Why Training Fails…and What We Can Do About It

Before becoming an instructional designer ten years ago, I was a teacher. As I reflect back on the education courses I took in graduate school, I think of a class that seemed odd at first, but then ended up being one of my favorites.

It was called Change Strategies.

We learned how individuals are very wary of change, and how they often resist it at first. A study done many years ago by educator Gene Hall at the University of Texas looked at why innovative programs and training didn’t have the impact they were supposed…