Introduction
Many organisations today face a common challenge. How do you align a growing and diverse workforce around shared values, consistent behaviours, and a unified sense of purpose? One truth becomes clear as teams spread across locations, business models evolve, and employee expectations shift. Culture cannot be left to chance.
In today’s fast-moving and increasingly complex business environment, culture has become a critical driver of success. It influences decisions, how people collaborate, and how organisations perform. Yet for many leaders, turning culture from an abstract idea into everyday practice remains difficult.
Training is one of the most effective and often overlooked ways to close this gap. When approached with intention, training goes beyond compliance and technical skills. It becomes a powerful tool for shaping behaviour, reinforcing values, and embedding the organisation’s identity into the daily work of its people. In this way, training becomes more than a support function. It becomes the engine that drives cultural transformation.
The Role of Training in Building Organisational Culture
Culture doesn’t appear overnight. It is cultivated through consistent behaviour, repeated actions, and shared experiences, all driven by learning. Training helps clarify and reinforce what “excellence” looks like in an organisation, whether encouraging cross-functional collaboration, promoting accountability, driving innovation, or putting the customer first.
For instance, well-designed leadership development programmes can instil values like empathy, inclusion, and transparency in mid-level and senior managers. These leaders, in turn, model these values for their teams, creating a ripple effect throughout the organisation. Similarly, comprehensive onboarding programs can introduce new hires to their job roles and the company’s story, ethos, and expectations.
Ongoing upskilling and reskilling initiatives also play a critical role in reinforcing adaptability, curiosity, and lifelong learning, essential traits in a fast-changing economy. Employees who are trained in hard and soft skills feel empowered, aligned, and more connected to the broader organisational mission. In essence, training serves as a mirror and a mould. It reflects the existing culture while shaping its future.
Digital Training: The New Normal
The world of work has undergone a dramatic shift. With remote work, global teams, and non-linear career paths becoming the norm, organisations can no longer rely solely on traditional in-person classroom-style training. Enter the era of digital learning, agile, accessible, and deeply personalised.
Digital training platforms are the backbone of most modern Learning and development (L&D) strategies. Tools such as AI-powered learning journeys, mobile-first microlearning apps, and gamified training modules allow organisations to meet employees exactly where they are: on-site, at home, or on the go.
According to the 2024 LinkedIn Learning Report, 91% of organisations that embraced digital training solutions reported improved employee agility, satisfaction, and innovation capacity. Moreover, digital learning makes it possible to track progress, measure impact, and customise content in real time. Employees no longer need to wait months for the next seminar; knowledge is available instantly, tailored to individual needs and career paths.
Benefits of Training: For Employees and Organisations
For Employees:
- Increased Confidence & Morale: Continuous learning fosters competence, building self-esteem and professional pride.
- Career Growth & Mobility: Employees with access to robust training pathways are likelier to move into strategic, higher-impact roles.
- Higher Job Satisfaction: Workers who feel their growth is supported are more engaged, productive, and loyal to the organisation.
For Organisations:
- Stronger Retention Rates: According to Gallup, companies with strong learning cultures see 30–50% higher retention rates. When employees grow, they stay.
- Improved Innovation: Well-trained teams are more likely to experiment, take calculated risks, and drive creative solutions.
- Operational Efficiency: Digitally fluent employees can streamline tasks, reduce bottlenecks, and improve overall performance with less reliance on external support.
Case Study: Access Bank Nigeria
A compelling example of training as a catalyst for cultural transformation can be found in Access Bank Nigeria. In 2023, the bank launched a comprehensive digital transformation training programme focused on leadership development, product innovation, and data analytics. Delivered via an AI-powered learning platform, the initiative reached over 3,000 employees within six months.
The outcomes were impressive:
- A 25% increase in internal mobility among digitally skilled employees.
- An 18% improvement in turnaround times for digital product development.
- A notable reduction in third-party consultant dependence for analytics tasks.
By aligning training with its broader digital strategy, Access Bank didn’t just equip employees with new tools; it fundamentally shifted how work was approached, laying the foundation for a more agile, innovative, and ownership-driven culture.
Why Culture Fails Without Training
Organisations that attempt cultural transformation without embedding training often face inconsistent behaviours, low value adoption, and resistance to change. Without structured learning, employees interpret values through personal bias or outdated norms. This results in fragmented cultures where teams operate in silos, and the organisation’s identity becomes diluted.
When training is missing, culture becomes reactive, shaped more by urgency than intention. Engagement declines, behaviours drift, and performance suffers. The result is a transformation that looks good on paper but fails to take root.
Training is what makes culture stick. It provides a shared language, reinforces desired behaviours, and turns abstract values into daily practice. Without it, even the most well-crafted cultural strategy risks falling flat.
Strategies for Effective Training Implementation
To fully harness the culture-shaping power of training, organisations should take a strategic approach. Here are six key recommendations:
1. Create a Learning Culture: Foster a mindset where learning is encouraged and expected. Tie development goals to both professional milestones and personal growth objectives.
2. Adopt Blended Learning Models: Combine the best of both worlds, digital modules, live sessions, mentorship, and experiential projects to cater to different learning preferences and needs.
3. Use Smart Technology: Leverage Learning Management Systems (LMS), mobile apps, and AI tools to personalise content, automate administration, and track real-time progress.
4. Align Training with Business Objectives: Training programmes should support broader organisational goals, improving retention, boosting innovation, enhancing compliance, or scaling leadership capacity.
5. Track and Analyse ROI: Use data to measure participation and impact. Evaluate knowledge application on the job and refine strategies accordingly.
6. Recognise and Reward Learning: Celebrate learning milestones publicly. Acknowledge employees who go above and beyond in their development journeys to inspire a culture of continuous growth.
Partnering for Culture-Driven Success
Culture is not a static concept; it evolves by design or default. Organisations that succeed in the long run invest deliberately in shaping that culture. One of the most effective ways is through strategic, consistent training.
Training is no longer a peripheral HR activity. It is a business-critical lever for embedding values, shaping behaviour, and enabling success on a scale. It is the tool through which strategy becomes execution and vision becomes reality.
Why Phillips Consulting?
At Phillips Consulting, we understand that building a strong culture goes beyond posters and slogans. It requires intentional design, expert facilitation, and future-proof learning solutions. With over three decades of experience supporting African organisations, we deliver scalable, data-driven Learning & Development strategies that align with your business goals.
Whether you’re aiming to:
- Drive culture transformation,
- Develop agile leaders
- Build digital fluency across your workforce
…we provide the platforms, people, and processes to help you get there. From customised corporate academies to leadership boot camps and AI-enabled learning journeys, we partner with you to build skills and the future of work itself.
Written by:
Perpetua Umunakwe
DTC