The 3 Mistakes Even Experienced Trainers Make (And How to Fix Them)

You’ve got a seasoned training team. They know their stuff. They deliver confidently, get great feedback, and have years of sessions under their belt. But here’s the catch, even experienced trainers can fall into traps that limit their impact.

At the TwentyOne Leadership L&D Academy, we work with skilled L&D professionals every day who are unknowingly capping their potential. It’s not about lack of effort, it’s about refining technique, shifting mindset and making smart adjustments that unlock real results.

Here are the three most common mistakes we see, and how we help fix them inside the Academy:

1. Mistaking Engagement for Impact

We’ve all seen it, trainers who energise the room, get heads nodding, and leave to a round of applause. But high engagement doesn’t automatically equal high impact. Learners may enjoy the session, but that doesn’t mean they’ll do anything differently afterwards.

The fix at the Academy:

We train your team to design for behaviour change, not just delivery. That means starting with the question: What do we want people to do differently as a result of this training? From there, we help trainers build sessions that shift mindsets, embed habits and result in measurable change, not just good vibes.

2. Overloading Instead of Prioritising

Experienced trainers often want to give everything they know. The result? Content-heavy sessions packed with slides, concepts and models… and exhausted learners who retain almost none of it.

The fix at the Academy:

We help your team embrace brain-friendly design, focusing on clarity, simplicity and spacing. That means fewer slides, more breaks, chunked content, real-world examples and structured time for reflection. Delegates leave with less information, but more clarity and confidence to apply what they’ve learned.

3. Treating Follow-Up as Optional

Even brilliant sessions fall flat without follow-through. Yet many trainers assume their job ends when the session does. Without reinforcement, coaching, or accountability, the learning gets lost in the busyness of everyday work.

The fix at the Academy:

We train your L&D team to build structured, simple follow-up systems – like coaching prompts, nudges, peer accountability and learning loops. We also show them how to bring line managers into the process so learners feel supported, not forgotten.

Why These Mistakes Matter

It’s easy to fall into autopilot, especially when sessions run smoothly and feedback is positive. But good isn’t the goal. Change is.

At the TwentyOne Leadership L&D Academy, we help experienced trainers elevate from good delivery to strategic impact. We give them the tools, mindset and techniques to make every session count, not just in the classroom, but in the business.

Time to Upgrade? Let’s Talk.

If your team is experienced but underutilised, confident but coasting, it’s time for a shift.

Contact me today matt@twentyoneleadership.com to learn how the TwentyOne Leadership L&D Academy can help your training team break old habits, embrace new thinking, and deliver training that truly transforms performance.