Creating a Leadership Development Training Plan That Trains & Doesn't Just Entertain

You want a leadership development training plan that actually trains and grows your leader's skills, right?

The facts tell us the training is just entertainment (get the popcorn ready as you spend the big bucks) unless you implement some important (and easy) steps at the start.

Every CEO, COO, CFO or HR Executive who spends money on training wants the same things. You want to:

• change unproductive behaviors
• drive performance higher
• equip employees with new, better skills
• 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 you want is for all that money for your leadership development plan to provide nothing more than fleeting entertainment

Is a leadership development plan for training useful? Robert Brinkerhoff and Anne Apking say no.

Shocking!

Here's three highlights from their book, High Impact Learning:

1. "Almost all organizational training is a marginal intervention and has only slight effects on performance improvement.
2. “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% of all training participants.
3. “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.”

Have you experienced low return on investment with your leadership development training plan programs?

I've seen the same low lack of return in my own career as a training participant AND as a leadership training and development consultant.

It's always bugged me... there HAS to be a better way.

Here's a good example of what happens: Early in my consulting career I attended a fantastic training program in beautiful LaJolla, California.

The trainer, the program, the location and the other participants were perfect. I’m a good student, I learned a lot and I loved the class.

I had a great time!

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 and use a few of the skills taught in class.

I was close to impact training average shared in the facts above. I applied about 15% of what I learned from that very expensive five-day course.

For your leadership development training plan to be more than entertainment, for more skills to be transferred back on the job, you must add:

1. make the training specific to participants skill gaps
2. provide ongoing skill training & follow-up
3. build-in participant accountability

Here's how one organization improved their leadership development training plan and programs with these three actions:

Situation

A maintenance company with 90 managers and 2,000 employees created a confidential, tailored to their organizational behavioral priorities, employee opinion survey.

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

The company brought in a top Leadership Training program geared specifically to address skills revealed as lacking in the opinion survey.

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

By adding the top three actions: training tailored to the needs of the participants, follow-up and accountability, this leadership development training plan and program worked!

The next annual employee opinion survey showed a marked improvement in the leadership skills category, employee turnover has decreased and productivity has increased.

The money this company spent on training provided much more than entertainment!That's what we're after.

Now, that we've trained well we have time for entertainment, would you please pass the popcorn?

I add a new leadership development training plan articles and info, often. To be notified of updates, click on the bright green RSS feed, up and to your left.

You can also be notified when new leadership articles and material are added through my online eNewsletter.

Join the Wake Up Eager Community & List Get My Email on the List:

For Email Marketing you can trust

We value our connection with our subscribers.
We never share your information with anyone.
We also make unsubscribing easy and immediate.

Copyright © 2004-2012 Priceless Professional Development

---Five Wake Up Eager Habits for Leaders & Sales Pros---
Click to Take the Wake Up Eager Habits Quiz

Click to Review Our Polices and Site Information