There are many reasons for failure of such programs which are supposed to enhance the performance of human beings in terms of intangible traits. In order to make any such program successful, we must evaluate and understand the reasons for failure of program meant for improving Body language, Communication skills, Presentation Skills, Psychometric tests, Leadership Skills, Group Discussion Skills, Interview skills and Cultural Awareness. The most common reasons are listed here:

1.  Lack of Conviction: Most people join the program but lack the determination to succeed, so when the initial enthusiasm ends, after a period of time, the time devoted decreases significantly and the results seem far away. People lose hope and the journey ends.

2.  I-know-it-all syndrome: Many people think I know it, just because they have heard about some common terms from various sources. Learning and practicing goes beyond knowing the keywords. It is more related to continuous practice and correction by friends and family or at least a self-help group/study group.

3. The superiority complex: Many people cannot shun the attitude of ‘Why would I learn from him, I can do it myself, I don’t need anyone’s help.’ This is the very emphasis in the famous book by Steven covey named ‘Seven Habits of Highly Effective People’

4.  Lack of Self-awareness: Before a student faces the world, there is minimal chance of getting self-assessment regarding behavioral improvements and current status. Most students just sail the boat, while those who excel, take charge of their career.

5.  Joining the wrong program/group: This is the result of lack of self-assessment, where people follow their friends and join programs randomly, even if they don’t need them. In fact such participants are draggers and demotivate others also, subconsciously.

6.  Failure to understand the purpose of a program: Each program has a specific purpose and possible applications. Learning body language may help in presentation skills, interviews, group discussions of improving communications skills, but it may not help in improving your knowledge about MS Word or Excel.

7.  This is impractical: People believe these ideas are just inventions of some people to create a market. True it is a huge market and corporate pay average of INR 20,000-200,000 per person per year for making their staff better by engaging corporate trainers. The other side of the story is, there has been significant performance boost after such sessions or workshops, which justifies the existence of such modules. The sooner we realize this, better would be our headstart from our competition.

The way out is to have a positive outlook, build a set of people who would like to progress and develop, create learning groups to share and practice course contents and get reviewed by peers.