Article on Leadership Skills:

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Source: www.what-are-good-leadership-skills.com, ©Emily A. Sterrett, Ph.D. Reprinted with permission.

Make Training Stick

Does this sound familiar? There is a new process, new buzz word, research findings, or cutting edge piece of equipment “out there” that may have application to your company. One or more people in authority pushes to “get somebody trained” so the company will know more about their new area of interest. One person or a group of people are designated to attend a conference, training program, or other event.

Another common scenario for requested training is that an employee gets a mailing or an e-mail announcement of some training event related to his/her job and asks to attend.

Everyone assumes those who get trained in this way will bring their good information back to the organization and either train others, or at the very least, those who attend will be better contributors themselves. Great idea, but how often does it really work that way?

I’m a trainer and facilitator, so I very much believe in the importance of training and continuous learning. There needs to be regular input of new ideas from outside the company. But training is clearly not an answer for every problem. Even if the training itself is quite good, if it is poorly integrated into the organization, it’s often a waste of time and money. Rather than simply sending someone off for training, it’s important to think how the new ideas generated from the training will be used in your current structure and culture. How does it fit into the long-term plans?

Training often gets a bad name simply because it is approached in the wrong way, much like one of the two situations mentioned above. If you want training to “stick” and to be effective in producing the results you envision, it’s essential that you do some preparation both before and after the training to be sure it will fulfill its potential to enhance positive changes.

Making Training More Effective

Here are some ideas to consider for improving the impact of training and maximizing the use of your training dollars.

1) Clearly define what you want as a result of the training—whether you hire someone to come to your facility and train a group of people, or whether you send one or more people to an outside program. Before you seriously consider training, be sure you know your organization’s strategic priorities. In what way will the training event being considered support the direction the organization is heading? If there is not a clear and compelling link, it’s probably not a good idea.

2) If the need for training is clear, carefully identify who should be involved. Who has interest in this kind of topic, or who would have need of this information, based on their job responsibilities?

3) If someone agrees to attend outside training at the company’s expense, the company has a right and a responsibility to expect something in return. What is that expectation? How will they plant the seeds of their expanded knowledge among their colleagues? Will they submit a written report, and if so, how will the information be disseminated? Can the person come back and share their learning in a staff meeting? Set some expectations, and make sure the trainees know the expectations.

4) Follow up after the training. Make the time to get the information circulated to the people who can most benefit. If you leave out this important step, you are shortchanging the organization.

5) Begin discussions on “How can we use these new ideas?” Make it part of the culture that you are always asking that question. Sometimes the benefit may not be in the direction you expected. It may be a related or tangential idea that comes from the new learning, not a direct application of the new process or latest research. Be open to any possible good ideas spurred by trainees or anyone they teach.

Good training is not done in a vacuum. It touches more than just the people who received the training. Using the above approach helps you extend the positive impact of training and make wise use of your training dollars.

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