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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Predictive Evaluation

Hidden costs of off-the-shelf training in Australian workplaces

Off-the-shelf training looks economical because the purchase price is easy to compare. A standard licence, a catalogue course or a ready-made e-learning module can appear to solve a capability gap quickly, especially when procurement teams need a fast answer.

The real cost emerges later. Generic content can reduce participation, create inconsistent workplace practices and leave managers carrying the burden of translating broad concepts into local action. For Australian organisations, the choice between packaged learning and custom instructional design should be based on business impact, adoption and measurable performance—not the initial invoice alone.

The price tag rarely captures total cost

A catalogue program often requires hidden adaptation before it can be used effectively. Internal teams may need to rewrite examples, add Australian legislation, align terminology with company systems, record new video or brief facilitators. Those hours are rarely included in the advertised fee.

There is also the cost of poor fit. If employees cannot connect a scenario to their role, they may complete the course without changing behaviour. A generic customer service module, for example, may ignore contact-centre workflows, public-sector obligations or the realities of serving customers across Brisbane, Melbourne and remote regional communities.

Where generic content loses relevance

Relevance depends on the decisions people make at work. A leadership course built around US employment practices may be awkward for an Australian manager working within Fair Work obligations, modern awards and enterprise agreements. A compliance module may use unfamiliar terminology or overlook the controls that matter in a specific industry.

Context is especially important in sectors with dispersed workforces. A mining company may need learning designed for FIFO teams in Western Australia, supervisors working across multiple sites and employees who spend much of their week “on the tools”. A general management course cannot automatically address those operating conditions. Subject-matter input, such as business acumen expertise, can help connect learning to the commercial choices employees actually make.

Adoption determines the real return

Completion figures can create a misleading sense of success. Employees may click through every module while retaining little, applying nothing and receiving no reinforcement from their manager. The organisation then pays twice: first for the training, and later for rework, inconsistent decisions or another intervention.

Predictive Evaluation provides a stronger lens by forecasting and measuring adoption, impact and return on investment. It asks whether the target audience will use the capability, what business conditions support transfer and which evidence will demonstrate value. That approach is useful when comparing a fast catalogue purchase with a tailored solution.

Decision factor Off-the-shelf training Custom-designed learning
Initial cost Usually lower and easier to approve Higher planning and development investment
Relevance Broad, with limited organisational context Built around roles, systems and business priorities
Implementation speed Fast if minimal changes are needed Slower at the start, faster when adoption is critical
Manager involvement Often added after launch Designed into practice, coaching and reinforcement
Measurement Commonly focused on attendance or completion Can connect learning to behaviour and business outcomes
Long-term value Variable; may require repeated explanation Stronger when capability is strategic or complex

The cheaper option is therefore not always the lower-cost option. If a program fails to gain traction, the organisation loses employee time, manager attention and the opportunity to address the original performance problem.

Custom design needs a clear operating model

Custom learning does not mean creating an elaborate course for every request. It means designing the right intervention for a defined audience, task and outcome. Sometimes the answer is a short learning burst, a manager toolkit or guided practice rather than a large e-learning program.

A disciplined design process protects the investment. A useful project planning approach clarifies scope, stakeholders, content sources, delivery methods, testing and evaluation before development begins. This reduces late changes and prevents subject-matter experts from filling a course with information that learners do not need.

For Australian organisations, design should also account for delivery realities. A national retailer may need mobile access for store teams, while a health service may require accessible resources, shift-friendly scheduling and language that works across metropolitan and regional locations.

Performance systems make learning stick

Training has a better chance of changing behaviour when it is linked to the systems that shape daily work. If a new leadership capability never appears in goal setting, coaching conversations or performance reviews, employees can reasonably treat it as optional.

This is particularly important during onboarding. A well-designed onboarding integration can connect early learning with role expectations, manager check-ins and evidence of competence. New employees then see how training relates to their first 30, 60 and 90 days rather than experiencing it as a standalone induction event.

Custom design can also build in reinforcement: workplace assignments, peer discussion, supervisor observation and prompts inside existing systems. These features may cost more during development, yet they reduce the hidden expense of forgetting and retraining.

A practical decision framework

The right choice depends on the performance problem, the consequences of inconsistency and the value of the audience’s time. A standard module may be appropriate for foundational topics with stable content. Custom development is more defensible when the capability is strategic, the work is specialised or errors carry significant financial, safety or reputational consequences.

Before approving a purchase, assess:

  • Whether the content reflects Australian laws, language, customers and workplace conditions
  • How much rewriting, facilitation and internal administration the packaged course will require
  • Whether learners must practise organisation-specific decisions or workflows
  • What managers will do to reinforce the expected behaviour
  • Which operational measures could show adoption and business impact
  • Whether the learning must work across offices, sites, shifts or remote teams
  • How the program will be updated as systems, policies and priorities change

A fair comparison includes the full lifecycle cost: analysis, adaptation, administration, lost work time, reinforcement, measurement and remediation. The practical next step is to map one proposed course against those costs and identify the specific business behaviour it must change before selecting a delivery option.

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.

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