Professional Development Training: What Actually Works (And What’s Just Expensive Window Dressing)
Here’s the thing about professional development training that’s been bugging me for years.
Twenty three years I’ve been running workshops, sitting through courses, and watching good money get flushed down the drain on training that does absolutely nothing except tick boxes for HR departments. And before you think I’m just having a whinge, I make my living from this stuff. I’ve been running workshops across Australia for over twenty years, so I’m essentially criticising my own industry here.
The problem isnt that professional development doesnt work. It’s that most of it is designed by people who’ve never actually had to implement what they’re teaching. You know the type. New graduates with their fancy qualifications, armed with PowerPoint presentations full of corporate speak and textbook theories that sound impressive but fall apart the moment someone asks “yeah, but how do we actually do this on a Tuesday afternoon when three people are off sick and the system’s crashed?”
Recently attended a workshop run by one of the major training companies and the facilitator spent nearly an hour banging on about “genuine workplace engagement.” Lovely slides. Nice graphics. Then during the break, I watched him have a go at the catering staff because they’d stuffed up something trivial.
That’s the industry in a nutshell right there.
Let me tell you what really makes a difference, though it wont win any innovation awards. Proper mentoring relationships. Proper mentoring, not that speed dating nonsense where you pair someone up with whoever happens to be available. I’m talking about creating relationships that make sense for both parties, then giving them time actual time, not some rushed coffee catch ups to work through problems together.
The training that changed my career happened with Bob, this gruff site supervisor in Adelaide. Worked alongside him for months, learning how he managed complex projects, how she structured her day, how she knew which battles to fight and which ones to walk away from. No workbook. No certificate at the end. Just real skills from someone who’d mastered their craft over decades.
But you cant scale that, can you? Cant put fifty people through it at once and charge $300 a head. So instead we get these one size fits all training sessions where everyone sits in bland hotel function rooms, checking their phones, and goes back to their desk with a pile of materials that’ll gather dust.
I’m not saying all group training is useless. Skills based workshops often work well. Show someone how to use a new software system, let them practice it, job done. Safety training saves lives. Compliance training keeps you out of court. These are concrete things with obvious outcomes.
Where it falls apart is the interpersonal skills training. Executive coaching. Interpersonal development. Group dynamics. Efficiency training. All the things that actually matter most for career progression, and we’ve turned them into these template driven, universal solutions that ignore the fact that every workplace is distinct.
Recently watched construction supervisors doing team building exercises designed for retail managers. Makes about as much sense as applying identical strategies to running a hospital and managing a coffee shop.
The mining manager needs to know how to have tough conversations with union representatives and handle safety incidents without losing his cool. The community worker needs approaches for crisis intervention and supporting vulnerable clients. Separate problems. Distinct solutions. Same training program.
And another thing we’ve become obsessed with measuring everything except the things that actually matter. Attendance numbers? Satisfaction ratings? Cost per head? Meanwhile, nobody checks six months later to see if anyone’s actually applying what they learned.
I follow up with course attendees for twelve months. About a third implement something meaningful from what we covered. That’s not awful, actually most trainers see maybe 15% application rates. But it means seventy percent of the time and money spent is essentially pointless. Try explaining that to a CFO.
The training that makes a difference always has these elements. First, it addresses a real problem the person is currently facing, not some hypothetical scenario. Second, there’s proper hands on practice with expert guidance. Third, ongoing support and check ins are built into the process.
Everything else is just costly entertainment.
Dont get me started on e learning platforms. The e learning programs that let you tick off “Executive Communication” during a coffee break. I’ve seen people finish forty minute courses in twelve minutes by clicking through without reading anything. Their completion certificates look exactly the same as someone who actually put in the effort.
This might be controversial, but participants need to take some responsibility too. We’ve created this culture where development is done to people rather than with people. People rock up expecting to be transformed by sitting passively through a workshop, then moan when it doesnt change their lives.
People who benefit most arrive with genuine problems to solve, take notes, ask for clarification, and follow up afterwards. They treat it like serious skill building rather than a day off.
Remember this participant from a communication workshop, Michelle who worked for a tech company in Brisbane. Came with a list of actual projects she was struggling with, asked detailed questions about everything, stayed back afterwards to work through particular scenarios. Within a year, he was running his own division. Coincidence? Maybe. But I dont think so.
Businesses that benefit think strategically about development. They assess actual needs, select targeted solutions, and build follow up processes. They dont just pick programs based on what sounds good.
BHP does this really well. Their management development programs are targeted, applicable, and tied directly to business outcomes. They monitor career progression of participants and modify the programs based on what actually works. Not revolutionary stuff, just basic common sense applied systematically.
Most organisations treat professional development like a nice to have rather than a core business function. They’ll spend millions on new equipment or software, then resist at investing properly in the people who have to use it.
And the irony is that in most businesses, human performance is the biggest variable in success or failure. You can have cutting edge systems and processes in the world, but if your people dont know how to use them correctly, you’re finished.
This might upset my industry colleagues, but organisations should develop their own people internally. Your best performers, the ones who’ve actually mastered the skills you want to develop, teaching others in your organisation how they do it. Understanding your specific challenges matters. Workplace context matters. Understanding your specific challenges and constraints matters.
Outside experts make sense for niche skills or independent insights. But for core skills development? Your own people are usually better placed to deliver it.
This isnt popular with my fellow trainers, but it’s honest. We’ve convinced organisations they need us for everything, when what they really need is better systems for capturing and sharing internal knowledge.
Where do we go from here? Professional development training will continue because organisations need it and compliance demands it. But maybe we can get serious about separating useful from useless.
Stop pretending that every training need can be solved with a half day workshop. Focus on metrics that reflect real impact. Concentrate on applicable knowledge with immediate use. And for the love of all that’s sacred, end the practice of one size fits all mandatory training.
Real development occurs when experts share their knowledge with people ready to learn. Everything else is just paperwork.
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