Last week we discussed important factors that go into producing effective business training programs.
But sometimes you don't even have to look as deep to determine if a workplace training program will be effective or not. Sometimes it's as simple as judging a book by its cover. Because in today's business world, there are a few terms that many people erroneously associate with training.
Each of the below events is at odds with at least one of the three criterion in our previous post. So if your "training" is categorised as one of the following, we'd recommend you reconsider its implementation in your business:
• Conference – too many companies, usually during the annual conference, will bring in a facilitator for a one-day workshop. To them, the "training" for the year has been done. But without any follow-up and reinforcement it mostly goes in one ear and certainly out the other.
• Public workshop – this is the conference's ugly cousin. Not only is there no follow-up, but if it's public, there's precious little customisation or contextualisation!
• Certificate or degree – it's wonderful to get a Cert IV or another equivalent. But theoretical/academic learning is certainly not training. Simply put, training isn't training if it isn’t applied behaviourally.
This isn't to say that each of the above doesn't serve a purpose. They all do, depending on your desired outcome. But if you're looking to change the behaviour of your people – the very purpose of training – then none of these will do that. To achieve behaviour change, people need a structured environment, context to their work, consistent review and reinforcement, and have the active support of management. Otherwise you're simply providing expensive education.