Five Critical Aspects to Getting More
Return from Employee Training
E
By Bill Rosenthal
MPLOYEE TRAINING fails to
provide the value it should for
many organizations. A major reason
for this is training too often is
viewed tactically rather than strate-
gically. It isn't connected to overall
organizational goals and strategy.
Many organizations view training as
something to be implemented when
time and budgets allow. Others think
of training as remedial, as a matter
of shoring up weak employees or fix-
ing problems. Those that use train-
ing to maximum advantage view it
differently. Training is how skills are
developed, attitudes are changed,
ideas evolve, and the organization is
reinvented. A new culture is created
as employees learn the skills that
will increase sales, build effective
teams, improve quality standards, or
meet a wide range of other objetives.
To make training cost-effective it's
necessary to ask five questions:
1 WHO NEEDS TRAINING?
Training needs can exist at the
organizational, divisional, depart-
mental, team, or individual levels.
The employees who will be trained
and their managers must perceive
that there is a need for training or
the initiative will fail. To create
change, a large number of employees
need to be involved. Getting a lot of
people on the same wavelength
accelerates the drive to the goal.
Employees will make the new
process "the way we do things here."
Newly promoted and newly hired
members of a group should also
receive any training that was provid-
ed to the original group. It also may
be advisable for the group's man-
agers to take related training.
2 WHO WILL DELIVER THE TRAINING?
The choice of who will deliver the
training requires much creative and
strategic thinking. Does the organi-
zation possess the needed training
skills? The abilities of internal
resources sometimes are underesti-
mated.
Even with a large internal training
department, developing and imple-
menting a program in-house may
take too much time. This can be par-
ticularly true if a large number of
employees need new skills. In such
cases, an external resource should be
considered. A training firm also
might be the best choice if the
instructors are to model desired
behavioral skills and can do so bet-
ter than internal instructors can.
Sometimes a blended solution is
ideal. The training firm can train
and certify inhouse trainers—
indeed, any employee who has com-
munication skills—to conduct the
training. An external resource also
can customize one of its existing
programs to meet the organization's
needs.
3 WHAT FORM WILL THE TRAINING
TAKE?
There are many ways to teach skills.
These include workshops, comput-
erassisted learning, self-study pro-
grams, tuition reimbursement, and
mentoring/ apprenticeship programs
that can involve shadowing an
employee by a trainer or manager to
provide ongoing feedback.
The training can be customized to
meet the needs of individuals in
many different ways. Workshops can
offer individual coaching and feed-
back, including ongoing video feed-
back. Individuals can help choose
skills that they want to improve as
the result of assessments completed
by the employee, his or her manager,
and his or her peers or direct reports
(360-degree feedback). This process
often is used with broad-based training.
4 HOW WILL THE TRAINING
TRANSFER TO THE JOB?
Perhaps the most important consid-
eration is how the knowledge and
insights from training will be inte-
grated into each individual's day-to-
day job. There are several ways to
accomplish this. Among the most
productive is having participants
address their real life workplace
challenges in a training program's
skills exercises. These exercises will
give the participants fresh ideas
about ways to meet their goals.
Another approach consists of sched-
uling the training so that there are
workdays in between the training
sessions. Participants can practice
and solidify the skills they learned
during their workdays and then
develop those skills further on the
last day of training. Personal action
plans also can help transfer skills to
the job.
Continued
Five Critical Aspects
to Getting More Return from Employee Training

Continued

Communispond provides its clients with a three-step

process aimed at transferring training. The first consists
of materials given to participants at the end of their
training program. This kit of reinforcement tools
includes visual stimuli that participants can put on their
desks to constantly remind them to use the skills. The
second step in that process is a special training program
for graduates of the initial training program. This fur-
ther develops the acquired skills. As the final step,
selected employees at the organization are certified to
teach a follow-up program that further reinforces skills
and continues to encourage transference of the skills to
the job.

Managers of the employees who are receiving the train-

ing should understand the trainee and be committed to
supporting and reinforcing the new knowledge/skills.
This means being able to answer employees' questions
about the skills being taught, allowing extra time for
the new process to be implemented, praising and
rewarding the use of new skills, and in other ways creat-
ing environments in which the new ways can take hold.

5 HOW WILL THE TRAINING BE EVALUATED?

Ultimately, training must be judged on its efect on the

organization. This requires hard data on measurable
objectives, such as increased sales, market share,
reduced operating costs, lower rates of absenteeism, or
whatever other objective the training was designed to
achieve. Although it is recognized other forces affect Bill Rosenthal is CEO of Communispond. The company provides
these measurable criteria, it is nonetheless important communication skills training for interpersonal communica-
that training be tied to corporate objectives all the way tions, management, and sales to organizations worldwide. It
through to the payoff stage. has trained more than 450,000 managers and has served more
than 300 of the Fortune 500 companies.
Participants and their managers should be involved in
the evaluations in ways more meaningful than filling Contact us at marketing@communispond.com.
out little checklists at the end of the day. Group evalua-
tion sessions and discussions not only reinforce what Published in the Journal of Business Strategy
was learned; they also underline the serious purpose of
the training and stimulate employee ownership of the
results.

Training can provide extraordinary improvements in any

organization. The key to getting the most return on www.communispond.com
investment from training is to view it strategically
rather than tactically. 1-800-529-5925