Recommended by HBR-

Core problem + Why is this big and strategically relevant?

Analysis + Why do organizations get this wrong?

Case studies + Who’s doing it right and how?

CTA + What to do on Monday morning?

—

Core Message:

The thesis reveals that most training is evaluated superficially, and that meaningful change happens only when organizations:

• Rethink what success means
• Align evaluation with strategy
• Build continuous feedback loops

—

Working title: Why Companies Waste Billions on Training—and How to Finally Make It Work.

— Introduce the problem

Despite record-breaking investments in corporate training of over $100 billion annually in the U.S. alone, most companies still struggle to prove that these efforts deliver real results. In an era where continuous learning is vital for organizational agility, KPIs such as satisfaction surveys, Net Promoter Scores (NPS), and course completion rates dominate the landscape, but these superficial metrics are missing the mark, failing to capture meaningful outcomes such as behavior change or business impact. This is, in turn, part of a bigger problem: companies are measuring what’s easy, not what matters.

As a part of a recent study, we interviewed 23 L&D professionals across Europe from diverse industries and company sizes. Their message was clear: the tools and frameworks we use to evaluate training are fundamentally misaligned with how learning actually happens and what executives really care about. Without proper evaluation, organizations cannot determine whether their training initiatives are driving desired changes or contributing to strategic objectives, and such ineffective training evaluations are leading to misallocated resources and missed opportunities for growth.

— Provide an analysis

Mismatch in Measurement

The first issue is that success is defined in fragmented and inconsistent ways. Some organizations focus on participation rates, others on learner feedback, and a few aim for behavioral change or business KPIs. But the most commonly used metrics are the least meaningful: how many people completed the training and how much they liked it.

Quote example: "We have 100% completion on mandatory training," X from company Y said. "But that says nothing about whether employees learned anything."