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Training can be a waste of money. Training can be a great investment. I agree with both statements.”
Brandt Sakakeeny, Training-industry analyst, Solomon Smith Barney
A manager at a health insurance company once told me this story: All the managers were assembled for a two-day training session, and early into the program, one participant asked the facilitator what experience he had in health care. “None” the man admitted. You could practically hear the sound of rushing air as the man’s credibility deflated. When the training was over, the VP in charge gave each participant a small cactus “to remember the lessons of the training.”
It worked, but not the way the VP had intended. “Each time I looked at the cactus,” the manager told me, “all I remembered was how they had wasted two days of our time.”
In 1998, American companies spent $60 billion on training. That figure will likely increase this year – and some of that money will probably come from your budget. How can you avoid giving people just a cactus, and instead get the most bang for your training buck?
WORKFORCE pulled together a panel of experts in the training field (see “The Experts,” page 44), and asked them what HR directors should look for when they put together a training program. They’ve come up with 20 questions you should ask and answer as you make training decisions. In the words of Bob Pike, president of Minneapolis-based Creative Training Techniques, “Most people come to training with one of four mindsets: as a learner, a networker, a vacationer or a prisoner.” The following questions should help you turn your trainees into learners, and keep learning intact after the training is over.
1. Why do you think you need training? What is the problem or opportunity?
Several years ago, a bank hired Mel Silberman, author of Active Training (Pfieffer and Co., 1998), to develop a training program for its employees. They wanted Silberman to teach employees about the bank’s products…