Friday Focus: When training isn't working

“Snip, snip, snip” – I hear the inevitable sound of training budgets being cut. I am not actually sure if we are on the slippery “double-dip” of this recession, or if the economy is on the road to recovery. I do know, however, that many organisations are currently scrutinising their budgets to identify savings. The training budget is generally the first place to look for cuts.

After all what are the implications of cutting the training budget? If you see training as a series of one-off events – externally sourced, which is usually the “default option” – then you can probably go ahead and make your cuts. There will be little impact on the behaviour and performance of your staff as external training courses, unless undertaken as an integral part of a comprehensive people development plan, can be a waste of your valuable money.

This is because training as a one-off event rarely produces the results either the employer or the participant on the course, wishes to achieve. You lose a member of staff for a day or two from the office, and what happens when they get back? They may have had a really good day out but there is little or no change in skills and behaviour. We should be asking ourselves why we keep on doing something that appears to provide such a poor return on investment. After all, Einstein said that “insanity lies in doing the same thing again and again and expecting a difference result”.

What is going wrong, and is anyone in particular to blame? First of all, I believe the answer lies with many senior managers who do not see training and development as a strategic issue. They therefore do not take the time to align the training and development of their people with the needs of the business. They may say that people are their greatest asset, yet there is insufficient time spent on planning and carrying out the development of those assets.

The lack of a strategic approach to development of people can happen in a new, growing company and also in a more established organisation. In the former, training may well be focused on compliance matters and only those technical skills required to get the job done, while in the latter, senior management may delegate all responsibility for the training and development of staff to HR professionals, on the grounds that “that’s their area, let them get on with it”.

I believe that developing staff is a key responsibility of everyone who occupies a line management role and managers should be aware of the importance of this element of their line management role.

How then can organisations work to get a better return on investment for training and development? Training, both internal and externally-sourced, can be highly effective if it is part of an overall development strategy for the whole organisation. Aligning training and development with the needs of the business is critical for success.

Then there are simple and practical steps which can be taken to make sure the training is right. First of all, the person sourcing the training activity needs to be clear on what they want to achieve. For example, think about whether you want staff to acquire new knowledge and learn new skills, or do you want to effect a change in the behaviour of the participants? Then you can decide on the options available.

You also need to be sure that it is indeed a lack of skills that is the problem. Perhaps there are some underlying problems that need to be addressed. Are there processes in place preventing optimum performance? If you train the staff on improving performance but the ineffective processes have stayed the same, then the skills learned will be lost and you will have wasted your money. You have to empower staff to identify and change processes that are resulting in their poor performance to get a return on your investment.

You also need to look at what happens after training. Will the person be given the opportunity to incorporate what they have learned into their day-to-day work? Or, after an initial burst of enthusiasm, be overwhelmed by the day job and not have the time to make the necessary changes in the way they work? We need to offer people opportunities to incorporate what they have learned into their work. This takes time, plus the encouragement and buy-in of line managers.

Some organisations are getting it right, and the results show in their bottom line. Look at the successful organisations in the logistics sector and you will find those that have invested in staff development.

Dorothea Carvalho is Director of Professional Development at the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport