I’ll mention training, leadership, management, and presentation skills. I’ll watch their eyes glaze over, their teeth clench, and then they’ll groan, “Oh yeah, I’ve been on training…”

A truth acknowledged but rarely discussed in the learning and development community is that most corporate training is actually quite dull and ineffective. Usually, someone like me stands up in front of a group and delivers training; interesting content, perhaps, but one-way and often transactional. The trainer regurgitates the work of great thinkers such as Drucker, Cialdini, Maslow, and Blanchard, speaking at people. Training is done to you. It’s not a place to think – the thinking has been done for you.

It feels like a bird that had found a pre-existing hole in a great oak, perfectly content just to sit and nest there and use the tree’s solidity as shelter.

Sometimes, training companies try to mix it up with colourful personality-style models or corporate actors (that’s where I started my L&D career). I found delegates often approached those sessions with deep cynicism. Why? Because in the past, they felt criticised. Even with actors, they were used to the deficit-focused critiques common in other training experiences, leaving them feeling like they were getting it wrong. And with personality models, they felt put in a box. They felt they were told they were just one view of them, and in turn, there was only one way for them to lead.

Many of our clients say they do not want ‘chalk and talk’; they want something new and different. They want to see real changes in culture and behaviour, and not just happy feedback sheets. Training companies may not use chalk, but while we have lots more tech, the danger is that the training will be just as ineffective.

Which brings me to the tailorbird. Have a look at this video.

Tailorbirds don’t look for a pre-existing hole to build their nests, nor do they build a rigid, generic twig nest as other birds do. Instead, A tailorbird goes to exhaustive lengths: using its beak as a needle, it pierces the edges of living leaves. Literally, it stitches them together using plant fibres and spider silk to create a bespoke cradle.

Why go to such intense lengths to tailor a nest? Because a static hole in a pole is an obvious target for predators, and a rigid twig nest breaks in a storm. By stitching living leaves together, the nest remains perfectly camouflaged in its environment. It sways with the wind, maintaining the precise tension to protect its fragile contents without snapping. It changes its shape and adapts to deal with what is actually necessary right then and there.

Metaphor klaxon: I think that is exactly how we must view workplace development. In the age of AI, generic content is cheap, but human-to-human context is invaluable. The world of work right now needs not a series of off-the-shelf modules but a bespoke solution that responds to the participants’ needs, ensuring the advice given is not ‘one size fits all’.

So, at Aspire Leadership, from our very first meeting through the design process and delivery, we conduct “fittings” to ensure the best fit of your nest, using your common language and scenarios. Our work is tailored on a granular level, not only to the organisation and the team but on the day and in the moment, to meet individual needs.

Cultivating Our Internal Ecosystem

My role at Aspire Leadership is to develop our internal community of trainers, so they have the flexibility and depth to work with this philosophy. We have brought together a diverse community of trainers that specialise in helping organisations live their values and move culture from policy and frameworks to everyday behaviours. They support one another through internal development, share ideas, and care about the values and work. We want our company culture to be a living example of the culture we are trying to create out there in the world.

The Real Definition of an Effective Leader

We design our internal development this way because how we train directly mirrors how we view good leadership. On our leadership and management courses, one of the first things we ask the room is: “Who has been a leader or manager that you would consider effective?” When people answer, they never talk about corporate models, structural matrices, or management theories.

They talk about people who were easy to chat with, sympathetic, practical, and down-to-earth. They talk about leaders who helped them feel seen, people who enabled them, and managers who actively built trust.

These deeply human factors are the exact elements that people are drawn to, even in this AI age.

Empathy is not a soft skill; it is a critical tool for navigating complex human dynamics (as Kitty discusses in Empathy in the Age of Polarisation: Why Spectrum Thinking Matters More Than Ever). Building it will stop our nests breaking in a storm.

But let’s be pragmatic—being empathetic and well-liked isn’t a silver bullet. A great manager must also drive commercial reality and hold people accountable, a balance one of our Directors, Liz, explores in Why Likability Matters in People Management (And Why It’s Not Enough on Its Own). That’s what will keep our nest safe from predators.

When leaders view their role as building a supportive, interconnected ecosystem, it helps limit worker burnout, worker attrition, and “quiet quitting”. We advocate heavily, which I’ve written about in Welcome to Lichen-Omics: Building Communities as an Alternative to Silos and Insular Working.

The “What” vs. The “How” (Rolling Up Our Sleeves)

Clients often come to us asking for the what—exactly what topics we will cover. That’s pretty easy to give, especially when I can get an AI to develop a training plan while I play with the cat. But here is the commercial reality: what does not matter if you do not nail the how.

As Liz points out in her piece, “Knowing Isn’t Doing: The Hidden Cost of Good Communication,” simply knowing in your head is useless if you cannot translate it into observable behaviour. So, our style is truly experiential: dynamic, practical and engaging. No death by PowerPoint. Not a single slide, in fact. Instead of lecturing, we roll our sleeves up and do. We use exercises, discussion, games and simulations. By doing this, we provide opportunities for informal experiential practice, allowing you to put new behaviours into practise safely before taking them back to your desk.

Whether online or face-to-face, all our work is delivered live by lovely humans who are insightful, experienced, qualified, and brilliant communicators, ensuring everyone has a good time.

If you join us in person, you will find inclusive, vibrant spaces filled with humour, bright, fun, gorgeous training rooms, ice cream, magnolia trees, and cake (vegan too, of course!). We have a strong preference for small groups, as they are informal and super effective, creating a safe and open environment that encourages vulnerable participation without judgment.

Coaching, Autonomy, and the Two-Trainer Model

In our training rooms, we are actually trying to form a community. We take a strengths-based approach to people’s development. We help them identify, own, and amplify what is already working in their management and leadership practice, regardless of their experience so far, to build comfort and confidence.

We want to build a place where people feel supported when they get things wrong, maximising safety so everyone can experiment, take risks, and grow sustainably. So when we stand on the shoulders of the writers on management and leadership, or discuss the business psychology of personalities, or use actors and roleplay, we do so not from a deficit model but encouraging autonomy, enabling people to think for themselves, as this is the fastest way to build confidence and skill and to encourage behavioural change.

We tend to use a two-trainer model. Two trainers in the room allow for additional expertise and, crucially, the opportunity for more side coaching and individual support. It allows us to be ultra-tailored and physically demonstrate that there is no one ‘right way’ to work.

We want to show you that leadership isn’t a monolith, which is exactly why our internally developed trainers come from a wide range of diverse backgrounds—bringing leadership insights from organisational psychology, high-performance sport, tech start-ups, psychotherapy, engineering, and the arts.

The Danger of Workshop Catharsis

I was once told by a leader I was working with:

“Oh, I went on a leadership development centre, and it made me cry, and it was the best thing for me.”

I thought to myself:

“Yeah, it was the best thing for you, but by the evidence of the culture within your team, it wasn’t the best thing for the organisation and the people who work with you.”

Personal catharsis in a vacuum is not leadership development. A tailorbird doesn’t sew a beautiful nest just to look at; it builds it to survive in its environment. Self-reflection is only useful if it actually translates into better observable behaviour back at the office. We want to make the theory really stick so each person can apply it easily to their day-to-day work situations.

This is why we challenge our clients to integrate what we’re doing into their day-to-day working practises. We actively support delegates in discussing their decisions with their managers following the training. To ensure learning is truly sticky, we use tools like executive coaching to build on workshop content and weave it into everyday culture.

The Public Course Exception? Not For Us.

You might assume that our public courses are entirely standardised—a classic off-the-shelf offering. But we treat them with the same philosophy. The very first thing our trainers do is sit down with the delegates to discuss why they have come and what they need to get out of the day.

Because we are adept at modifying processes and making small adjustments in the room to address situations or needs as they arise, we tailor the content as we go. Delegates who have been on many of our public courses often email us in advance, so by the time they even step foot in the room, our trainers are already thinking about how to make sure the experience is stitched together just for them.

Reclaiming “Person-Centred” and the Power of Community

If you read enough AI-generated articles, you will see the phrase “person-centred” thrown around constantly. Let’s confidently call out that as a buzzword (don’t get me started on “High-Performing Teams”). To many, it is just a pleasant-sounding therapy-speak. But if you ask people to define what it means for leaders of organisations or training rooms, it’s just fluff.

For us, “person-centred” means something highly specific: real care.

It means we adapt to needs in the moment, enthuse, and engage.

AI and the divisions in the modern world can pull us apart, but our training rooms are a place to bring people back together. In an era where technology threatens to automate and isolate, I view leadership development as a crucial mechanism to increase human connection rather than decrease it. That is exactly what true leadership requires right now. For a deeper dive into this, read Why Human Connection at Work Matters More Than Ever (also by Liz).

Ultimately, our purpose is to go above and beyond training and work with organisations to create workplaces where people can flourish.

We are proud that in 2023, we became a Certified B-Corp, with our business model recognised as “intentionally designed to create a specific positive outcome for workers, community, environment, and customers”. Through our work and actions, we encourage diverse, sustainable, and ethical business practices that have a positive environmental impact and enrich people’s working lives.

If you want a pre-packaged box that checks a compliance requirement, there are plenty of options out there. But if you want to build a resilient, deeply connected workplace led by managers who actually know how to lead, it is time to start stitching something bespoke.

Come talk to the tailorbirds in our Aspire Leadership community.

The post Why Your Off-The-Shelf Training is Failing in the AI Era (And What We Can Learn From the Tailorbird) appeared first on Aspire Leadership Holborn, London.

The whole process of training can be a bit daunting, especially if you are new to the game, so, as always,  we create a relaxed, interactive atmosphere to make sure people feel comfortable trying out new ideas with plenty of practice and personal coaching as the day goes on.

Here are some of the questions that often come up in our Train the Trainer courses:

How do I create meaningful outcomes for the training?

In our design consultations, we do a mini gap analysis to see where the changes need to happen and include conversations with different stakeholders to make sure we get the full picture.

Finally, just to make sure, we recommend using a version of the “magic wand” question. We ask:

If you could wave a magic wand, how would things be different after people have attended the training?

The behavioural or process changes identified will define your learning outcomes. Then everything you include in the content must be strictly built around achieving them.

It’s really important to ask yourself what you want them to walk away thinking, feeling, and being able to do as a result of the training.

There’s no point getting knowledge into them if they don’t act on it and use it. So it’s a good idea to really distil the key messages, find a way that they can take that key information in, learn it, and then be able to use it productively.

How do I structure a training session without overloading people?

Once you have those learning outcomes sorted out you need to make decisions about what you need to include and, importantly, what you can leave out.

Anything that isn’t essential for the learning outcomes on the day you can put into a separate session or a follow up document. Beware of drowning people with data!

And once you have the content nailed and the key messages clear, the next decisions are around how you are going to deliver the day.

It’s your job to keep your audience:

Awake, engaged, and informed – in that order!

If they are asleep or bored they won’t take the information in. This is why it’s so important to focus on the HOW of your delivery.

Part of the structuring the day is to think about how the audience is experiencing and engaging with it. This needs to be varied and appropriate for your participants.

I’m worried people will be bored as the material is quite dry.

If you’re worried about the material being boring, then you’re probably right!

There are two questions it’s important to answer as you design the training and during the delivery:

1. What is it that I find interesting about this?

Ask yourself why it is important and what sparks your curiosity about it.

2. Why is it relevant to them?

Ask yourself why they will care about it, what impact it will have for them, and what will make them remember it. Its all about making learning sticky.

You might think about how you make the training come to life, what stories you tell about it, how important it is to them, and what jeopardy they or the organisation might be in if the training isn’t adhered to.

It’s a neat trick to put some of these ideas up front to get buy in. People start to get the point of why they need to do these things. The relevance of the training is often something that’s overlooked. But if you know your “why”, then your enthusiasm will be infectious to them and help them keep awake, engaged, and informed.

How do I keep people awake?

As a rule of thumb – avoid repetition!

Repetition can put people to sleep (think about rocking a baby to sleep), whether that’s repetition of tone, rhythm, pitch, the way you’re speaking, your gestures, or even just where you’re standing or sitting.

So in everything that you do, whether it’s a PowerPoint slide or whether it’s a video, whether it’s a discussion, or a game or a task, try to vary the methods you use. Even thinking about different places you can be in the environment will make a difference. So moving around the room is good for you and it’s good for them too to change the dynamic. And if you can get the participants up and moving, even better.

How can I keep people engaged with different learning styles?

There are various training styles and many different types of interventions. According to who you’ve got in the room as participants, different people will respond to different ways of learning.

Facilitative, Experiential, or Directive

There may be occasions where you’re extremely facilitative and you want to take a coaching approach to draw out their abilities. You may set a task or challenge and coach them along the way, so that they learn as they go along by finding out for themselves.

You might choose to put together the circumstances in which they experiment with things. You can use games or props or even simulations for them to do that. There are many experiential exercises you can use so that they can learn by doing.

You can facilitate experiential interventions by prompting them with questions which will extend their learning. Or they can talk between themselves, feed back to the group and learn in that way.

Or sometimes you might choose to be very directive and lay out information in a very clear and methodical way. You can use models on a flip chart or screen to show structured information or steps to be taken.

It is a question of what fits the content and your participants and what is going to help them most. Many people tend to think everything has to be directive, but a lot of the time that’s not necessarily the most effective way of giving the information.

So in our Train the Trainer course, we have a look at the difference in impact between doing the task for the delegates which they then have to learn by imitation; telling them how to do it precisely so that they follow instructions; or letting them find their approach and problem solve for themselves as you coach them through the process.

We introduce each of those as principles, which you can mix and match and choose various options as appropriate when you design your training day.

What if I give them time for questions and I just get silence… tumbleweed?

A good facilitator needs to appear at ease with questions, both answering them and asking them.

If you’re worried that nobody’s going to ask questions when you ask for them try this:

Right at the top of the day, when you first start your training, ask your participants some questions and get them to start talking to you. Easy questions are best, like, “has anybody here done any training on this before? Hands up! “ And if you raise your own hand, they will do likewise. If somebody says yes, they have done some training before, you can build on it by showing interest. “Oh, what was it that you did? And has anybody else done that? “ In this way you can encourage the participants to feel relaxed talking to you. Once you do that, they understand that it’s not a passive day where they just put their feet up and go to sleep. If you pepper the day with interactions, they will feel much more inclined to come back and ask you questions when you want them to.

What if I go blank and can’t answer the questions?

If there are questions that you feel you can’t answer, for whatever reason, bear in mind that every question is a GIFT, even if you don’t know the answer, because it means that people are awake. and engaged.

If you don’t know immediately how to answer a question you can:

Open it out to the group and ask their thoughts. (It could even become a discussion point!)

You can suggest you speak about it after the session or get back to them later when you can find the details

But whatever the question is, embrace it, and if you show curiosity as opposed to fear, then that’s engaging for everybody, and will help you.

What do I do if someone gets disruptive or starts to take over?

If you hit resistance in people, and if you feel that there’s a kind of reluctance for whatever reason be careful not to let your doubts get the better of you and allow your assumptions to take over.

There are often reasons why people are resistant to training. It could be something political going on in the organisation, nothing to do with you, or maybe they have been sent and feel criticised or that they shouldn’t be there, or they may feel insecure for myriad reasons. In which case they may need a bit of acknowledgement and reassurance.

If someone keeps interrupting or talking too much a simple action is to take your eye contact to the rest of the group and take the discussion to them. You can always split people into pairs or smaller groups to work on a task too.

At Aspire Leadership we have a secret sauce – we never make people wrong.

If somebody is putting forward an alternative opinion, then we immediately look for something that is right about what they’re saying. This saves you from an awful lot of arguments and hostility.

Remember – every question is a gift so look for what you can acknowledge, agree with, or be curious about. Try to stay open and appreciative. You can allow and be interested in different points of view without letting go of your point. The mistake people often make is that they can’t give space to people to have a different viewpoint without appearing weak. So they hold on with white knuckles disagreeing with the participant and simply repeating their view more emphatically. This often has the impact of shutting down the participants or even creating a level of resentment. You don’t need to let go of your knowledge or facts to allow others to discuss their thoughts.

It’s a very deft skill to avoid making people wrong and embrace discussion. It creates an excellent environment for training, and the rest of the group will appreciate it too.

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