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Tuesday 28 April 2015

Why Do Most Behavioral Training Fail?



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According to a study published in Wall Street 60% of corporate Six Sigma Initiatives fail. Many projects do well as long as the Six Sigma resource is tagged to them. Any guesses what really happens when the Six Sigma expert leaves the project?

Knowing and not doing.

A few common reasons why Six Sigma projects fail when the expert is gone are:

Ø  The team members know what to do but have lost their focus and motivation.
Ø  The team members have learnt how to handle the project however their behaviors have not been impacted
Ø  There has been learning and applying and yet, their habits of dependency remain unchanged

Inappropriate Modules

Does it never occur to a facilitator that an audience attending their training on “Decision Making” actually took all their critical decisions in life without this training? In work place, he is just unsure because his reporting manager is a control freak and, does not empower the team to take decisions.

Is this a gap in learning or training? And who needs the training really?

Ineffective Methods

When L&D team design programs relying on lectures, inspirational tales, audios and videos, role play, group discussion, gallery walk and simulation exercises – it scores high in feedback forms. Is there any change in behavior or output in work place?


When most organizations use their training investments just as smartly as they do their stationeries, the impact is going to be just as insignificant and negligible.

Organization goals

If trainings are not linked to strategies and project goals, there is no way training can bridge the gap between what is explained in classroom or webinars and what is carried out on the job. Behavioral, technical, leadership and even role based trainings are segmented, introduced based on projects or individual needs or leader’s whims and fancies – not remotely aligned to strategic goals. Training efforts are not well coordinated; each functional unit isolates their initiative and learning.

Performance Criteria

When an employee’s appraisal is tied to number of trainings attended, number of training hours concluded and not personal or business outcomes achieved, such training efforts never get off the ground because there is no behavior change as the whole exercise is mechanical and for the books only, not the mind.


Build how-to skills
Learn and not just be trained
Change behavior and attitudes
Own outcomes
Produce tangible results
Apply and measure








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