Is
employee training a waste of time and money?
it
Depends . . .
Tim Connor
Here’s the
bottom line in advance – A large percentage of the training done by
organizations is a waste of money and time. (Not being negative here – as I can
always use more business.). However,
having said this – this doesn’t have to be the outcome. Employee development programs (training) can
and do work and are effective at improving employee performance for many
organizations but why the difference or inconsistency? Because some managers ‘get it’ and most don’t. Get what?
Read on. . .
During my career,
I have trained thousands of people in hundreds of organizations around the
world and although I did my very best to share relevant and appropriate
information I have always wondered – did anyone ever consistently use the
ideas, techniques and approaches I shared?
This nagging
question for many years has caused me to do extensive research on the
effectiveness of employee development and use of resources and its short vs.
long term success given the tremendous amount of money spent every year by
companies to give employees the skills and attitudes they need for enduring
success and effectiveness.
When it comes
to employee development programs of any kind there are three issues that must
be taken into consideration; information acceptance, retention and the training
approach or methods used to improve or change behavior. I will not delve into the first two as it
would take several thousand words to cover all of the aspects of both of
these. What I want to focus on in this
article is the third area – training methodology.
There are four
approaches or levels of learning you must grasp when it deals with employee
development when you consider the results you want to achieve. They are – awareness, understanding, integration
and mastery. Let’s look at each of these
in detail. But, first let me ask you a
question. When you invest time and resources in training what do you want the
results to be – knowledge or action? Or put in another way - do you want
employees to just hear the message or use it consistently in the performance of
their daily roles and responsibilities? If your answer was the first – move on
to your next task. If it was the second
– read on. Here are the four levels in
more detail.
-The
awareness level.
At this level
of learning employees have an awareness only; of techniques, tactics, skills
and approaches to be more effective in their roles. However, at this level they lack the clarity
and understanding to embrace the new learning in a way that will allow them to
put the information into practice in an effective way and for the long
term. At this level, behavior will not
change and you will have essentially wasted corporate resources and the employee’s
time. They will be alert and attentive during any training session, but when
the learning session(s) are over they will lack the knowledge necessary to know
how, where, when and why to use this new information. The awareness level can be described as
sharing information only.
-The understanding
level
At the
understanding level, employees get it.
They see the relationship between the information they have learned and
its value, but they still lack the ability to consistently apply (integrate)
what they have learned in their roles and responsibilities.
-The
integration level
Knowledge if
it is not used, applied or integrated into current mindsets, activities,
responsibilities or approaches is essentially useless information. Without a doubt the biggest challenge in any
training initiative is to ensure that the new learning is used and used
whenever and wherever appropriate for the long term. The lack of application of new
knowledge/skills/attitudes generally occurs when the following ten requirements
are not followed in any training (employee development) program.
Here are the
ten requirements.
- The program must engage the participants and cannot be a one-way dialog or approach.
- The program must permit the employees to practice while they are learning.
- The program must allow time for group interaction in small work/discussion groups to relate specific applications to their role and responsibilities and their actual or current challenges and opportunities.
- The program must allow adequate time for topic questions and practical discussions.
- The program must take into consideration that everyone learns in different ways. Some people need to hear it while others need to speak it and some need time to process the information at their own learning pace.
- The program must take into consideration the ‘real world’ issues that the participants deal with on a routine basis.
- The material must be reinforced in a variety of ways. This reinforcement must be immediate and ongoing, repetitive and various methods must be used such as; regularly discussing the new material, assignments, follow-up exercises, review of the material using manuals, electronic media such as weekly or bi-weekly webinars and/or telephone conference calls and various evaluation techniques.
- The learning must be periodically inspected to ensure that the learned skills are being implemented and used where and when appropriate.
- Management must participate in the actual learning so they know what their employees are learning. Without this knowledge, it is impossible for them to coach, inspect and hold people accountable to their learning over time.
- The program must provide opportunities for everyone to develop personal ownership of the material.
The Mastery
Level -
Mastery is
the highest form of knowledge and wisdom applied. This is where wisdom becomes the standard for
learning and skill and attitude development and consistent use for long periods
of time. Mastery occurs when knowledge
becomes wisdom and wisdom is utilized at every opportunity when a situation or
circumstance warrants. Very few
participants in a training session for any number of reasons achieve this level
of knowledge or information application.
Generally speaking, people who achieve mastery in their chosen field or
endeavor have made mastery their goal and they have followed through with
discipline, persistence, planning and an ongoing learning mindset.
There are
generally seven laws when it comes to learning.
These must be
understood and integrated into any learning experience if you want to have a
successful long term outcomes and behavior and skill modification.
Here are the seven laws of learning;
1. All
discovery is self-discovery.
2. People all
learn at different rates.
3. People all
have unique learning styles.
4. People learn
when they are ready to learn not when you need them to learn.
5. People who
are experiencing a great deal of stress or tension will fail to learn what you
want them to and when you want them to.
6. If
material is not presented or tailored in a way that is comfortable for the
learner’s personality style they will fail to integrate the skills, techniques
or attitudes into their roles and responsibilities.
7. Everyone’s
personal perceptions either contribute to or sabotage their ability to learn
and grasp new concepts, ideas and information.
So, there you
have it. But here’s the bigger problem. Most organizations want to achieve the
integration or even the mastery level of learning for employees but they fail
to grasp that these two levels of learning require;
- A
serious commitment to on ongoing learning process. This takes ongoing and
consistent time and resources. You will never achieve long term results with a
quick-fix approach.
- The
ability to put strategies in place for inspection and to hold people accountable.
Most managers are too busy to be involved in the learning process. They just want to delegate it.
- Ongoing
coaching. Many managers either do not have adequate or acceptable coaching
skills so they fail in this area.
I’ll
leave you with a simple question – Are you expecting long term employee
effectiveness from your training investment while you are not following any or all
the suggestions, no - requirements in this article? If you are, you will continue to throw more
money at your problems or challenges, but fail to achieve the results you
desire.
No comments:
Post a Comment