The Drama-Free Workplace

10 Your Step-by-Step Guide to Designing and Delivering Effective Workplace Training

Debates about harassment prevention training are all the rage. Does it work? What’s the ROI? Who is best suited to design and deliver training? Will it help us change behavior? Will it reduce the risk of being sued?

In the wake of #MeToo, the issue of harassment prevention training has taken on a life of its own. Numerous state legislatures have passed mandatory training laws. These laws require harassment prevention training and though they vary in detail, what they have in common is that training, whether you love it or hate it, is seen as a necessary piece in the larger puzzle of harassment prevention.

So what’s the best way to design and deliver training that has its intended effect?

First, let’s take a look at why so many researchers, academics, and even lawmakers have determined that training hasn’t achieved its intended result—to move the needle in terms of improving workplace conduct. When you dig deeper into what the data show, you see that it’s not that training is bad, it’s that bad training is bad.

And once we’ve uncovered the reasons why training hasn’t moved the needle, let’s explore practical, easy-to-implement ways that can make your training program a cricital element to not only prevent misconduct but also to help make your environment drama-free.

The bottom line is that, while workplace training isn’t the magic bullet that will alone create a healthy culture, when done well, ...