In my 22 years of being a corporate trainer, I have seen many companies pouring hundreds and thousands of dollars into training and development for their employees and how much had gone down to drain. According to THE Training Industry Report which is used by companies like Gallup and Forbes, In 2019, over $83 billion was spent on corporate training and development across the United States alone. Billion! Seven years ago, annual training spend was just around $55 billion, so clearly leaders see some value there with the spike in yearly investment since 2012.
So what is the problem? The question is what happens after the training? Is there a change or improvement? If there was, could it be measured? Will it stick? What is the ROI of training and development?
Those of you who have either attended training or are sending your employees to them, are you asking the same questions as me but secretly hoping that somehow, what you or your employees learn will stick?
Let’s look at a typical example. John has been informed by his HR manager that he has been chosen to attend a one-day leadership training. He takes a day off work but he is on stand by with his phone incase someone needs him at work. He takes the last flight the night before the training as he tries to finish up whatever he can before leaving the office.
Next day, he attends the training, the trainer looks professional, introduce some concepts, even crack a joke or two just to keep everyone entertained. Mostly, John thinks he already knew all these concepts. After all, he has been leading his team for years. Nothing new to him. They have a couple of table discussions but John keeps checking his messages because he is worried that something may go wrong at work.
Morning break comes, they have a nice smorgasbord of cheese, fruits, tea and coffee. They network a little and the training continues.
Lunch was a sumptuous buffet of mediterranean, Asian, western. Everyone seems to eat more than they could digest. Again, more networking before they continue training.
When it is over, they stay behind for more mingling over wine and cheese. Everyone has a good time and for those who remember, they exchange some business cards before going their separate ways.
So what happens now? Is John going to apply what he learned like his company is hoping for? Did John even have a clear intention before going to the training? Was it to have a good time? Was it to pick up some new skills? Or was it because he was “chosen”?
Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with having a good time, savouring good food while learning some good new skills.
I want to borrow a metaphor someone has recently used. Most companies have a strategy call “spray and pray”. Just like what you saw about John’s example. Companies are sending their employees to mass training without any follow-up strategy and secretly pray that their employees will apply what they have learned.
Should we stop corporate training altogether? NO. So what is the solution? Let us understand what leads to effective adult learning. First and foremost, there has to be a desire to learn. I know you want John to be a better leader, but if John doesn’t see that he has a need to improve, you are wasting yours and his time. You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink. Someone ought to sit John down and get clear with John on his intention for attending the training. Only when John sees the value in the training and is prepared to give his undivided attention to learn, then he is to attend it.
Second, there has to be a conducive environment for John to learn. He must be fully supported by his team at work and not worried about things going wrong while he is gone. I’m going to go as far as saying if his team didn’t make target this month, he will not be penalise by the company. That way, he can have complete focus in the training.
Third, adults learn best through experience. So, make sure your trainers turn concepts into experiential learning and not just bombarding people with lecture of intellectual concepts. Remember how John thought he had heard it all?
Forth, no learning can stick unless it is applied and practiced over and over again. For this, a structure must be in place. Be it a coach or a mentor, someone must keep John on track for a period of at least 12 weeks. This is a crucial period as John will face challenges while applying these newly learned concepts and will need coaching on how to get back on his feet or he will give up.
Finally, when John witness his own positive results at work because of what he had learned to apply, he will want to continue to apply it. Because John had a desire to learn, he paid attention in the training, practiced what he learned while being supported by a coach and finally reaped the benefits of his labor. John has now officially mastered the skills he was sent to learn. Here you have John wins, his team wins and of course the company wins.
I hope this has given you the courage to call out the elephant in the room. Not only that, you now have the solution too. It’s time to stop wasting your resources and start yielding your investment.
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