Corporate Training Isn’t Broken. It’s Just Boring.

Why your team’s eyes glaze over during training and what you can do to fix it. Originally posted on Substack.

Let’s face it: corporate training has a branding problem.

Despite billions of dollars spent annually on learning and development, employees still roll their eyes when a new training module lands in their inbox. And who can blame them? With outdated slides, dry voiceovers, and endless “next” buttons, most corporate training is something people endure, not enjoy. The problem isn’t that we’re investing in the wrong thing. It’s that we’re delivering it in all the wrong ways.

Corporate training isn’t broken. It’s just boring.

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The Case Against the Status Quo

Globally, companies spend hundreds of billions on training each year. In the U.S. alone, the annual spend is north of $100 billion. Yet nearly half of employees say the training they receive is ineffective (Harvard Business Review, 2016). Even more troubling? Most of what we learn is forgotten within a week if it's not reinforced (Ebbinghaus Forgetting Curve).

So why does this happen? Part of the problem is design. Training is often passive, overly generic, and poorly timed. Employees sit through long sessions that lack interactivity or relevance, and they retain almost none of it.

“Instead of telling people what to do, we could give them realistic challenges and let them learn from their mistakes.”

notes instructional designer Cathy Moore.

The Psychological Mismatch

Adult learners aren’t blank slates. They’re busy professionals with context, experience, and (often limited) attention. When training doesn’t feel useful or empowering, it triggers disengagement. Research from Deci and Ryan on Self-Determination Theory explains that autonomy is key to motivation. Mandating uninspired compliance modules, for instance, actually pushes learners away.

Even when employees pay attention, cognitive overload and poor memory design kick in. In short: we forget. Fast. Without spaced repetition or application, that expensive workshop you ran last week? It’s already gone.

William H. Whyte puts it plainly,

"The great enemy of communication, we find, is the illusion of it."

Organizational Inertia

And even when training is thoughtfully designed, it often crashes into a wall of workplace reality. As Harvard's Michael Beer described in The Great Training Robbery, companies invest in learning but fail to change systems or incentives to support it. Most training fails not because people didn’t learn, but because nothing around them changed to support it.

For example, a financial firm might train managers on empathy and collaboration, then immediately return them to a cutthroat culture that rewards individual sales performance. No surprise when old habits resurface.

When Training Fails: Real Case Studies

Take compliance training. It’s essential for legal and ethical reasons, yet it’s become the punchline of corporate learning. Gartner reports that traditional compliance training doesn’t reduce risk. It often just checks a box. Check-the-box training may meet compliance requirements, but it rarely meets behavioral outcomes, their 2023 report states.

Starbucks experienced this lesson in 2018 when it shut down more than 8,000 locations for a single day to conduct racial bias training. The move was audacious and costly, but successfully captured attention. But one day wasn’t enough. The company recognized that their initiative served as an initial step while understanding culture change demands time and requires ongoing reinforcement along with leadership modeling.

So What Actually Works?

We possess clear examples demonstrating effective strategies.

• Businesses such as PwC apply trivia-style games as educational tools to enhance AI literacy within their workforce. These mechanisms release dopamine neurotransmitters and boost active involvement while ensuring content retention.

• Frontline workers receive daily quizzes through Axonify’s microlearning platform which helps them reinforce knowledge while working. Learners retain more, and apply more.

• Let employees experience policy through practical scenario simulations instead of just hearing about it. Growth Engineering suggests scenario-based learning as a way to evoke emotional involvement while strengthening long-term memory retention.

• Google’s G2G program allows employees to teach their peers which results in more personal and socially engaging scalable learning experiences.

• Deloitte’s internal learning ecosystem enables employees to choose courses that match their career goals through AI-generated recommendations, empowering them to choose.

According to Josh Bersin,

“Good online learning does not ‘preach’ – it ‘simulates.'”

Let’s Make It Human

Organizational training programs can be dynamic and engaging rather than repetitive tasks. Learning in the workplace provides opportunities for personal development while fostering creative thinking and bringing joy to employees. But that requires a mindset shift. We need to respect our learners. The pioneer of adult learning theory Malcolm Knowles explains that adult learners require respect because they pursue specific goals and seek relevant educational content.

We need to reexamine how we approach our responsibilities as learning designers and leaders.

Instead of asking: What approach should we adopt to ensure all participants finish the course?

Ask: How can we create something worth remembering?

Corporate training isn’t broken. It’s just boring.

But it doesn’t have to be.