My Thoughts

Why Your Company's Training Budget is Being Wasted (And How I Learnt This the Hard Way)

Three years ago, I watched our CFO sign off on a $47,000 training programme that promised to "revolutionise our workplace culture." Six months later, nothing had changed except our bank balance.

That moment taught me something most Australian businesses refuse to admit: we're absolutely rubbish at training our people. Not because we don't spend enough money – hell, Australian companies spend billions on workplace development annually. We're rubbish because we approach training like we're buying insurance. Tick the box, feel good about ourselves, then wonder why nothing improves.

Here's what I've discovered after fifteen years of watching training budgets disappear faster than beer at a Friday afternoon barbecue.

The Generic Training Trap

Walk into any corporate training session in Melbourne, Sydney, or Brisbane, and you'll see the same thing: PowerPoint slides that could apply to any industry, facilitators who've never worked in your sector, and content that feels like it was written by someone who learned about business from watching The Office.

I've sat through sessions where mining executives learned "customer service excellence" from retail examples, and software developers endured "effective communication" workshops designed for call centres. It's like teaching someone to drive using a boat manual.

The problem isn't the trainers – most of them are genuinely skilled professionals. The issue is procurement departments treating training like office supplies. Cheapest quote wins. Box ticked. Job done.

But training isn't a commodity. It's surgery.

The Follow-Up Fantasy

Here's where most Australian companies really lose the plot. They spend thousands getting everyone excited about new skills, then send participants back to exactly the same environment that created the problems in the first place.

I remember one particularly painful example from a Perth manufacturing company I consulted for. They invested heavily in conflict resolution training for their supervisors. Great content. Excellent facilitator. Real breakthrough moments in the room.

Two weeks later, the same supervisors were back to screaming at their teams because the production targets hadn't changed, the understaffing issues weren't resolved, and senior management still rewarded whoever shipped the most units regardless of how they achieved it.

You can't train people to be different in an environment that demands they stay the same.

The Measurement Mirage

Australian businesses love measuring training effectiveness with "happy sheets" – those satisfaction surveys handed out at the end of sessions. If participants tick "satisfied" or "very satisfied," we declare victory and move on.

This is like judging a restaurant by how polite the waiters are while ignoring whether the food is actually edible.

Real training effectiveness isn't measured in smiles or completion certificates. It's measured in changed behaviour, improved results, and fewer of the problems that justified the training budget in the first place.

One of my clients, a Brisbane logistics company, tracks their safety training effectiveness by monitoring near-miss reports. Counter-intuitively, good safety training initially increases reports because people become more aware of hazards. Six months later, actual incidents drop significantly. That's measurement that matters.

The One-Size-Fits-Nobody Approach

Australian workplaces are incredibly diverse. We've got five generations working side by side, people from dozens of cultural backgrounds, and industries ranging from traditional mining to cutting-edge fintech.

Yet somehow, we think the same training approach works for everyone.

I once watched a facilitator try to teach time management to a group that included a Generation Z digital marketer, a Baby Boomer accountant, and a Millennial project manager. The young marketer was checking their phone every thirty seconds, the accountant was taking detailed handwritten notes, and the project manager was mentally planning their next sprint.

Same content. Three completely different learning styles. Predictable result: nobody got what they needed.

The Real Cost of Wasted Training

When training fails, it doesn't just waste money. It creates cynicism that makes future development efforts even harder.

I've heard variations of this conversation in offices across Australia:

"Oh great, another training session. Remember the last one where they taught us about 'synergy' for three hours?"

"Yeah, and the one before that about 'thinking outside the box.' My box is still exactly the same shape, thanks."

This cynicism is expensive. Really expensive. Because eventually, your good people – the ones who actually want to develop and grow – start looking for opportunities elsewhere.

What Actually Works

After watching hundreds of training initiatives succeed and fail, I've identified what separates effective development from expensive theatre.

First, successful training addresses specific problems, not generic concepts. Instead of "leadership skills," focus on "reducing turnover in the customer service team." Instead of "communication improvement," target "cutting email response times by 50%."

Second, effective training includes the managers who created the problems in the first place. You can't train frontline staff to handle difficult customers better while their supervisors continue creating policies that guarantee customer frustration.

Third, good training programmes include ongoing support, not just initial instruction. Like learning to play guitar, workplace skills need practice and feedback to stick.

The Australian Advantage We're Wasting

Australians have natural advantages that most training programmes completely ignore. We're generally direct communicators, we value practical results over theoretical concepts, and we have an ingrained disrespect for unnecessary hierarchy.

Yet we keep importing training models designed for different cultures and business environments.

I've seen amazing results when training programmes embrace Australian workplace culture instead of fighting it. Facilitate honest conversations about what's not working. Encourage the kind of straight talk that actually solves problems. Build on our natural collaborative instincts instead of trying to impose formal structures that feel artificial.

The Procurement Problem

Most training budgets are managed by people who've never delivered training or measured its impact. They optimise for cost per participant rather than outcome per dollar.

This creates a race to the bottom where training providers compete on price rather than effectiveness. The cheapest option wins, regardless of whether it actually addresses the client's needs.

It's like choosing brain surgeons based on who charges the least per hour.

Making Training Investment Actually Work

Here's what I recommend to every client, whether they're a two-person startup in Darwin or a multinational corporation in Sydney:

Start with the end in mind. What specific behaviours need to change? What measurable outcomes will indicate success? How will you track progress over months, not just days?

Involve the right people in design. The person doing the job knows more about what training they need than the person approving the budget. Include frontline staff in programme development, not just delivery.

Create environmental support for new behaviours. Training participants need permission, tools, and incentives to apply what they've learned. If the workplace doesn't support change, the training won't create it.

The Bottom Line

Australian businesses are wasting training budgets because we've convinced ourselves that training is something we do to people instead of something we do with them.

We've turned professional development into a compliance exercise rather than a competitive advantage.

The companies that get this right – and there are more of them every year – create workplaces where people actually want to grow and contribute. They invest in training that solves real problems and creates measurable improvements.

Everyone else is just buying expensive entertainment for their staff.

The choice is yours. But please, for the love of all that's holy, stop pretending that generic training programmes are going to solve specific workplace problems.

Your people deserve better. Your business needs better. And your training budget definitely deserves better than being pissed up against the wall on programmes that change nothing except your bank balance.

Start there.

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