First Stop all Training Programs

Ever attended a training program and wondered why you were there? Or maybe you sent your team member for one, completely aware that it was going to be just a day off for her… if you owned the organization you’re working for, would you allow this?

‘Recession’ – this one word is a nightmare to business heads. You would have come across organizations that slash their training budgets during recession. Employees’ learning man-days are reduced. The training team is down-sized. Only performers are nominated for training programs. Business heads wouldn’t want their resources spending time in a training program. CEOs would call for a change management workshop for their one-downs. Leaders would discuss about the 80-20 rule. The thought is this – if only 20% of the work force is contributing to the organization’s growth, why send every one for training? Interesting thinking to ponder over.

I would say, “First stop all training programs”. Yes. You heard me right.

If the training programs are not yielding tangible business results, then why spend on the training? If employees are not getting efficient after attending training programs, why would business heads allow them for attending training?

Change is inevitable. We would all agree. But then, should leaders focus on change during ‘High urgency, High Importance’ situations?

Let’s look at the core of the issue. It runs as deep as a rabbit hole.

During one of my workshops for a middle management group, I met a zonal leader. During my customary chat with him, I enquired about the feedback on the workshop. He replied, “You know what? All training programs are good in one way. It is one time when employees get to relax and catch up with colleagues from other locations. It doesn’t matter which program they are attending. It doesn’t matter even if they are attending the same program for the second or third time”. That felt like someone has just slapped me. A good hard slap.

If organizations don’t have specific expectations on what their employees should be able to do after attending training programs, then why the need to spend on training programs? Isn’t it charity sans willingness?

Here are 10 points that you may consider for learning & development initiatives in your organization

1. Don’t depend completely on consultants. You know your organization better.
2. Cull out skills and knowledge required for a role holder from the competency framework.
3. Map expectations and concerns of the leaders. This will help you to customize learning initiatives. Validate the concerns of leaders before designing initiatives.
4. Business heads will be able to state their expectations and concerns objectively but don’t expect them to tell you what learning interventions are required. People development is the core domain of HR.
5. Don’t conduct a knowledge sharing session and expect the employees to develop skills on their own. Develop support systems to review and handhold development of new skills.
6. Before designing learning interventions, objectively define what your employees should be able to do after attending the training.
7. Develop a learning architecture for the entire organization. This architecture should define the responsibilities of different stake holders in the process of how the organization will continuously learn.
8. Make the leaders accountable for their team’s learning and development. Achieving targets is a current requirement. Building capability of the organization for future ups and downs is the key deliverable of leaders.
9. 80-20 rule is just statistics. Human potential is too huge to bracket people. Focusing on the 80% with meaningful initiatives to build capabilities will result in increased profits.
10. Training is not a standalone solution for improving performance.  ‘Anything is possible’ is such a foolish paradigm. Be realistic in fitting people to the right job – one where they can excel.

Recession or tailwind, organizations need to focus on developing employees. These development initiatives should acquire more importance during troubled times. Organizations can’t get better only by revising targets; there is strong need to enable employees to meet the market demands.

One for the road… If the training programs are not impacting the organization’s performance positively, first stop all training programs.