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Traing; Less or More

Guest post by: Jacque Small

Article Overview: The fourth Article in this series is focused on creating valuable learning opportunities. The previous article was Flexibility, The quality of a good leader. I am going to focus on, are you getting value from your investment in training?

Traing; Less or More

The fourth Article in this series is focused on creating valuable learning opportunities. The previous article was Flexibility, The quality of a good leader. I am going to focus on, are you getting value from your investment in training? What is learning? The dictionary definition is to acquire knowledge of or skill in; to acquire by study. My definition of learning is three fold;

acquiring information - data that I will use to take action,

knowledge that will enhance my thinking,

knowledge that will support me to change my behaviour.

The Situation

Let's look at each one of these types of learning.

Many of our learning opportunities are corporate trainings or workshops. At them we gather great information that we can use to enhance our work. A colleague just walked into my office and expressed the biggest hazard of learning. Gathering information/data that we could take action on and then doing nothing with it. He has all the best intentions, knows that it would benefit his business and yet he does not take action.

This challenge is present both in the corporate world with employees and managers and also in the self employed world. What can we do?

The second kind of learning is knowledge that will enhance our thinking. We notice in people's thinking their attitudes, beliefs and perspectives about life. Unfortunately a bunch of our thinking does not serve us at work or at home. It is great to hear a motivational speaker who can provide us with insights or aha's. The question is, do you actually change your perspectives and points of view?

Our ability to change our behaviour is the third type of learning. Organizations provide a whole variety of training events and numerous workshops are available in the market that supports us to change our behaviour. Do we?

The Problem

Are we getting value from all this money we are spending on training and workshops? I think we could get a lot more value than we are. What is missing? Follow-up and support.

We have a mistaken belief, we should be able to do it on our own. An employee goes to a corporate workshop and then is expected to integrate the learning when they return to work. A self-employed professional takes a workshop, like my associate, and then returns to work and is caught up in all the day to day priorities. Has this happened to you?

The reality is that a lot of the time we don't do what we intend. Hence our money and time is not generating the value it could. Less is more.

The Solution

In the corporate arena, provide training to those people who really want the challenge of learning. Provide learning opportunities as a reward for initiative and good work. Allow people to participate in learning that they are passionate about. Managers need to support their people in implementing the learning in their work. An investment in professional coaching is another way to support the integration of learning if managers are constrained by time.

Alternatively form a mastermind group. Mastermind groups are groups that come together for a common purpose. It is the bringing together of multiple minds to collaboratively support each other.

When I deliver training, I encourage managers to find ways of keeping the learning alive. After attending a team training, establish a special meeting once a week where the team meets specifically to focus on the learning from the training and how they are going to implement this in their work.

If you are self-employed ask other people in the session if they would like to be part of a mastermind group to implement the training. The other option is to hire a coach, bring your learning to the coach and ask for assistance and accountability in implementing the learning.

I am currently part of three mastermind groups, which represents 12 hours a month of my time focused on integration and implementation, plus I receive at least 3 hours a month of coaching. I am dedicated to creating value out of what I learn.

You too can increase the value of learning by providing support to integrate the learning rather than attending more learning events.

Supporting your implementation.

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Article Tags: flexibility, leadership, training



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