The Importance of Training
The Importance of Training
The unfortunate trend in short term cost cutting is to reduce or in some cases, completely eliminate the training budget. Embedded in that budget is skill training, knowledge acquisition and tuition reimbursement. It’s usually the easiest place to look because training is viewed as overhead costs. The quick slash and burn approach to help bring up the numbers typically results in a return to the hands-on, learn-as-you-go, scattergun approach to skill competence. The organization is then left with those individuals who are willing to learn in order to survive as opposed to a skilled workforce that wants to grow. What makes this strategy particularly dangerous is the unprecedented labor shortage unfolding in the United States and the ‘free agent’ approach to career development as seen among the current crop of full time employees. All conventional wisdom supports the notion that training is critical to the efficient functioning of an organization, but the link between conventional wisdom and practical reality gets lost when the idea is to keep the ship afloat. The often translates into organizations having a bunch of highly skilled employees who are proficient in bailing water, but once the waters are calm and stability has been established, no one knows how to row the boat.
Training is not a ‘recreational’ luxury to be implemented when times are good, but is an essential survival tool when times are pretty rough. It is important to maintain an ongoing assessment of the internal training needs of the organization while anticipating the changes in the external environment that will dictate new skills and knowledge. The corporate world has seen the emergence of E-Learning, Online Training, and Distance Education as expanding compliments to traditional in-class learning. These new approaches to training have helped to take some of the expense out of training (i.e. travel, hotel accommodations), but they also represent the continuing education and training opportunities that are consistent with the ‘lifelong’ learner philosophy that is a guiding beacon for contemporary organizations. In fact, the growth of the Internet has helped to take a lot of the sting out of costly training by allowing access to training Websites and online certification programs.
As the economic cycle continues to spin toward its next step in the process, many organizations are weighing the importance of training in lieu of other seemingly pressing concerns. The doubts are probably tied to an inability to measure the true impact of the training experience, and, consequently, its true worth. When all else fails, perhaps some reflective thought on the next quote and its corporate interpretation might shed some light.
“If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.” In the business setting, that quote is taken to mean, “If you think training is expensive, try incompetence.”
The Importance of Training - To learn more about this author, visit Lee Meadows's Website.
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“Once you’ve made a good selection decision, everything else is training.” This quote came from the wisdom of a veteran corporate education and training director during my years at General Motors. He believed the statement could be applied across a variety of situations, both professional and personal. He also believed the opposite of that statement is also true, in that once you’ve trained someone to the best of their ability, if it doesn’t work out, then it was a bad selection decision. While there was no sitting at the feet of this wise guru, I couldn’t help but think how insightful the comment was and still is. The current competitive atmosphere has a number of companies trying to balance their restructuring and retention needs. In the midst of all that expanding and contracting decision making is one sure truth about remaining competitive. Maintaining a well trained, multi-skilled workforce is more than just an overhead cost consideration, but the recognition that without appropriate knowledge and skills, a company, irrespective of size, can lose its competitive and distinctive edge.
The unfortunate trend in short term cost cutting is to reduce or in some cases, completely eliminate the training budget. Embedded in that budget is skill training, knowledge acquisition and tuition reimbursement. It’s usually the easiest place to look because training is viewed as overhead costs. The quick slash and burn approach to help bring up the numbers typically results in a return to the hands-on, learn-as-you-go, scattergun approach to skill competence. The organization is then left with those individuals who are willing to learn in order to survive as opposed to a skilled workforce that wants to grow. What makes this strategy particularly dangerous is the unprecedented labor shortage unfolding in the United States and the ‘free agent’ approach to career development as seen among the current crop of full time employees. All conventional wisdom supports the notion that training is critical to the efficient functioning of an organization, but the link between conventional wisdom and practical reality gets lost when the idea is to keep the ship afloat. The often translates into organizations having a bunch of highly skilled employees who are proficient in bailing water, but once the waters are calm and stability has been established, no one knows how to row the boat.
Training is not a ‘recreational’ luxury to be implemented when times are good, but is an essential survival tool when times are pretty rough. It is important to maintain an ongoing assessment of the internal training needs of the organization while anticipating the changes in the external environment that will dictate new skills and knowledge. The corporate world has seen the emergence of E-Learning, Online Training, and Distance Education as expanding compliments to traditional in-class learning. These new approaches to training have helped to take some of the expense out of training (i.e. travel, hotel accommodations), but they also represent the continuing education and training opportunities that are consistent with the ‘lifelong’ learner philosophy that is a guiding beacon for contemporary organizations. In fact, the growth of the Internet has helped to take a lot of the sting out of costly training by allowing access to training Websites and online certification programs.
As the economic cycle continues to spin toward its next step in the process, many organizations are weighing the importance of training in lieu of other seemingly pressing concerns. The doubts are probably tied to an inability to measure the true impact of the training experience, and, consequently, its true worth. When all else fails, perhaps some reflective thought on the next quote and its corporate interpretation might shed some light.
“If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.” In the business setting, that quote is taken to mean, “If you think training is expensive, try incompetence.”
The Importance of Training - To learn more about this author, visit Lee Meadows's Website.
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John BrennanJohn Brennan Ed.D. Dr. Brennan is President of Interpersonal Development, LLC, a training and development firm. Interpersonal Development has provided sales training and coaching to more than 3,000 sales reps from over 100 companies. A native of Australia, Dr. Brennan received his doctorate from the University of Rochester. His dissertation researched the effectiveness of Behavioral Modeling Technology in training people in interpersonal skills. While he has spent most of his career designing or delivering training, he was also a Vice-President of Sales of a training and development franchise with operations in 25 markets. Dr. Brennan has designed and delivered sales training in North America, Asia, Europe, Australia and the Middle East. He has been a guest speaker at numerous national and regional professional conferences. When Microsoft wanted Best Practices articles on sales for their web site, they called Dr. Brennan. The results are at http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/FX011387391033.aspx His firm’s clients have included Volvo, The Prudential, Merrill Lynch, Eastman Kodak, Gannett, Equifax Europe, the Economist Group and countless small businesses. - Visit John Brennan's Website |
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Linda RichardsonLinda Richardson is the Founder and Executive Chairwoman of Richardson, a global sales training and performance improvement company. As a recognized leader in the industry, she has won the coveted Stevie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sales Excellence and she was identified by Training Industry, Inc. as one of the “Top 20 Most Influential Training Professionals.” Ms. Richardson is credited with the movement to Consultative Selling and is the author of ten books on selling and sales management, including Sales Coaching — Making the Great Leap from Sales Manager to Sales Coach, and Stop Telling, Start Selling. She teaches sales and management at the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton Executive Development Center. Linda is a frequent speaker at industry and client conferences, has been published extensively in industry and training journals, and has been featured in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Nation’s Business, Selling Power, Success, and The Conference Board Magazine. Learn more about Richardson's sales training and performance improvement solutions at http://www.richardson.com web - Visit Linda Richardson's Website |
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David AchesonDavid Acheson is the founder of DCJA Consultancy. DCJA Consultancy is a management consultancy business specialising in B2B sales consultancy. They offer bespoke and packaged sales consultancy including Sales Optimisation Review, Interim Sales Management, Sales & Marketing Review, 1:1 Sales & Management Staff Analysis, Management Training, Solution Sales Training, Creation of New Pay Plan, KPI's, run Customer Feedback Campaigns, assist with Recruitment, Coaching, Appraisals and set up Strategic Marketing Campaigns. David spent his early career in accountancy and then moved into sales in 1982, working in Office Equipment, IT, Advertising, Training, Outsourcing and Consultancy. He has held many Senior Positions in SMBs and Global Organisations including Head of Sales Operations & Head of Business Development. His knowledge, skills and great experience of the Sales Industry has led to David making keynote speeches and running educational sessions to key businesses through organisations including The Chamber of Commerce and Business Link. - Visit David Acheson's Website |
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John AlexanderJohn has taught keyword research and SEO skills to small groups of business owners and Webmasters from over 80 different countries world wide since 2002. John is also the Director of Search Engine Academy ; Co-director of Training at Search Engine Workshops offering live, SEO Workshops with his partner SEO educator Robin Nobles, author of the very first comprehensive online search engine marketing courses at SEO Training Online and the SEO Workshop Resource Center. I look forward to hearing from you! - Visit John Alexander's Website |
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Staging DivaDebra Gould, aka The Staging Diva®, is President of Six Elements Inc., an internationally recognized home staging company. Inspired by many requests from aspiring home stagers wanting to start similar businesses, Gould created the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program. Gould has trained over 1000 Staging Diva Graduates worldwide to start staging businesses. Buying decorating and selling six of her own homes in four years lead to an interest in real estate staging which she turned into a career with the launch of sixelements.com in 2002. Since then she has staged hundreds of homes in addition to teaching home staging training. Gould is the author of several home staging resources including a series of popular ebooks made up of a Design Guide, Color Guide and Portfolio Guide. For more information about Debra Gould visit stagingdiva.com. - Visit Staging Diva's Website |
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Leanne Hoagland-SmithAre your sales where you want them to be? Will you be one of the few who achieves sales or business success or one of the many who have failed to change? Are you tired of being told you are like everyone else? Then you may find my first book on sales of interest. Be the Red Jacket in the Sea of Gray Suits, The Keys to Unlocking Sales available at Amazon or at http://www.processspecialist.com/red-jacket.htm. This book is a reflection of my no-nonsense approach to improving sales to overall business results. If you are truly committed to making sustainable changes, then I can help you secure a positive return on your investment because I focus on executable solutions not telling you the problems you already know you have. From training to corporate (group) coaching to executive one on one coaching, my approach is to assess, create awareness, build a goal driven action plan and then execute. The bottom line question is "Not do you or your employees know it, but do you or they want to do it?" Please call for a free strategy session at 219.759.5601. - Visit Leanne Hoagland-Smith's Website |
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