12 Aug 2021|Education

There is no doubt that many companies in our country are yet to find the good results they can get from the training of their employees. One such desired result, for example, is to become more competitive. The reason is simple - in order to survive, Bulgarian companies must be competitive. This is one of the strongest trump cards for survival in a highly competitive environment - Bulgarian, European, global.

Why do I think companies are yet to discover the results they can get from employee training?

Because the majority of them are still captives of the practice "Let's organize a training!".

This practice does not lead to significant and sustainable results for companies. That's why I liken it to "throwing away" a decent amount of money right into the channel. Such "dumping" of money in the channel occurs in those companies in which training is perceived as an end in itself (training for the sake of training), instead of as a means (tool) with which to achieve higher results.

In most small companies, decisions such as "What training", "For whom", "When", "At what price" and especially "Why" are made by the owner of the company, who is often its manager. . And when it comes to a larger company - these decisions are the responsibility of the people in the Human Resources department.

In recent months, I have seen several Bulgarian companies make decisions about "throwing money into the canal" training, ignoring even the simplest rules. Yes, they wanted some training there, but so what?

From the point of view of good practices for human resources management, which includes the topic of training, the desire to conduct training is not enough. The availability of money (budget) for training is also not enough. Neither the desire nor the money is enough to conduct effective and useful training.

What is needed is more to reach a state in which the training will begin to generate significant and sustainable results that will increase the value of the company.

And this is where companies make fatal mistakes. I will focus on two that are key to me.

Error #1

This error consists in the fact that the decision to organize and conduct training is taken without there being carefully collected and analyzed information about the training needs of employees, or at least about the reasons that require training.

Example

Based on personal and often - episodic observations on the work of its managers and employees, the manager of the company has the feeling that something in the work is not going well. He wants to correct the behavior of his people with some training and he sees it appropriate for all managers and/or employees to participate in the training.

We are talking about a dozen people, and maybe 20, 30, 40, 50. This does not matter much to the manager. According to him, it is necessary to train everyone at once.

Sounds like a great wish.

Error analysis

The manager confuses the need for training with job failures.

Has the manager thought seriously enough about the reasons for the failures? If the work of a manager, for example, is not going well, is it not due to the fact that he lacks specific managerial competence? If this turns out to be the real reason, then the quick and one-time "training" will not be able to compensate for the deficit of managerial competence.

In addition, the work of the manager may not be going well, but the reasons are not in him but in the company. It is also possible that the manager has no influence on these "external" reasons. So in such cases, training can not change the quality of his work.

And more. There are modern training techniques. The lecture form is not among them. Especially when it comes to in-house training. In addition, twenty, thirty, forty participants in one training session are too many to achieve in all these people a real positive change in work behavior after the end of the training.

Error result

The manager does not achieve the dream effect and is disappointed. Economically, the company is a waste of money, and emotionally, the training may have been a stressful event for the participants themselves. They have to wonder why they decided to train them…

What to Do?

If you are in the role of a manager and you are considering organizing company training, introduce a practice of collecting and analyzing information about the training needs of employees. If you are a professional human resource manager, you probably know that there are different ways to collect and analyze such information.

For example, periodically throughout the year, collect employees' personal opinions on training needs. Or hold a special meeting "brainstorming" with them, and after the event make a list of necessary knowledge and skills. Then form this list together with the employees, ranking first in the list the most urgent and strategically important (for the company) training needs.

It is good practice to review the performance of all employees using a system of valuation and remuneration rules. From this review, you will draw information about the skills and knowledge that are missing in employees, respectively, become the reason for lower grades in their work. This will give you valuable information about the training needs directly related to work behavior.

Error #2

This mistake is that the decision to train is made without a clear and specific idea of what you want to change after the end of the training.

Example

The human resources specialist and the manager, both individually and together, decide to initiate training for the employees working in the Sales Department. They both intuitively feel that such a need exists and the training is worthwhile.

However, both cannot clearly articulate what they expect to change once employees are trained.

Error analysis

If you do not have specific expectations, do not conduct training.

Why?

Because you will not be able to compile or select a working curriculum. You will not be sure what exactly training you want. You will not know in which case you turn to an external company and in which case you conduct the training on your own. And what do you expect the outside organization to do if you turn to one? To invent your own expectations?

Error result

I define it as a very negative result.

First, because training will be a waste of money.

Secondly, because you yourself predetermine a not very high motivation of the participants in the training. Employees will generally be either passive or covert and even openly disagree with the trainers on any training-related topics. It is quite possible that some participants in the training look for a way or reason not to attend the training unless it is conducted by order (yes, and such things happen). Others will doze off while it runs. Is that what you want to achieve?

What to Do?

Based on the information collected and analyzed by you about the training needs of employees, formulate in simple words what you want to change in the attitude or behavior of employees after the training.

For example, a change in attitudes towards working in the company, a change in specific actions, in the results of work, etc.

If we take the example of conducting sales training, verbally your requests could sound like this:

"I want the sales staff to start proactively looking for new customers after the training, not waiting for customers to get in touch with us on their own."
"I want employees to learn to present our products convincingly and impactfully."
"I want employees to have a clear idea of how to deal with the most common customer complaints."

In summary:

It seems frivolous and unprofessional to organize training without prior preparation. If you can see what is "beyond training", you will have a chance to avoid the two fatal mistakes that doom almost any training to failure.