training that sticks
Why training fades fast, and what sticks instead
Most training fades within a fortnight. That's a design problem, not a motivation problem, and the fix starts with the brief, not the facilitator.
Training consultancy
Not every training gap needs training
We audit what exists, name the real problem, and recommend what the evidence supports.
Something needs to change. Nobody is sure what.
Most training decisions start the same way. Performance dips, a survey flags a gap, or a leader senses something is off. A course gets commissioned, or a trainer hired, before anyone establishes what is happening. Sometimes that response turns out to be right, but more often it treats whatever symptom is visible while the real cause carries on underneath it.
This work exists for organisations in that position. We look at what is there: the training department, the learning management system (LMS), the onboarding process, the skills matrices. Then we work out where the real problem sits. Often it is not a training gap at all: a process nobody documented, a manager avoiding a conversation, or a learning and development (L&D) function with no capacity for anything beyond keeping up.
The recommendation follows what we find, not a standard package. That might mean a training program, a redesigned onboarding process, a skills matrix nobody has built, or fractional leadership for a function with no senior owner. It might also mean less training than expected and more attention somewhere else entirely.
Where training decisions usually go wrong
Patterns in organisations that know development matters but haven't built structure around it. If several apply, direction is usually the missing piece.
Training bought before the problem is understood
A course or workshop gets commissioned because something needs to be seen to happen, before anyone has worked out what is wrong.
Onboarding that leaks knowledge
Experienced staff carry knowledge, but nothing captures it. Every departure takes a piece of it, and every new starter relearns the same lessons the hard way.
No skills matrices or role pathways
Nobody can say, role by role, what good looks like or what the next step up requires, so development happens by favour rather than by design.
An L&D function stretched thin or missing
One person covers onboarding, compliance and leadership development at once, or nobody covers any of it at all.
Content scattered across drives
Slide decks, PDFs and half-finished guides live in personal folders and old shared drives, with no single place anyone can find the current version.
New-hire training run by whoever is free
There is no designed process everyone follows the same way. Onboarding quality depends on which colleague happened to have a quiet week that month.
No way to tell if training worked
Feedback forms get collected and filed. Nobody tracks whether behaviour on the job actually changed, or whether the investment made any real difference.
What the work can cover
Not every engagement touches every area. These are the building blocks, and which ones get used depends on what your organisation needs.
Working out what is needed
- Training needs analysis
- Learning strategy aligned to business priorities
- Program evaluation and measurement design
- The case for training, or against it
The training function itself
- Training department structure and capacity
- Facilitation review and delivery standards
- LMS and learning process review
- Training calendar review
Onboarding and new hires
- End-to-end onboarding review
- New-hire training design and ownership
- Knowledge handover from experienced staff
- Time-to-competence for new roles
Skills, pathways and frameworks
- Skills matrices
- Role-based development pathways
- Leadership frameworks
- Progression tied to demonstrated skill
Content, coaching and ongoing support
- Internal training documentation and content development
- Trainer coaching
- Outsourced L&D support
- Fractional training leadership
Built for leaders who know something is off
- HR directors
- L&D managers and directors
- Heads of operations
- COOs
- CEOs of scaling organisations
- General managers without a dedicated L&D function
- People and culture leaders
- Contact centre and CX leaders
How the work is structured
Formats combine depending on what the audit finds. None of this is sold as a fixed package.
Audit engagements
A focused review of what exists across the training function, onboarding, content and LMS, ending in a clear, honest recommendation.
Fractional support
Senior training leadership on a part-time basis, for organisations that need direction but not a full-time hire.
Build projects
Scoped work to design or fix a specific thing: an onboarding process, a skills matrix, a training calendar, a set of internal documentation.
Ongoing advisory
Continued input once the initial work is done, as a standing point of contact while the training function matures.
How the work runs
A straight line from finding out what is really going on to leaving your team able to run it without us.
Understand the operation
Time spent learning how the business runs: the roles, the pressure points, and what people say about training and onboarding when nobody senior is in the room.
Audit what exists
A structured look at the training function, the LMS, the onboarding process, the content library and any skills frameworks already in place, however informal.
Recommend the intervention honestly
A clear statement of what the evidence supports, including where that means less training than expected, or a fix that has nothing to do with training at all.
Build or fix
The agreed work: a redesigned onboarding process, a skills matrix, a training calendar, a documentation library, or a program built from nothing.
Support and hand over
Handover to your team with the materials, structure and knowledge to run it without us, plus continued access if something needs adjusting afterwards.
Asked before you ask
Straight answers, and a discovery call for everything else.
What if the audit finds we do not need training at all?
Then we say so and recommend what the evidence supports. That might be a process fix, a management conversation, a tool nobody was trained to use, or a role that needs redefining before anyone could perform well in it. Training is not the default answer here.
Can you work alongside our existing L&D team?
Yes. Most engagements involve working with whoever already owns training or people development, whether that is a dedicated L&D function, an HR generalist doing it alongside everything else, or an operations leader who has inherited it.
Do we own the content and materials you build?
Yes. Anything built during a project, including documentation, onboarding materials, skills matrices and training calendars, is yours to keep, update and run without us once the work is handed over.
How does fractional training leadership work?
You get senior training leadership for an agreed number of days a month, set up to run your training function, guide your team or lead specific projects. You do not carry the cost of a full-time hire. The arrangement is agreed after discovery, shaped to what your training function needs.
If the answer is training, do you deliver it yourselves?
Where that is the right fit, yes, either directly or by pointing to the right program, such as leadership development or train-the-trainer work. Where a build project is the answer instead, we design and hand over the materials rather than running ongoing delivery.
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