Identifying “dead horses” in your organization
is an experience that is shared among employees in many organizations and industries. It’s that training program or system that everyone knows is outdated and clearly brings minimal value, yet no one is taking action to scrap or rebuild. It could be a compliance course that was recorded years ago, is missing information, or exists on a platform that people rarely use. These and other examples are what we call the “dead horses” of learning. However, despite being clearly inefficient, organizations refuse to “fire” and make changes, wasting resources and terminating employees along the way. In this article, we’ll highlight what the “dead horse” theory is and how you can recognize the real indicators of a failed training strategy.
What is the Dead Horse Theory?
The theory is named after the saying, “When you find you’re riding a dead horse, the best strategy is to quit.” You may also have heard that “you can’t ride (or beat) a dead horse.” These phrases symbolize the futility of wasting your efforts and resources on something that no longer works. In terms of an organization, a “dead horse” is a strategy, system, or program that has outlived its usefulness and exists only out of habit. When it comes to learning specifically, it can refer to a training program that is outdated, incomplete, or unengaging for employees.
How does a training strategy become a “dead horse”?
But what contributes to the failure of a training initiative, provided it is ever effective? There can be a number of reasons for this, but a common change is a change that hasn’t been accounted for. As organizations evolve, grow in number or enter a new market, old strategies can become increasingly irrelevant. Likewise, neglecting to update training programs, not only to incorporate new information but also to keep them fresh and interesting for learners, can lead to a “dead horse” of learning. Finally, lack of measurement of learning results in training measures losing their focus and becoming redundant.
5 Signs of Ineffective Training
Above, we explained the reasons why one or more learning “dead horses” may be causing your organization. However, what you may be more interested in are the specific symptoms that indicate failed training programs. Let’s see what they are.
Decreased engagement levels
The first and most obvious sign that your company has a “dead horse” that needs attention is a disconnect between learners. Employees are skipping or rushing through modules, multitasking during courses, or refusing to complete a course. Decreased engagement can be reflected in low course completion and high drop-off rates, limited participation in learning forums, as well as negative or negative feedback. Engagement is an important component of a successful learning experience, leading to better understanding and application of knowledge. Any downward trends require immediate attention.
Performance is not improving
The best way to determine the success of a training initiative is to observe the changes it brings about in daily activities. If employee performance and performance aren’t improving in any significant way, it probably means the learning program isn’t translating the content into actionable insights that employees can apply to their work. To identify this problem, businesses need to pay attention to how training affects PI and performance measurement progress. Post-training evaluations can also reveal a lot about knowledge retention, as well as managers’ reports of behavioral changes in their own teams.
Reactive rather than proactive training
Another indicator that the “dead horse” theory applies to your organization is training programs that focus on dealing with problems rather than anticipating them. A company with a successful training strategy can look to the future and design courses to prevent problems from happening instead of constantly playing catch-up. If this situation sounds familiar, it likely points to a deep misunderstanding between organizational goals and learning objectives. Obvious indicators include training programs that are created hastily as a response to a particular problem, rather than as an answer to a particular problem.
Obsolete content
Modern learners are looking for engaging learning experiences that keep up with technological advancements as well as their busy schedules. So, when the content of your training courses is outdated, the reaction will be faster. The red flags that learners react worst to are outdated visuals, irrelevant examples, incorrect information, or overcrowded slides that fail to hold their interest. The duration of the modules is also something to keep in mind. Sessions that last longer than 20 minutes do not meet current attention spans and are likely to result in higher drop-off rates.
Learning has become a chore
The ultimate indicator of a learning “dead horse” is your organization’s sense of responsibility for its learning and development strategy. In other words, employees have stopped seeing learning as an opportunity for development and are only participating because they have to. Although often not immediately obvious, it becomes quickly apparent when you see employees rushing through training courses to get back to work. Another symptom is minimal or no participation in non-compulsory training activities. This is a particularly important indicator of the “dead horse” theory, which reveals that employees see no value in learning and are adopting an apathetic attitude that stifles growth and innovation.
The result
The “dead horse” theory describes ineffective programs or strategies that organizations refuse to abandon even as they exhaust their resources. Most companies have them, but few recognize them or take steps to correct the situation. Learning a “dead horse” doesn’t necessarily mean your company is failing, but rather that it’s evolving. Identifying ineffective or irrelevant elements indicates a clearer understanding of your organization’s dynamics, and empowers you to take the necessary steps to navigate effectively. To achieve this goal, pay attention to the symbols we discovered in this article to identify those that are no longer serving their original purpose and need to be updated or replaced.
