Decrease the Cost of Training: 6 Research-Backed Steps to Take

Like Any Business Process, You Should Look to Decrease the Cost of Training
If you are looking for a fast, credible way to decrease the cost of training, start here. Project postmortem data consistently points to the same conclusion: the most effective way to lower the true cost of training is not by cutting programs indiscriminately, but by sharply focusing on measurable business impact — not participant satisfaction scores or attendance metrics.

Why does this matter?

Because much of corporate training does not demonstrably move the needle on the organization’s strategic priorities. It may be well received. It may be well attended. And it may still deliver little to no business value.

When training is disconnected from real performance outcomes, it becomes a cost center rather than a strategic investment. In those cases, programs can often be eliminated outright or scaled back substantially with minimal downside — and sometimes with positive second-order effects, such as sharper priorities and greater respect for the learning function.

The uncomfortable truth is this: if you cannot show how a training initiative improves execution, revenue, productivity, quality, or risk mitigation, you are not managing training as a business process. You are managing activity.

The fastest path to lower training costs is not cheaper content, online learning, or better logistics. It is ruthless alignment to business value — and the discipline to stop funding what does not deliver it.

Corporate Training Research: Many Initiatives Can Be Eliminated or Scaled Back
It may sound blunt, but the data is hard to ignore. Across more than 800 measured training initiatives, only one in five participants showed a sustained change in on-the-job behavior based on training alone.

That pattern is echoed by external research. In a McKinsey survey, just 10% of respondents said their organizations’ frontline manager training effectively prepares managers to lead. Meanwhile, Bersin research found that 72% of business executives expect clear, specific business impact from their training investments.

The implication is not that training is ineffective — it is that much of it is poorly designed, weakly reinforced, or disconnected from how work actually gets done. When learning is treated as an event rather than a performance initiative, results predictably fall short.

This is why many training initiatives can be reduced or eliminated without harming performance. In fact, pruning low-impact programs often creates space to invest more deeply in fewer, higher-leverage efforts that are tightly aligned to business priorities and supported by managers, systems, and real-world application.

The real risk is not cutting training. The real risk is continuing to fund activity that feels productive but fails to change behavior where it matters most.

The Purpose of Learning and Development
The role of Learning and Development is not to deliver training — it is to improve performance where it matters most to people and to the business.

As a learning professional, your mandate is to design learning solutions that measurably change behavior, strengthen capability, and enable better business outcomes. When a learning initiative is clearly tied to outcomes employees care about and results the business depends on, you should move forward with confidence and urgency.

When the impact on people or the business is vague, assumed, or impossible to measure, that is a warning sign. In those cases, the responsible choice is not to defend the program, but to question it — and, when necessary, eliminate or scale it back.

Effective L&D operates with the same discipline as any other business function. It prioritizes what works, stops funding what does not, and continually reallocates resources toward learning that drives real-world performance. Anything less is activity without accountability.

Steps to Decrease the Cost of Training While Increasing Training Effectiveness

Executives rarely scrutinize the cost of training when it clearly works and addresses real business priorities. They scrutinize spending on initiatives that feel optional, disconnected, or hard to justify compared to everything else competing for attention and resources.  If your training is perceived as “nice to have,” cost will always be an issue. If it is seen as essential to strategy execution and results, cost becomes secondary to value.

Here are six critical steps to ensure your training — and your overall training strategy — genuinely matters to the business:

1. Define the Business Need
   The fastest way to decrease the cost of training is to start with absolute clarity on the business problem you are trying to solve. Before designing any learning solution, define the specific business goal, performance gap, or risk with the stakeholders who own the outcome.

   If the business need cannot be articulated in concrete terms (e.g., revenue growth, productivity, quality, speed, customer impact, employee retention, or risk reduction) training is likely the wrong lever or only part of the answer. Clear definition creates focus, prevents unnecessary content, and ensures learning is aimed at changing the few behaviors that actually matter.

   When the business need is explicit and shared, training stops being an expense to manage and becomes a targeted investment in performance.

2. Identify Success Metrics
   Next, define the critical few — typically one to three — business metrics the training is expected to move. These should be outcomes leaders already care about and track, such as revenue, margin, productivity, engagement, retention, or customer loyalty.

   Avoid the temptation to measure everything. More metrics create noise, not clarity. Focusing on a small set of meaningful indicators forces discipline in design and makes success unmistakable.

   If you cannot clearly link the training to movement in these metrics, reconsider the initiative. Training that cannot be tied to measurable outcomes is easy to question — and even easier to cut.

3. Calculate the Business Value
   Translate the success metrics into tangible business value by defining the current state, the desired future state, and the economic impact of closing the gap. This step turns learning from a cost discussion into a value conversation.

   Be explicit. If revenue increases by 20%, what does that mean in incremental profit? If attrition drops by 15%, what hard dollars are saved and what delivery or customer targets become achievable as a result?

   When the financial and operational upside is clear, training is no longer justified on belief or intent. It is justified on return. This clarity also sets a rational ceiling on investment — ensuring you spend proportionally to the value the initiative is expected to create.

4. Compare the Value
   Once the potential business value is clear, pressure-test it against other strategic priorities competing for time, attention, and resources. Not every worthwhile outcome is worth pursuing now.

   Ask a simple, disciplined question: does the value created by hitting this target meaningfully outweigh the opportunity cost of not investing elsewhere? If the answer is no, the issue is not execution — it is prioritization.

   This comparison ensures training investments are made intentionally, aligned to what matters most at the moment, and sequenced appropriately. Training that does not win this comparison should be deferred, redesigned, or stopped.

5. Design the Approach
   With priorities set, determine whether training is actually part of the solution — and if so, what else must change for the desired impact to occur. Training alone rarely drives results.

   High-impact solutions often require a coordinated approach that may include strategy and culture alignment, process improvements, change management, technology enablement, performance management, coaching, and aligned rewards and recognition.

   This step prevents a common and costly mistake: using training to compensate for unclear expectations, broken processes, or misaligned incentives. When learning is designed as part of a broader performance system, it stops being an isolated intervention and starts driving real, sustained change.

6. Deliver the Solution
   Execute a holistic learning solution that aligns with the business need, success metrics, and broader performance system. This includes assessing readiness, designing content and experiences, implementing with the right mix of delivery methods (ideally learning that occurs within the flow of work) , and rigorously measuring learning outcomes.

   The goal is not just to deliver training — it is to create a seamless solution that drives the intended business impact. Every element should reinforce the desired behaviors, support adoption, and provide clear evidence of value.

The Bottom Line
In our experience, in more than half of cases, training alone is not the solution to a business or people challenge. In these situations, the smartest move to decrease the cost of training is to spend nothing — avoiding the all-too-common trap of funding programs that deliver little value.

In the remaining cases, learning is intentionally designed to drive measurable impact, improving both employee capability and business outcomes. When executed with discipline and focus, training becomes a strategic lever that strengthens organizational performance, supports critical priorities, and contributes to long-term success.

To learn more about more effective corporate training, download the Top 10 Warning Signs Your Training Function  May Be in Trouble

by Tristam Brown: CEO

Tristam Brown is an executive business consultant and organizational development expert with more than three decades of experience helping organizations accelerate performance, build high-impact teams, and turn strategy into execution. As CEO of LSA Global, he works with leaders to get and stay aligned™ through research-backed strategy, culture, and talent solutions that produce measurable, business-critical results. See full bio.