Leadership Article:
Are You Training Employees or Entertaining Them?

Training Is Just Entertainment
…Unless There’s Follow Up
…Unless It’s Specific to the Person and the Job

Every CEO, COO, CFO or HR Executive who spends money on training wants the same things: to change unproductive behaviors, to drive performance higher, to equip employees with new, better skills and, ultimately, to improve profits for the corporation.

In 2008, corporations spent an average of 2.5% of all payroll dollars on training.

That’s over $51.4 billion in a single year.

The last thing Executive Leaders want is for all that money to provide nothing more than fleeting entertainment for their employees.

Is sending a group of employees to a training class useful? Robert Brinkerhoff and Anne Apking say no.

Shocking, espcially coming from training executives! Here's three highlights from their book, High Impact Learning(2001):

• "Almost all organizational training is a marginal intervention and has only slight effects on performance improvement.
• “If we define 'training impact' as simply the transfer of knowledge and skills to on-the-job performance, research indicates that impact of training is realized only for about 15 percent of all training participants.
• “When we define the impact of training more rigorously, such as the application of new knowledge and skills to enhance performance in a way that makes a worthwhile difference to the business, then our evaluation studies typically show even more dismal results.”

Maybe you've experienced the results these authors are refering to, as I have.

Early in my consulting career I attended a fantastic sales training program in beautiful LaJolla, California. The trainer, the program and location were all fantastic. I’m a good student and I loved the class.

But when I got back to work, faced with my daily responsibilities, my resolve to implement all those great new ideas and skills waned. I did implement a few of them, so I’d say I’m close to Brinkerhoff and Apking’s average: about 15% of what I learned in that very expensive five-day course became part of my skill set.

So what’s the answer? How do we really change behavior and drive higher performance? For training to be more than entertainment, for more skills to be transferred back on the job, we must add follow-up and accountability.

Here are actions steps for turning entertainment into training:

• Measure the competencies required for the superior performance on the job. Then, measure internal employees against the competencies. I use an online 360 Feedback Survey for this.
• Offer training programs based on each individual’s specific development need (as gathered from the 360 results.).
• Don’t send people to ‘one-size-fits-all’ training programs. Not every employee in a department needs the same kind of training.
• Include follow up to all training programs.
• As stated in my first point: Measure participants through a skill survey before any coaching and training program. Implement the skill survey again 6 to 9 months after each coaching and training program to hold the participant accountable for making changes.
• Set up individual or group coaching calls and/or brown-bag Lunch-And-Learn follow-up sessions. Schedule them 30, 60 and 90 days after the training program.
• Involve participants in creating their own development plan. Follow up on progress.
• Making training specific to each employee’s job, then providing follow up and reinforcement for each employee will yield visible results.

Here's how one company implemented these action steps:

Situation #1

A maintenance company with 90 managers and 2,000 employees completed an employee opinion survey.

Survey results revealed a clear message to the Executive Team got a clear message: employees believed their managers were technically competent in the areas they supervised, but didn’t respect their managers’ leadership and management skills.

They brought in a top Leadership Training program.

Solution and Analysis

• Managers (10-15 at a time) participated in a seven-day, one-day-a-week classroom leadership program.
• Each management group customized and practiced real-life workplace scenarios.
• Each participant created a development plan and worked with an accountability partner during and after the program.
• The one-day-a-week delivery format allowed managers to practice the new skills before their next class. They brought their experiences back to the classroom each week, discussed and refined their new skills.
• The entire leadership team completed the seven week series.
• As a follow up, each leader completed online courses, which correlated to the classroom material. Quarterly discussion groups lead by the top leadership ensure changed behavior.

Outcome

The next annual employee opinion survey showed a marked improvement in the leadership skills category. Employee turnover has decreased.

Situation #2

In the same maintenance company, even after the Leadership Training Program had been completed, one department continued to struggle with two managers

Both had been with the company for 10-15 years and they each held valuable technical knowledge, but were not respected by their teams. Their department productivity was lower and their employee turnover higher than any other department, even after extensive leadership development training.

The Executive Leader was struggling, “Do they need more training? Am I managing them correctly? Am I being too hard on them?”

Solution and Analysis

Each manager completed an online talent assessment report that measured their behavior style, motivators and cognitive structure. The results of their talent reports were compared to a Position Benchmark created specifically for this company.

This comparison made it very clear that, while these employees had great talents, their talents were not as managers in this company.

Each struggling manager and their executive leader reviewed the results. The discussions were focused on each person’s strengths and where they could be better utilized within the company. Both the managers and their managers came to the same conclusion: that leadership at that company was not a good use of their talents.

Outcome

Both managers have moved to other roles within the company. Their years of experience and knowledge are being better utilized. New leaders, which match the company’s Position Benchmark, have been hired. Productivity is up, and turnover is down.

This company first identified the need for training.

Only when they created a true training cycle, complete with follow-up and coaching, were they able to pinpoint and resolve a specific problem: two employee-to-job mismatches.

The money this company spent on training provided much more than entertainment:

• They improved employee morale
• They retained trusted and valued employees and moved them into positions they found more rewarding

Now that's what we're after. Now that we've trained well, we have time for entertainment, would you please pass the popcorn?

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