Six mistakes leaders make when sending people to training

Executive overview

Most training fails not because of what happens in the classroom, but because of what leaders do (or don't do) before, during, and after. Leaders routinely treat training as a checkbox: register someone, done.

Training only works when the leader stays actively involved at every stage — from setting expectations upfront, through the sessions, to creating application opportunities afterward.

The leader's behaviour before and after training matters more than the training itself.

Mistake 1: Not participating yourself

• If you're sending your whole team, you need to be there too.
• Your presence signals that the training matters; your absence signals it doesn't.
• Even if you know the material, being in the room lets you see what questions your people ask and where they struggle — invaluable for supporting them afterward.
• If you genuinely can't attend, explain why to your team upfront; don't just disappear.
• Leaders who skip while implying they'll attend destroy trust — and that damage outlasts the training.

Mistake 2: Using training as a substitute for feedback

• Quietly registering someone for a course to signal they're underperforming almost never works.
• Most people don't read the message — they assume the training is routine professional development.
• On the rare occasion they do read it, they show up resentful that you didn't speak to them directly.
• Training is what happens after a candid conversation, not instead of one.
• Have the direct conversation first; then training becomes the solution, not the message.

Mistake 3: Making no accommodations during training

• People already stretched to their limit who get sent to training — with no schedule relief and no acknowledgement — disengage mentally.
• You can require physical attendance; you can't require mental presence.
• Where possible: clear conflicting commitments, reassign projects, adjust shifts.
• Where that's not possible: acknowledge the extra effort explicitly and thank people formally.
• Disengaged learners waste everyone's time and the organization's money.

Mistake 4: Sending one person to train everyone else

• Intentions are good — it looks like a cost-saving measure.
• In practice, the returning employee's "training" becomes a five-minute staff-meeting recap.
• Content is a commodity; the value of training is breaking old behavioural patterns through practice, not just information transfer.
• Even when training is transformational for the individual, one person returning to an unchanged team gets pulled back to old habits by the surrounding culture.
• If a majority of your team needs the skill, a majority of your team needs the training.

Mistake 5: Failing to provide application opportunities

• Sending people to presentation training and then giving them no presentations to deliver is a common waste.
• Common knowledge is not common practice — knowing something and doing it are different.
• Before the training starts, identify the projects or responsibilities where the new skill will be applied.
• Application opportunities during or immediately after training are what convert learning into behavior change.
• If the organization sponsors the training, the organization shares responsibility for creating the conditions to use it.

Mistake 6: Going silent after training begins

• The average manager stops thinking about training the moment the first session starts.
• Your job as a leader is just beginning when training starts, not ending.
• Maintain regular conversations before, during, and after — covering goals, concerns, application opportunities, and what's being learned.
• Involve employees in designing the training process where possible; ownership drives engagement.
• Good training providers will want to engage both leader and employee — not just deliver content and leave.
• If you don't have these conversations, your competitors will — and they'll benefit from the investment you made.