ROI - Does Training give you a return on Investment?
The simple answer is if it does not don't bother undertaking the training. Get rid of the training department, and hire specialists as and when required. When employing trainers insist on them delivering a strong ROI to your bottom line. Don't let them baffle you with psycho babble. Make them work for their money. Question every workshop. Assess and evaluate objectives for specificity.
Doing and taking action is much more important than recounting knowledge
Ask for tangible evaluation. In setting objectives for the training session, it is not enough to state "……..at the end of this workshop attendees will understand………X or have a certain knowledge base and can recall key words, phrases and facts". These sessions typify inaction and they are too common in many organisations.
Actions speak louder than words
My workshops predominate with actions. A key principle for me is to assess 'what precisely will people be able to apply as soon as they return to their work?'
ROI - 4:1 Shell Oil Company
Many years ago I was working with trainers from Shell who told me their quality improvement training had to generate an ROI of 4:1 at the minimum. That means they measured the costs of providing training against the potential and actual gains that the company would materialise in concrete terms.
This made the trainers very focused when designing training programmes. No fluffy workshops to fill time - only tangible, practical input. It also meant that courses were designed to deliver results in a shorter time frame.
Training is often not the Solution
Training is often the wrong solution to organisational problems. How many times have I heard managers say "staff still are not performing to our required standard - we need to organise a training course to remedy the problems".
Training may not be the answer to organisational ills, but is the favoured solution because it's easy to organise and demonstrates a degree of commitment from those who manage the troubled people.
This is a shallow response to a real organisational need and is often not the answer. How much does it cost to organise a training event, hire a suitable trainer, design the programme, organise the day to suit all attendees needs and availability and then resource the department to cover services when the trainees are absent from their work.
Does training really create the changes we need?
What evidence is there that specific training will impact specific business performance?
Training is a waste unless you measure ROI against set objectives. And can organisations really afford to release their staff for one or two days to attend one event which has less than tangible objectives?
In this deepening recession we find that fewer and fewer managers are sanctioning training events to the same extent as they did in previous years. One needs to ask, has the quality of performance declined over that year? And what does training do for the longer term?
Training Diagnostics vs. List of Training Modules
I worked with one organisation in financial services that had an interesting practise for assessing training needs. Instead of designing a specific training needs analysis or specific diagnostics for assessing a precise need, they instead issues a list of training modules which were on offer - these ranged from Time Management to Team Building.
There was a simple list and trainees decided which course was most suitable for them. If they did not have a choice, often the supervisor would choose a course from them.
I witnessed a particular encounter when a member of staff complained that they had already been on a Time Management course to which the supervisor said "the only programme you have not been on is the 'stress management course' - so go on that". You can imagine how impactful training was in improving performance in this outfit!
Training: Specific - Precise & Programmed for Results & ROI
We are critical of training unless it provides hands on expertise to impact performance. Too much training focuses on theory rather than practise. Too much time is taken up with general activities which are all very interesting but do little to help the organisation operate at a higher level of performance. In this deepening recession we need more focus on objectives and ROI.
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