is great. The problem was, I never needed to use one, never used one in the class, and have never had a need since. It was a computer based course, so I flew through some videos and a multiple choice quiz, and TAA-DAHHH! Trained.
Actual video evidence of me trying to use a fire extinguisher at some point in the future.
Had I had a requirement to use it for my actual job, had an opportunity to handle, identify, and use one on an actual fire, or even watched someone use it in real time, some of that might have actually stuck. Instead, I have the knowledge that I did - in fact - have fire extinguisher training at one point in time.
So, for your own employees, you need to make sure that the training you’re giving them is not only useful, but can be used in the moment as well.
For example:
Instead of giving a new employee a detailed walkthrough of every tool on their first day...
Try guiding them through key features as they actively use them.
This keeps learning relevant and prevents information overload.
3. Treat Training as an Ongoing Process
Good training isn’t a one-and-done deal. The best businesses build a culture where learning is part of everyday work, not something that only happens in onboarding.
This means:
Making sure employees have easy-to-find guides and SOPs for quick reference.
Providing ongoing coaching, so people don’t feel like they have one shot to “get it right.”
Keeping training materials up to date as processes evolve.
When training is built this way, employees feel more confident, work more efficiently, and make fewer mistakes.
Training as a Competitive Advantage
When training works, businesses see real results:
Higher retention. Employees stay longer when they feel supported.
Faster work. Teams waste less time figuring things out and more time getting things done.
Better outcomes. Clear training leads to fewer errors and more consistent work.
Training shouldn’t be an afterthought. It’s the foundation of how a business runs. If your team is struggling with inconsistency, slow onboarding, or repeat mistakes, the issue might not be them. It might be how they were trained.
Need to Improve Your Training?
A few small changes in how training is structured can make a huge difference in efficiency, confidence, and retention. If your business is ready to get this right, let’s talk.