How to Ensure Training is Worthwhile

Above: Andy Clark, Co-founder of ClarkMorgan Corporate Training, conducting a highly interactive 'Train the Trainer' seminar in Shanghai earlier this year.

How to Ensure Training is Worthwhile...

I have been shocked and dismayed at one training trend I have noticed over the last six months, and I’d like to talk about this today and over the following few days; training for training's sake.

HR and Training Managers have, in general, been provided with a lower training budget over the last few months; you would therefore think that needs analysis and well-targeted training would be of utmost importance during these times. Efficiency and communications skills must be of a priority, as well as training and motivating those with leadership potential.

However, I have noticed a huge increase in completely untargeted training, of little immediate use, with no incentive for future improvement, and extremely ‘stand-alone’. I’ll give you an example:

I know of a corporate trainer who was recently employed by an extremely well-known multinational corporation. This company wanted training once a month for an unlimited number of staff and they didn’t want the employees to interact with the trainer in any way. They insisted that they needed the trainer to ‘lecture’ for two hours at a time about any relevant business topic, such as finance or sales. The lectures were, of course, used as a reason for employees to excuse themselves from normal work and produced no improvement in efficiency or effectiveness. No matter how many times the trainer tried to discover the real needs of the organization or find the underlying reason for the company needing training, the answer was always the same: You. Lecture. Two hours. No interaction!

T&D magazine published a fascinating article titled "Why (Most) Training Is Useless: Start Developing Skills; Stop WASTING Time." By David H. Maister. Although this is a rather negative title, I would like to add my own positive spin on this and write an article for each of his reasons why ‘most training is useless’, and tell you how to ‘make your training useful’… In fact, more than useful: highly productive and highly effective.

Tomorrow, I’ll begin with point number one: “True long-term changes in any organization need to begin with changes at the top - in managerial behavior.”

Many thanks for reading,

Emma

For more information on corporate training and seminars, or to provide feedback, please contact me on eharradine@hotmail.co.uk