Top 5 Training Strategy Mistakes to Avoid

Training Strategy Mistakes to Avoid
Experienced learning leaders recognize that missteps in training strategy can undermine even the most capable teams. Effective leaders begin by crafting a clear strategy that makes deliberate choices about where to focus and what actions will drive the greatest impact. Without this clarity, even well-intentioned training initiatives can scatter energy and dilute results.

Winning Training Strategies Make an Impact
When executed thoughtfully, a strong training strategy enables a learning and development function to deliver far more than isolated successes. A function without strategic direction may achieve short-term wins, but it will struggle to earn the sustained trust, support, and results needed to influence business outcomes meaningfully. Strategic training goes beyond tactical execution — it shapes careers, strengthens teams, and delivers measurable impact for the organization.

Multiple Paths to Training Strategy Success
There is no single formula for building a high-performing training function. Our experience shows that success can come from a variety of strategic approaches, each aligned with the broader business and talent management priorities. While one path may emphasize skill development, another may focus on performance enablement or leadership pipeline building — the “best” approach depends on your organizational goals and the outcomes you seek. What differentiates exceptional training functions from average ones is intentionality, alignment, and the ability to translate strategy into actionable initiatives.

Top 5 Training Strategies and the Related Training Strategy Mistakes to Avoid
The key to avoiding the top five training strategy mistakes is to identify and stick to a core focus that works in your specific environment and addresses your most pressing business and people needs. A successful training function, however, always aligns with the company’s business strategy, organizational culture, and talent management scheme.

1. Skill and Development Focus

• Strategic Purpose
  To develop and maintain skills of target employees to improve career development, employee engagement and productivity
• Training Strategy Mistakes to Avoid
  Assuming that a lack of skills, competency or knowledge is always the root cause of the problem
• Examples
  GE’s Management Development Institute or Accenture’s Corporate University in St. Charles, Illinois

2. External Customer Focus

• Strategic Purpose
  To deliver technical skills and knowledge to customers, vendors, suppliers, or partners to increase loyalty, mind-share, and adoption
• Training Strategy Mistakes to Avoid
  Assuming that it will be easy to keep product and service information accurate and up to date and that programs created without instructional design expertise will be effective
• Examples
  Cisco’s Certification or Microsoft’s Customer Education Programs

3. Change Management Focus

• Strategic Purpose
  To enable organization-wide change and transformation
• Training Strategy Mistakes to Avoid
  Lack of top management support and direct involvement.  Thinking that transforming corporate cultures, structures, and processes will be easy

4.  Strategic Business Focus

• Strategic Purpose
  To support the design and implementation of key strategic initiatives
• Training Strategy Mistake to Avoid
  Thinking that anything other than a high fidelity action-learning approach will suffice or that it is too difficult, too expensive or too time consuming to measure skill adoption and business impact
• Example
  Motorola’s roll-out of their quality initiative and expansion into Asia

5. Research Academic Focus

• Strategic Purpose
  To be at the forefront of future needs and approaches
• Training Strategy Mistakes to Avoid
  Assuming that you can replicate research labs and universities dedicated to research and experiment

The Bottom Line
Before implementing any training initiative — whether it involves systems, resources, processes, programs, people, content, or budgets — ensure you and your executive team share a clear understanding of the training function’s fundamental purpose and how it directly supports the corporate strategy. Without alignment on the motivations and long-term objectives of learning and development, even the most well-designed programs are unlikely to achieve meaningful results or gain sustained support from key stakeholders.

To learn more about training strategy mistakes to avoid, please download the full article: The 5 Most Common Training Function Strategies and Key Mistakes to Avoid