The problem with training as an event
Many organisations buy training the way they buy a venue: a date, a topic, a headcount. The programme runs, feedback forms are positive, and three months later the work looks the same. The issue is rarely the quality of the facilitator. It is that the programme was designed around a subject rather than a performance gap.
When the desired change is not defined before delivery, there is nothing to measure afterwards. Participants return to the same systems, the same incentives and the same managers, and the new knowledge has nowhere to land.
Start with the business need, not the course title
A useful commissioning brief answers four questions before any content is chosen: what decisions or outputs are not good enough today, who produces them, what good would look like, and what currently gets in the way. The answers often show that part of the gap is skill, and part is process, authority or tooling that training alone cannot fix.
- Name the operational problem in the language of the business, not the syllabus.
- Identify the roles whose behaviour must change and the managers who will reinforce it.
- Agree observable indicators of improvement before the programme is designed.
- Separate capability gaps from structural barriers and raise the latter openly.
Design for application, not coverage
Programmes that change performance spend more time on practice than on presentation. Participants work on cases drawn from their own context, produce artefacts they will actually use, and leave with a defined application commitment. Content is cut ruthlessly to what supports those outputs.
Assess what people can do
Knowledge tests confirm recall. Applied assessment, such as a decision paper, a risk register, a negotiation plan or a stakeholder map built for a live situation, confirms capability. Weighting assessment towards applied work signals to participants what matters.
Reinforce after the classroom
The weeks after delivery decide whether learning sticks. Structured follow-up, manager check-ins, short clinics and a review of application commitments turn a course into a capability. Without them, even an excellent programme decays quickly.