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The £2.5 Million Question
Your organisation spends £250,000 annually on training. Twelve months later, what have you got to show for it?
If you’re like most UK businesses, the honest answer is: “We’re not entirely sure.”
Research reveals that only 10% of training transfers to measurable workplace behaviour change. That means £225,000 of your investment evaporates.
Multiply this across a decade, and you’ve wasted £2.25 million on training that didn’t stick.
As a Finance Director, you wouldn’t tolerate this waste in any other budget line. Why accept it in training?
The Training That Changed a £450k Bottom Line
In 2002, Paul Taylor from DHL approached me with a challenge: transform his team into high performers whilst delivering improved productivity and reduced costs.
We didn’t give them a lecture. We didn’t show them a PowerPoint.
We immersed them in a business simulation - making cardboard dragsters under commercial pressure, redesigning processes, solving real-time problems, and experiencing the friction of cross-functional collaboration.
Why Generic Training Fails and Personalised Development Wins
Two managers attend the same leadership training. Both rate it highly. Both leave with the same action plan.
Six months later, one has transformed their team’s performance. The other has reverted to old habits.
What’s the difference?
The Method That Captures 4-7x More ROI
Your training programme just ended. Participants rated it 4.8 out of 5. The feedback forms are glowing. Leadership is delighted.
Three months later, nothing has changed.
Welcome to the satisfaction trap—where high ratings mask low transfer, and low transfer kills R.O.I.
If you’re serious about capturing the 353% ROI that research proves training can deliver, it’s time to talk about delivery method. Because the gap between 10% transfer (lectures) and 70% transfer (simulations) is the difference between wasted budget and transformational impact.
A Conversation Every Finance Director Needs to Hear
Picture this: Research shows training can deliver £4.53 for every £1 invested. That is a whopping 353% return. Your organisation spends £100,000 on leadership training. You should see £353,000 in measurable business value. If you invest £30,000 the return should be £105,900.
The reality for most businesses with standard training delivery methods, even after twelve months later, they’ve captured perhaps 10% of that potential. If you were hoping for £353,000 you are probably missing £318,000 of your ROI.
The money didn’t vanish. The potential was real. So what happened?