Let me ask you a question: Do you remember the last time you took leadership training? If yes, do you recall what you learned in that training? I bet you don't.

During my 20 years in the corporate world, I participated in many leadership training programs. Do I remember them? Absolutely not. Did any of these trainings change me? Very little, if at all.

According to Forbes, in 2018, the US alone spent $87.6 billion on corporate training and development. Yes, billions! However, a significant portion of this investment goes to waste.

There is often no return on investment.

It's true that numerous studies have shown that companies that invest in employee education tend to make more money and have lower turnover rates than those that don't. But this education doesn't always lead to improved organizational performance because employees often revert to their old ways of doing things.

Think about your direct manager and the last time he or she underwent leadership or communication skills training. A month or a year later, did they change the way they work with you or your team?

In most cases, the answer is no.

So, what should we do? Should we stop training people? No, we shouldn't. Training and development are crucial in any organization as they help individuals learn new things they may not be aware of.

However, here's the catch: there's a significant difference between what most people know and what they actually do.

Some people are consistently late for meetings or can't stick to a diet. They are aware that they need to change, and they even receive training to change, but they often succeed for only a few days or weeks before reverting to their old habits.

The current education and corporate training systems focus on increasing people's knowledge. But they often fail to motivate individuals to apply what they know in their daily lives, and here's why: knowing and doing don't function the same way.

Our minds consist of two parts: the conscious mind and the subconscious mind.

The conscious mind controls knowledge and is connected to the outside world through our five senses (sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch).

The subconscious mind, on the other hand, controls our behavior.

Most of our behavior is habitual, such as the way we talk, walk, or greet people. These habits are stored in the subconscious mind, forming what is known as the Paradigm.

Bob Proctor defines the paradigm as a "mental program that has almost exclusive control over our habitual behavior. Almost all of our behavior is habitual."

A common mistake is attempting to change results by focusing on changing behavior, the physical aspect.

For instance, people often go on diets or fitness programs to change their weight, but this typically leads to only temporary changes. Why? Because the paradigm is so strong that it inevitably leads people back to their old habits.

Think of the paradigm as a thermostat programmed to regulate the temperature in your home. If the temperature drops (for example, because you opened a window), the thermostat instructs the furnace to work and bring the room back to the set temperature.

The only way to create a permanent change is to address the root cause of behavior, which is the paradigm.

There are two ways to change the paradigm: emotional impact, often a negative one (e.g., death, divorce, lay-off, bankruptcy), or repetition over a consistent period of time. Since we can't control the first one, we use repetition as the means to change the paradigm.

The paradigm resides in the subconscious mind and has no power to reject ideas; it can only accept them. Therefore, if you feed it with positive information, you'll get positive results, but if you feed it with negative information, you'll get negative results.

Leadership training should primarily focus on changing the paradigms of leaders instead of merely telling them what to do.

I've had the privilege of collaborating closely with the Proctor Gallagher Institute, a pioneer with decades of experience in guiding leaders and their teams to unlock their full potential, attain substantial goals, and lead the lives they genuinely desire by reshaping their paradigms.

It's time to revolutionize the training and education systems that enable individuals to become better leaders, both in the workplace and at home.

To your success,

Yas Sakka