Over the years many people attend in-company training courses because there is something new on the list, or because there is generally “something useful” about the programs run. This menu of training provion, whilst helping managers, has become one of the tools that has helped to almpst destroy the tr
Training for reward or punishment
Too many organizations still use training as some form of reward or punishment for not being “good enough”
THIS MUST STOP
Using training for either of these reasons undermines the very existence of training as a provision in organizations, as when the time comes for cuts, there is little reason to keep training if these are the only reasons for doing it!
The ONLY legitimate reason for training
Is to solve a problem!
It does not matter what the problem is… be it individual performance or lack of skill, or organizational competence, knowledge or a lack of collaboration between departments and within teams.
Of course in times of change, many people feel threatened, and training, done well, can help here too. Training in these instances can solve problems
Training is not just for existing problems either. Training can help prevent predictable problems before they occure, such as morale as change approaches, or team spirit (keeping it on a high).
The real issue is that for years many organizations used training for the wrong reasons, now of course those junior manager are now business leaders, and they do not have the belief in the value of training, and when it comes to budgets, training is cut faster than ever. Training is now so undervalued that for many people they never get any “off-the-job” training at all.
The sooner those of us in the training world help leaders in business use training to solve real problems, the better we can start to build confidence back in the real value of training
If you are a leader reading this
Only use training to solve a problem or to prevent a problem
If you are a trainer reading this, only agree to deliver training if the problem is clearly stated… and the training WILL help solve the issue.
It is simple DO NOT TRAIN for the wrong reasons… ever!
ONLY train to solve business or organizational problems
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