Not sure of the question so I'll just thought-dump on you, sorry.
When and where I learned herringboning was so commonplace that I now regard it as just natural - and I see people having issues with that too. Personally, I think herringboning is much closer to skating on alpine gear than ice skating is, there are too many things/phases/components omitted or elided.
Now looking at the herringbone, it simply requires one to get and keep weight forward of the heel (weighted tails are a recipe for trouble) so I wonder if that's part of it.
I teach skating every time I take an intermediate onto our teaching terrain. One piece of that terrain encourages skating. There's a long narrow uphill trail they have to get themselves up after the first lift. It's perfect for learning skating, since they are motivated to get through the crowd and up that hill as fast as possible. It gets very boring herringboning up it. And it feels good to be one of the people moving fast through the crowd.
Skating is difficult for people who have not yet mastered it, because it requires a "hidden" skill that's unfamiliar and not used elsewhere in life. It requires them to watch what several different body parts are doing simultaneously. These adult students are not used to monitoring three different body parts simultaneously. That's asking a lot.
--First, they need to feel if they are edging their "propelling ski" sufficiently to get any forward movement going. They can tell if the edging is sufficient if they can feel the ski gripping the snow without sliding across it. Loose-fitting boots are often an issue. Unfamiliarity with strongly edging the ski is also an issue.
--Second, they need to extend that propelling leg diagonally backwards behind them, so that foot moves back behind their hip. Many plop that ski down and press it directly down into the snow, hoping they will travel forward. Or they plop that foot down in a wide stance and press it outwards, sideways, away from their hip. Neither of these is going to propel them forward effectively. When they use some "oomph" to thrust that propelling foot backwards, and when the ski is edged enough to grip the snow, the shin will press hard into the boot cuff. Many are very shy about doing this; the boot cuff functions as an unmovable wall repelling their shins. This shy relationship with the boot cuff must be overcome for skating to start working. Some have a range-of-motion issue with their hip extensors; they can't get that femur to go backwards enough; it hurts in the glute area. Stretch work in the gym may be needed.
--Third, they need to tilt their torso forward (not stand tall, with upward torso). They need to "will" their tilted torso to glide forward in response to the leg lengthening and pushing back against an edged ski. They need to "will" their tilted torso to balance on the "glide" ski and slide forward. Some are shy about leaning forward... maybe they are afraid of falling on their faces.
That's three things at once. Most people can focus on one new thing at once. So usually we work on edging after getting up the lift the first time, on propelling with that backwards leg extension after the second lift ride, and on the torso tilt third. Once they get this whole gliding-forward thing going, they can strengthen it with pumping arms. I don't let them push with poles; they learn to skate fastest t if I take the poles away.