• 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4

Dave Basarab Consulting has elevated the training experience, offering an end-to-end comprehensive approach that includes training strategy, instructional design, development, delivery , post program training transfer, and evaluation (via the unique Predictive Evaluation methodology). Virtual Chief Architect Dave Basarab has combined all of these individual training elements with his user-friendly, comprehensive Learning to Performance approach, which significantly increases companies' training ROI.

Why we are different

  • Innovation: Our primary focus is creating learning programs using a Learning to Performance approach.
  • Expertise: Dave offers the depth and breadth of his experience, including working internally at prestigious companies (Motorola, Ingersoll Rand and Pitney Bowes) as well as his knowledge and expertise as a highly-respected, sought-after consultant.
  • Partnership: Basarab collaborates with companies, serving as their own Chief Learning Officer whenever they need to plan, strategize, or implement training initiatives.

Training Services

Enterprise Learning Strategy

Enterprise Learning Strategy

At Dave Basarab Consulting, we're experts in creating Enterprise Learning Plans. We work with you to develop your company's learning strategy and direction.

More...

Custom Design, Development, & Delivery

Custom Design, Development, & Delivery

Custom training is an effective way of developing the capability required to execute your strategy. We are a custom design house that creates programs specific to your business.

More...

Learning Burst Development

Learning Burst Development

We can create and deliver your courses via our unique Learning Burst Method - keeping your employees at their jobs while receiving world-class training.

More...

Predictive Evaluation

Predictive Evaluation

We predict the ROI for your courses and establish success gates. We then evaluate the course against the success gates to show value realized and continually improve results.

More...

Leadership Development

Leadership Development

Turn-key virtual custom leadership development program that combines world-class leadership speakers/educators with post-event personalized coaching to provide you with a cadre of highly skilled leaders.

More...

Predictive Evaluation

Building a business case for custom instructional design investment

Australian learning leaders are under pressure to do more with stretched L&D budgets, while skills shortages bite across mining, healthcare, financial services, and the trades. A compelling business case for custom instructional design sits at those intersections, showing decision-makers that targeted learning protects revenue, lifts productivity, and reduces costly capability gaps.

The strongest cases blend hard financial logic with a clear narrative about how tailored content changes day-to-day behaviour. They also account for local realities such as award structures under the Fair Work system, dispersed workforces between Sydney, Melbourne, and regional hubs like Newcastle or Karratha, and the cultural mix of a multi-generational Australian team.

Why off-the-shelf falls short in Australian workplaces

Generic e-learning libraries rarely match Australian operating environments. A compliance module written for a US audience may miss the National Employment Standards or the way a Tier 1 miner in the Pilbara sequences shift handovers. Learners sense the mismatch quickly, completion rates fall, and the licence fee becomes a recurring line item the CFO will eventually question.

Off-the-shelf solutions also ignore the linguistic texture of local workplaces. From site-specific safety vernacular to the colloquial shorthand used on a remote project, the right instructional language matters. When content feels imported, frontline managers stop championing it, and rollout loses momentum long before behaviour changes.

Quantifying the productivity cost of generic training

A credible case starts with the cost of the status quo. That includes wasted manager time spent re-explaining poorly designed modules, the productivity drag of preventable errors, and the hidden expense of replacing staff who leave because learning felt irrelevant. In sectors like aged care or civil construction, where vacancies are acute, those costs compound quickly.

Pairing that information with Predictive Evaluation methodology, which forecasts adoption and impact before launch, transforms guesswork into a defensible forecast. It gives procurement teams in Melbourne or Perth boardrooms something they can model rather than merely debate.

Mapping custom design to measurable business outcomes

Once the cost of inaction is established, the next step links learning design to specific outcomes. Custom instructional design shines when it targets a defined business problem, whether that is reducing medication errors in a Victorian hospital network or lifting conversion in a Brisbane insurance call centre. The link from intervention to metric must be direct and visible.

A skilled designer will interview subject matter experts, observe work as it happens, and prototype solutions before a full build. Reading about multi-generational training design helps frame this conversation, because tailored approaches speak to each cohort's expectations.

Pitching the numbers to the executive table

Executives rarely approve learning investments on completion percentages alone. They want payback periods, internal rates of return, and risk-adjusted scenarios. A strong pitch presents three financial outcomes: a conservative case, a likely case, and a stretch case, each tied to assumptions leadership can interrogate. A side-by-side comparison often clarifies the trade-off in a single glance.

Generic off-the-shelf content Custom instructional design
Fixed modules, often US or UK-centric Built for Australian workplaces and award frameworks
Low upfront cost, high ongoing licence fees Higher upfront investment, lower long-term cost
Generic assessments, weak transfer to the job Performance-based assessments tied to real tasks
Limited localisation for industry or region Tailored to specific sites, roles, and risk profiles
Hard to update when regulations shift Designed for rapid iteration by internal teams

Australian boards are particularly attentive to workforce risk because of ongoing skills shortages and tight labour markets in professional services. Framing custom design as a lever for retaining institutional knowledge, especially as experienced workers exit the resources sector, makes the case harder to dismiss.

Validating the design before full rollout

Piloting with a small cohort protects the budget and sharpens the eventual rollout. A pilot in a single regional depot reveals whether the design holds up in real conditions, whether supervisors reinforce the learning, and whether predicted adoption rates materialise. The findings become evidence the executive team can weigh.

Working with experienced faculty such as Larry Ackerman, who advises on personal and corporate identity, anchors learning to the organisation's cultural identity rather than treating it as a detached project. Identity-aligned learning embeds deeper, which strengthens the original case when the second funding round arrives.

Sustaining the case with continuous evidence

The case does not end when funding is approved. Dashboards that connect learning engagement to operational metrics, such as safety incidents, customer satisfaction, or sales conversion, make the value visible every quarter and build a track record for future investments.

Positive signals worth tracking in the first twelve months

  • Time-to-competency for new starters drops noticeably against the previous baseline
  • Supervisors report fewer repeat questions and quality issues on the floor
  • Pulse-survey engagement scores rise among frontline crews
  • Compliance breach incidents decline during audits
  • Internal mobility increases as staff gain transferable skills

Warning signs that suggest the design is drifting

  • Completion rates stall below agreed thresholds for two consecutive cohorts
  • Managers stop referencing the learning in performance conversations
  • New procedures emerge without a corresponding update to learning assets
  • Learners ask for workarounds because content does not match their tools
  • The originally forecast adoption curve flattens earlier than expected

The most useful thing a learning leader in Australia can do this quarter is pick one stubborn performance problem, attach a dollar figure to it, and draft a single-page case for a custom solution that targets it. Present that case with three numbers: the cost of doing nothing, the cost of building the program, and the expected return within twelve months. A focused conversation with the team at Dave Basarab Consulting can turn that one-page draft into a funded initiative rather than another slide deck that gathers dust.

Learning to Performance

Learning to Performance, a complete training approach, gives companies world-class training to drive significant return. This approach includes upfront work (Impact Mapping, design), training (for staff and company executives), and post-training efforts to ensure training transfer. This unique recipe - the key for successful training and adoption - is changing the way companies implement training. This methodology could work with any content for organizations in any industry.

More...