Why Training Programmes Fail and How L&D Can Save Them

Georgia Hodkinson GMBPsS

Organisational Psychology Consultant

August 2025

You’ve seen it happen. The room’s buzzing, the training day’s off to a confident start. Slide decks are sleek, icebreakers are on point, feedback is glowing.

And then… nothing.

Three months later, it’s as if the day never happened. No behaviour change, no measurable impact, just another well-intentioned event filed away in the archives.

The core problem is we are treating training as a moment instead of a process.That’s where L&D has to step in to design change that sticks.

Let’s look at why most programmes fail, and how learning psychology can help us fix them.

1. Training Isn’t Connected to the Work

Here’s the reality: people don’t retain abstract information in a vacuum. Our brains forget what doesn’t feel urgent or useful. Without immediate relevance, neural connections fade fast.

Learning That Sticks reminds us that contextual anchoring, tying knowledge to real-world tasks, is one of the strongest ways to boost retention. When content mirrors the actual challenges people face, it sparks deeper engagement and recall.

The Fix: Make Learning Monday-Ready

From the outset, embed simulations, roleplays, and scenarios drawn from the team’s current projects. Swap generic examples for real ones. If learners can’t see how today’s session solves tomorrow’s to-do list, it won’t land. Better still, blend learning into the workflow: on-the-job assignments, integrated prompts, and task-based learning.

2. One-Off Sessions

The forgetting curve is brutal. Hermann Ebbinghaus showed we can lose up to 70% of new information within 24 hours without reinforcement. Yet organisations keep betting on one-day workshops like they’re magic bullets. Science, and common sense, says otherwise. Without repetition and retrieval, knowledge simply won’t stick.

The Fix: Use Spaced Learning and Retrieval Practice

Spacing content over time and using retrieval practices are proven to embed learning. Short follow-ups often outperform marathon sessions.

Microlearning is a secret weapon here: five-minute bursts at the right moment can reinforce concepts far better than a binder of notes.

3. Leadership Isn’t on the Journey

Imagine a team leaves training inspired to give better feedback, only to find their manager still avoids tough conversations and rewards silence. Behaviour is contagious, and people copy what leaders do. Without visible support from the top, training feels optional, performative, and short-lived.

The Fix: Get Leaders to Walk the Talk

Even the best-designed programme will fail if it’s not embedded in culture. Social learning cues shape how we apply new behaviours. So get leaders involved early. Ask them to share why the programme matters, join a cohort, or lead part of a session. Even better, have them commit publicly to one new behaviour and report back. Their example creates permission. Their consistency builds culture.

The Psychology of Sticky Learning

What makes learning last comes down to how the brain forms habits, processes meaning, and responds to emotion. Here are three essentials from Learning That Sticks:

• Cognitive Load: People only absorb so much. Keep sessions focused and allow time.

• Emotion Drives Memory – Stories and personal reflection leave a lasting imprint.

• Habits Through Rewards – Build behaviours into the environment, trigger and reward!

  
  

Treat Learning as Culture Work

The best training is an ongoing experience, grounded in psychology and sustained through culture. It’s practice, feedback, and reflection repeated until the new behaviour becomes simply how we work.

For L&D, the mission is clear: create change that sticks by designing for the messy, brilliant reality of how humans actually learn.

So, next time you’re planning a programme, ask: Will this stick? 

If not, what would make it?

If you’re ready to build training that drives lasting behaviour change, let’s talk.