 |
 |
|
 |
Why Most Training Fails
By Jim Clemmer
Most organizations use their training investments about as strategically
as they deploy their office supplies spending. And the impact on customer
satisfaction, cost containment or quality improvement is just as useless.
One of the biggest causes of wasted training dollars is ineffective methods.
Too often, companies rely on lectures ("spray and pray"), inspirational
speeches or videos, discussion groups and simulation exercises.
While these methods may get high marks from participants, research (ignored
by many training professionals) shows they rarely change behaviour on
the job. Knowing isn't the same as doing; good intentions are too easily
crushed by old habits. Theoretical or inspirational training approaches
are where the rubber meets the sky.
Another way of wasting dollars is failing to link training with organizational
strategies and day-to-day management behaviour. What happens in the classroom
and what happens back on the job are often worlds apart.
Trainees learn which hoops to jump through, pledge alliance to the current
management fad, give their enthusiastic "commitment" to building
"the new culture," get their diploma - and then go back to work.
Here are a few steps to using training as a key strategic tool:
| • |
Use training technologies that build how-to skills that are highly
relevant and immediately applicable. Research clearly shows far more
people act themselves into a new way of thinking than think themselves
into a new way of acting. |
Training that produces tangible results starts by changing behaviour - which
ultimately changes attitudes. Most executives and many professional trainers
(who should know better) get this backward.
| • |
Follow-up on training sessions with on-the-job coaching and support
from managers. A Motorola Inc. study has found that those plants where
quality improvement training was reinforced by senior management got
a $33 return on every dollar invested. Plants providing the same training
with no top management follow-up produced a negative return on investment.
|
An earlier Xerox Inc. study showed a paltry 13 percent of skills were
retained by trainees six months after training if managers failed to provide
coaching and support as the skills were being applied.
And Western Gas Marketing Ltd. of Calgary uses its performance appraisal
system to hold managers accountable for applying the principles that have
been taught to them.
| • |
Build training around organizational objectives and
strategies. Trainees should immediately see the connection between
their new skills and where the organization is going. This makes training
more relevant - and gets everyone focused on applying their new skills
to the organization's key priorities and goals. |
| • |
Another key principle is practiced by Vancouver-based Finning Ltd.,
the world's largest Caterpillar dealer. Chief executive James Shepard
and his executives are not only first in line for service and quality
training, but they are also the trainers delivering sessions to their
people. |
This trend to "cascade" training down from senior management
snaps everyone to attention. Training attendance problems disappear. Results-oriented
executives jettison all the nice-to-do, but irrelevant training. Trainees
don't cross their arms and ask "Is the organization really serious
about this stuff?"
In addition, managers achieve a deeper level of skill development when
they teach others and are put on the spot to practice what they are now
preaching.
Naturalist William Henry Hudson once observed: "You cannot fly like
an eagle with the wings of a wren." Most training efforts never get
off the ground because the methods don't change behaviour or the training
is poorly delivered and integrated by the organization.
The waste of money is tragic for such a vital investment in competitiveness.
| Originally appeared in Jim's column in The Globe
& Mail. Jim Clemmer is a bestselling author and internationally
acclaimed keynote speaker, workshop/retreat leader, and management
team developer on leadership, change, customer focus, culture, teams,
and personal growth. During the last 25 years he has delivered over
two thousand customized keynote presentations, workshops, and retreats.
Jim's five international bestselling books include The VIP Strategy,
Firing
on All Cylinders, Pathways
to Performance, Growing
the Distance, and The
Leader's Digest. His web site is www.clemmer.net.
|
top of page |
|
