Get most out of your training dollars

Why don’t people demonstrate better results from training when they get back on the job?

Last year, you sent your supervisors and lead hands to that course on how to talk to employees to get their cooperation. Remember the results? A few weeks of brave new talk and then everyone calmed down and went back to “normal”. More recently, two of your key operators attended the manufacturer’s training sessions to learn how to maximize the output of your new technology. Now only they know how to make it run well – even though you specifically asked them to focus on passing the information along to their team members.

And today your operations team asked you to foot the bill for a project management skills program, claiming that it will save re-work and reduce down-time so much that you will recoup the cost of the training in six months. Yeah, right. No wonder your feel sceptical; all too often the benefits we expect to see in individual capabilities and company return-on-investment never materializes. What’s wrong with this picture? In my opinion, it is not complete because training is only one element.

No matter how well the employee masters the information and techniques being taught, when he – or she – comes back to the job, nothing can change if the rest of the circumstances stay exactly as they were before. It is those very constraints that keep everyone and everything pumping out the same results, regardless of individual variation.

For instance, if the supervisor or manager to whom he reports refuses to participate in the new way of doing things, the newly-trained employee will be frustrated in his efforts to think, speak and act differently. If the employee finds out the new skills – whether technical or managerial – are not rewarded in his job appraisal, what incentive is there for him or her to try?

Instead of training as a solution, let’s think of it as just one piece of the puzzle.

The other pieces are how we match changes in the environment and work processes to employees’ new skills and knowledge, so the benefits can take hold. That is what “human performance improvement” is all about. This is the focus of the International Society for Performance Improvement (ISPI– www.ispi-van.org) Its last conference was probably the best one I have ever I attended, because the calibre of the presenters was so high and everyone was focused on bringing their special knowledge to the services of performance improvement. Academic researchers, change experts, tactical professionals, instructional designers, trainers, and systems technologists all provided their insights on the multiple aspects of this key business arena. I could not wait to get back and start putting the tools, techniques and concepts I discovered to work for my clients!

After all, as a practitioner of human performance improvement, I continually remind myself that even very high levels of personal skill are not enough to compensate for problems in the system, and even the best systems still require high levels of personal skill for complete effectiveness.

I would love to hear about the returns your company has achieved – or not – through staff development and training. If the ROI is not what you expected, maybe some systemic changes are due. Let me know!

Buy-In: Up and Down the Organization

What is “buy-in”? For me, buy-in is the state achieved by a group of people, after they have worked through the most likely possibilities and agreed on what seems to be the best option at the time.  It is not about swearing undying loyalty to a cause or suppressing one’s own ideas and concerns.

How do we help our teammates and direct reports – and even those to whom we report – reach this important stage? We can start by remembering that it is not change, per se, that people resist. It’s actually the sense of “being changed” that results in most people digging in their heels. Being told what to think about and which perspective to take is a sure way to get my back up. You, too? (Yes, I thought so.)

Furthermore, recognize that any change worth making is bound to generate some resistance. No push-back means that the change probably isn’t very important. The vital point is whether the people who are pushing back are raising valid points. Are they intelligent, engaged people whose resistance challenges us to search for better answers? If the answer to such questions is yes, then invite the resisters into the tent where they can be useful. They obviously care about the outcome.

So, the short answer is that buy-in is the flip side of resistance, and my definition of resistance is “the negative expression of an unmet need.”

Self-knowledge is the foundation

I know that I need to acknowledge and work with my own needs, strengths, and style preferences. But do I practise what I preach?One of the most important things to understand is one’s pre-disposition toward authority.  Do I tend toward counter-dependent behaviour – i.e., resent and rebel; or, do I over-react in the other direction and become strongly compliant, which is just as damaging. The latter assumes a parent/child relationship that does not lead to good business decisions.

If we want to create greater buy-in, the onus ultimately is on me and you, the subordinates, first to understand ourselves to the best of our ability, and then to extend similar understanding to those in the organization who depend on us –  above, below and all around.

Good Communication = Big Payoff

When I say “good communication” do you think I am talking about people being polite to each other?

Sure, that’s part of it. No one wants to collaborate with people who treat us rudely. And yet good communication is so much more than that.

It is senior management allowing people to speak up about things going wrong and not shooting the messenger. It is middle managers who make it safe for employees to push back – reasonably, of course – with empathy for the effort required to change. And it is employees who strive to make their greatest contribution, even when we feel we might be doing more than our share today.

Why should anyone put all this effort into behaving in ways that help other people feel comfortable? Because it’s a crucial factor in managing people well. Good people management increases individual and group productivity, as well as quality levels.

Think of it as treating your employees right, demonstrating the behaviour you would like them to show toward the people who buy your products or services. Customer service expert Jeff Disend says,  “How companies act toward employees largely determines how well employees will serve customers.” (How to Provide Excellent Service in Any Organization).

There is no sense in taking employees through customer service training – or any other type for that matter – unless we allow them to exercise the new behaviours they have learned. Without permission to integrate the changes, people just snap right back to their previous ways.

So, who goes first? In Is Silence Killing Your Company, Leslie Perlow and Stephanie Williams (Harvard Business Review, May 2003) look at the price of silence in several different types of organizations. They acknowledge that, “We all have the power to express ourselves and to encourage others to speak freely we need to be willing to take the first step ourselves – to bring differences out into the open so that they can be explored.”

What’s happening in your workplace? Please use the space below to write us a few lines. Thanks!