Why Instructor-Led Training Falls Short in the Bay

Instructor-led training has been a staple in the automotive world for decades. It’s structured, and it promises a training experience away from the noise of the shop. But here’s the real question: does time in a classroom reliably translate to faster diagnostics, fewer comebacks, and a smoother day in the bay? 

In this blog, we’ll take a closer look at why instructor-led training can fall short when it comes to real-world performance.

Table of Contents

• What Is Instructor-Led Training?
• Limitations of Instructor-Led Training
  
  • One Pace for Everyone
  • Retention Drops Fast
  • Shop Disruption
  • ROI You Can’t See
• Where Instructor-Led Training Still Helps
• Conclusion: Training That Moves With the Shop
• Frequently Asked Questions

What Is Instructor-Led Training?

Instructor-led training (ILT) refers to a structured learning experience delivered in a classroom-style setting, typically with a qualified instructor guiding a group of learners through a pre-planned curriculum. This might look like a half-day or full-day seminar, a workshop hosted off-site, or even a series of scheduled sessions at a training facility.

For years, instructor-led training has been considered the gold standard for upskilling technicians. It offers what many shop owners value: a formal setting, printed materials, and the opportunity to ask questions in real time. But the classroom can only go so far. When technicians return to the shop, the impact often fades faster than most shop leaders expect, and that’s where ILT starts to show its limits.

What Are the Limitations of Instructor-Led Training

A classroom, a qualified instructor, a day dedicated to learning, while the format looks solid on paper, it doesn’t always translate into better performance where it matters most: the shop floor. From uneven results to problems with retention, there are several ways this traditional approach can fall short when it comes to real-world application.

Here’s where the challenges and limitations of instructor-led training tend to show up:

One Pace for Everyone

Shops are made up of all kinds of team members, some brand-new, some highly experienced, and many somewhere in between. But instructor-led training struggles to account for that mix. It delivers a single experience to the entire group, and assumes everyone can learn at the same speed, absorb the same material, and benefit equally from the same structure.

The reality is: learning isn’t one-size-fits-all, and training that ignores that ends up falling short for most of the team. 

Here’s how instructor-led training can leave some team members finding it hard to keep up: 

Training moves at one speed: the instructor’s

The instructor controls the pace, not the learners. If someone needs more time to understand a concept, they’re left behind. If someone already knows the material, they’re stuck sitting through a repeat. That mismatch leads to disengagement at both ends of the experience spectrum.

It’s hard to meet everyone’s needs

A class designed for “everyone” often ends up truly benefiting no one. The newer tech who needs foundational support doesn’t get enough time with the basics, and the advanced tech looking for deeper insights ends up bored or distracted. The format makes it difficult to tailor the experience to individual knowledge levels.

Read More: How To Create Customized Training for Different Levels and Roles 

The shop doesn’t benefit evenly

When techs walk away from the same training session with completely different takeaways (or none at all) the improvements back in the bay are uneven. Some get a slight boost. Others stay where they were. That inconsistency makes it hard to build teamwide momentum or measure the true value of instructor-led learning.

Retention Drops Fast

Even the most engaging instructor-led learning won’t stick without follow-up. When teams are asked to absorb hours of information all at once then head straight back into a fast-moving shop, it’s no surprise that most of what they learned starts slipping away.

The issue isn’t that the content isn’t useful. It’s that human memory doesn’t work well without repetition, especially when new knowledge isn’t immediately reinforced or applied in context.

Here’s why this firehose approach becomes a problem:

• Too much content, too little time.
  Day-long or multi-hour sessions try to cover a lot at once, often everything from basic systems to advanced troubleshooting. It’s too much to absorb in a single sitting, especially without breaks for application.
  
  
• No built-in reinforcement.
  After the session ends, there’s usually no follow-up. Without review or refreshers in the days and weeks that follow, the details fade, and fast. That means even great training becomes forgettable.
  
  
• Busy bays leave no room for review.
  Once a tech is back on the shop floor, they’re juggling tickets, diagnostics, and customer timelines. There’s rarely a chance to pause and revisit what they learned unless the training is intentionally built into their workflow.
  
  
• You lose the long-term benefit.
  Instructor-led training may feel successful on the day it happens. Techs are engaged, questions get answered, and everyone leaves with notes. But a month later, most of that knowledge has evaporated if there’s no structure in place to revisit and apply it.

Shop Disruption

While training is meant to build long-term efficiency, instructor-led training often creates short-term slowdowns that are hard to ignore. For shops already juggling tight schedules and limited staff, even a temporary disruption can throw things off balance. 

The logistics of pulling techs out of the bay, whether it’s during work hours or after the day is done, come with real consequences that affect operations, revenue, and morale.

Here’s how those disruptions typically show up:

Lost billable hours add up

Every hour a technician spends in a classroom during the workday is an hour they’re not producing revenue. Even short sessions cut into productivity, and when multiple techs attend the same event, the impact compounds quickly.

Scheduling gets complicated

Trying to arrange in-person training around customer appointments and open ROs often requires shuffling the calendar. This can delay turnaround times and increase the chances of missed deadlines or unhappy customers.

The bay slows down

With fewer techs available, those who remain are stretched thin. That extra pressure can lead to rushed diagnostics, mistakes, or burnout, all of which create more work later.

Evening sessions carry their own cost

Even when training is scheduled after hours to avoid pulling techs out of the bay, there’s still an impact. Long days followed by evening classes leave technicians drained, which hurts focus during training and can carry over into the next day’s performance in the shop.

ROI You Can’t See

Instructor-led training isn’t always the most affordable option. Between registration fees, travel expenses, and time away from the bay, the costs stack up quickly. And while investing in your team is always a good thing, shop owners need to be able to connect that investment to real results.

Without a clear way to track how training positively impacts your shop, it becomes difficult to tell whether it’s truly working or just checking a box. Here's where the return on investment often gets lost:

• No performance baseline to compare against
  Most shops don’t have pre-training metrics to measure improvement after the session. Without that starting point, there’s no way to quantify progress, or even know if anything changed.
  
  
• No visibility into who actually improved
  Even if a class delivers value to someone, it’s usually not clear who benefited, or how much. Without individual-level tracking, it’s hard to replicate success or identify who needs more support.
  
  
• No scalability for growing teams
  Instructor-led training is tough to scale across multiple locations or expanding teams. As your shop grows, sending every tech to the same session becomes logistically expensive and inefficient. Without a more scalable model, training ROI starts to decline the moment your team gets bigger.

Read More: Revolutionizing Automotive Training: Harnessing Data for Success

Where Can Instructor-Led Training Make an Impact?

While instructor-led training has its limitations, that doesn’t mean it has no place in a shop’s overall learning strategy. In fact, there are situations where ILT can be the right tool for the job, especially when the goal is to create alignment, introduce something new, or build momentum around a change.

Here are a few examples where in-person training still pulls its weight:

• Rolling out new standards or procedures
  When a shop needs to get everyone on the same page, like after a process change, updated safety protocol, or a shift in how certain repairs are handled, a live training session can serve as a reset button. It creates a shared understanding, opens the door for questions, and gives the team a chance to absorb the “why” behind the change.
  
  
• Demonstrating new tools or technology
  Some things are just better shown than explained. If your shop is investing in a new diagnostic tool, lift system, or piece of equipment, an in-person training walkthrough can help build confidence quickly. Seeing the tool in action and getting to ask questions in real time is a valuable experience, especially for hands-on learners.
  
  
• Meeting certification or compliance requirements
  Some training programs, especially those tied to OEM standards, emissions regulations, or certifications, require instructor-led formats to meet official guidelines. In these cases, in-person training may be necessary to fulfill documentation, testing, or demonstration requirements that can’t be completed through other methods.

When used strategically and supported with reinforcement, instructor-led learning can still serve a clear purpose. It just works best when it’s part of a broader, more flexible approach to ongoing technician development.

Conclusion: Training That Moves With the Shop

Instructor-led training has its place, but relying on it alone is like giving your techs a one-time toolkit and expecting them to master every repair. In a shop environment that changes daily, vehicles evolving, workloads shifting, and customer expectations rising, training needs to be just as dynamic.

The most effective teams don’t just train once and hope it sticks. They build learning into the rhythm of the shop. They revisit key concepts, reinforce knowledge through repetition, and adapt training to each technician’s experience level and role.

That’s where Today’s Class makes the difference. Whether you're supporting recent ILT sessions, or just trying to sharpen your team’s day-to-day performance, Today’s Class helps reinforce concepts over time so that what’s taught actually shows up in the bay.

Want to see how flexible, daily training can improve outcomes in your shop?
Reach out to the Today’s Class team to explore a solution that complements instructor-led sessions, fills in the gaps, and helps your team turn training into results that matter.

Instructor-Led Training Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Why is instructor-led training still used in shops today?
A: Many shop owners value the structure and formality of instructor-led sessions, especially when introducing new standards, demonstrating tools, or fulfilling compliance requirements. It’s familiar, tangible, and often required by manufacturers or certifying bodies.

Q: Does instructor-led training improve technician productivity?
A: Not always. While it may offer short-term motivation or introduce new concepts, ILT rarely leads to consistent performance gains without additional reinforcement. For many shops, improvements in diagnostics or efficiency depend on follow-up training that sticks over time.

Q: Is instructor-led training enough on its own?
A: No. ILT works best as part of a broader training strategy. Without ongoing practice and repetition, even the best in-person training session tends to fade. That’s why many shops pair ILT with flexible, in-bay tools that reinforce key skills in real-world contexts.

Q: How can Today’s Class support instructor-led training?
A: Today’s Class helps bridge the gap between classroom learning and day-to-day application. Our platform offers short, targeted lessons that reinforce core skills, build knowledge over time, and deliver measurable progress, so what gets taught doesn’t get forgotten.