Sunday, April 8, 2012

Training that supports long-term capacity building and short-term results

Even today, when training and learning (or development) is budgeted for by profit and not-for-profits, it is not a science.  Depending on management teams, or even individual personalities, training and development is too quickly abandoned if it doesn't yield the visible results it needs to.  Organizations need to establish their level of expectation when creating a training curriculum for its people.  Too often, the organization's mission - charter - objective (near and long term) are glossed over briefly and not tied to the objectives of the T&D program.  Understanding the organization's direction, objectives, commitment to goals lays the foundation for successful training and employee buy-in.

 Ask yourself these questions...

1. How does your T&D programs align learning with organizational mission and goals?
2. How is the T&D directly and indirectly motivate people to learn - and increase performance?
3. How does your program develop leaders - current positions and for succession planning?
4. How are you setting and measuring results; who is setting and measuring results?
5. How are you administering the training & learning? What is the mix of media and methods?
6. How are you tailoring the training and learning  to increase individual contribution levels?

Even if you do not have a formal T&D organization, successfully partnering with a coach or trainer will increase the success of your training. 

With the advent of technology and  mixed media, companies will encourage best-practices to be shared across the organization - mentorship and peer-coaching.