**Originally posted on Forbes.com**

According to one study, it is estimated that the global spend on training for 2016 was $360 billion and has been growing at a compounded rate of 10% per year. The 2016 spend for training in North America was $162 billion.

So given this huge investment by corporate America, why does it seem like so many training initiatives fail?

Here are the top nine reasons I find:

1. Lack of buy-in/involvement from corporate leadership

2. Poorly delineated success metrics/defined outcomes

3. Lack of accountability or engagement on behalf of the employee population

4. Reason for training is never clearly communicated

5. Lack of resources

6. Training is viewed as an event versus a process

7. Lack of follow-up/follow-through

8. Belief that training fixes everything

9. Training content is not up to date/too generic

If you want to ultimately improve the ROI of your training initiatives, it’s important to provide blended and experiential learning options. This increases receptivity to and implementation of new ideas. When a company blends classroom learning with e-learning and webinars into a private learning community, it stands to see improvements in:

• Employee satisfaction and morale: People are better able to achieve their personal and professional goals.

• Turnover: People are less likely to leave when they’re successful and maximizing their earning potential.

• Onboarding: With self-paced training that isn’t resource-dependent, knowledge transfer is accelerated, resulting in a shorter onboard time.

Transform your training into a private learning community. Allow participants to collaborate with peers and subject matter experts to address unique needs.

Because this learning environment is capable of immediate feedback and modification, participants identify new opportunities for knowledge-sharing, operations imperatives, service updates, market expansion or changing customer needs.

You can also allow participants to revisit specific sections of the learning community as needed and instantly post new insights in audio, video or text formats for peer review and input. This repository of information will allow you to reinforce system-wide, established best practices plus bring on new employees more quickly.

Providing content that is specific and up to date is truly blended learning. It doesn’t require additional resources. It increases engagement of the employee population and is a process versus an event. And with a testing certification component, it can measure successes and outcomes.

To make the most of blended and experiential learning, ensure your training is:

• Affordable. Don’t require trainees to travel. With online training, you wouldn’t need to worry about securing a venue, bringing in professional trainers, etc.

• Time-effective. Make your training self-paced, so trainees are able to access it anytime, anywhere, from any device.

• Faster/more consistent. Ensure your training is on-demand, not instructor-dependent or standardized.

• Scalable/flexible. Your training should be easily updatable. (There’s no need for printed material costs when it’s online).

• Suitable for millennials. Millennials love interactive content and multimedia.

• Able to maximize knowledge transfer/retention. A blended learning solution can increase knowledge retention simply because it is more engaging than learning in a traditional classroom setting.

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