What Makes Training Worth the Investment?

Ben Cook
Jul 2
3 min read

Updated: 5 days ago

Ben Cook, President of Acumen Learning

If there's one thing we can all agree on, it’s this: the pace of change has outpaced our capacity to absorb it. Business today exists in a constant state of flux—markets shift, competitors pounce, regulators rewrite the rules, and macroeconomic forces toss even the most seasoned operators off balance. And amid this chaos, one question echoes in boardrooms and budget meetings alike:

Is training really worth the investment?

It’s a fair question. But in my experience, it’s often the wrong one.

Because when we treat training as a line-item expense (divorced from the organization's strategic ambitions), we miss its true function: enabling adaptation.

The Hidden Cost of Not Training

Let me put it plainly: organizations don’t adapt because executives send an email announcing a shift in strategy. They don’t transform because of a reorg slide in an all-hands meeting. They change when the people who execute the work—on the floor, in the field, behind the screen—understand why the shift matters, how it connects to their role, and what new action is now required.

And that doesn’t happen by accident.

Training (done well) is the mechanism by which adaptation becomes possible. It takes the abstract and makes it operational. It translates strategic imperatives into practical action. It connects the dots between “this is where we’re going” and “here’s what that means for you.”

Absent that connection, the organization remains fragmented, trying to do something new with an old mental model. You may get short-term compliance. But you won’t get alignment. You certainly won’t get transformation.

The Shift Can’t Happen Without a Bridge

Think about the kinds of shifts organizations are being asked to make today:

From efficiency to innovation
From product-focused to customer-obsession
From siloed to cross-functional
From legacy cost structures to nimble, digital-first models

Each of these shifts requires something more than updated org charts. They demand a different way of thinking—and that thinking must reach beyond the C-suite.

But here’s the challenge: executives are too far removed to drive that change at the ground level. And managers, as any one of them will tell you, are already stretched between daily demands and quarterly metrics. So who, exactly, is responsible for teaching the workforce how to think and act differently?

This is the critical role that training plays.

Not as an event, but as an infrastructure. Not as a cost center, but as the connective tissue between strategy and execution. It’s the scaffolding that allows the entire organization to rise—not just reactively, but deliberately and sustainably.

Why Training Is a Strategic Investment

Now, let’s be clear. Not all training is worth the investment. But when it’s approached with intent—when it is embedded in the business and tied to strategic outcomes—it does more than “teach skills.” It shapes culture. It enables agility. It future-proofs the business.

The truth is, if you don’t train people to think differently, to prioritize differently, to lead differently, then all you’ve really done is announce a new strategy and hope for the best.

In fact, I’d argue this is one of the most underappreciated levers of long-term relevance. As Darwin observed, “It is not the strongest of the species that survives... It is the one that is most adaptable to change.” And change, in today’s enterprise, must be taught, practiced, and reinforced.

That’s training.