People Don’t Leave Untrained. They Leave Unsupported.

I’ve never facilitated an exit interview.

But over the years, I’ve spent a lot of time reading what people say when they finally leave — through the data HR shares, the patterns that repeat, the comments that quietly stack up.

And one thing became clear very early.

People were rarely talking about lack of training.

They were talking about what happened after the training.

“I was confident when I joined.”

“I didn’t feel supported a few months in.”

“I knew the process. I didn’t know who to turn to.”

That’s when my thinking shifted.

This wasn’t about onboarding gaps.

This was about what happens when learning ends… but work doesn’t.

In most hospitality and shipboard environments I’ve worked in, we do a great job preparing people for day one. Systems are clear. Expectations are set. Energy is high.

What we don’t always prepare them for is day ninety.

The first difficult manager.

The first mistake.

The first moment confidence quietly drops.

As I kept reviewing exit data, the patterns became impossible to ignore.

Good people didn’t fail loudly. They faded quietly.

Strong performers didn’t complain. They disengaged.

Managers were capable, but often emotionally unavailable.

None of this showed up in post-training feedback.

All of it showed up once people were already on their way out.

So I stopped asking, “What more should we train?”

And started asking, “Where are people getting stuck after training ends?”

That question changed how I design learning.

Less content. More continuity.

Less event-based training. More real conversations.

Less focus on competence. More focus on confidence over time.

What exit interviews taught me — without me ever being in the room — is simple and uncomfortable:

People don’t leave because they can’t do the job.

They leave when the system forgets them once they can.

If we read exit data only as attrition numbers, we miss the lesson.

If we read it through a learning lens, it tells us exactly where support breaks down.

And that’s where real learning begins.

#LeadershipDevelopment #LearningCulture #ExitInterviews #TalentExperience #OrganizationalLearning #LeadershipLessons #kketanwaghmare