Add Value Not Volume

Our greeting this year for New Year 2020 was not a typical "Happy New Year & Blah Blah & Resolutions Blah Blah", but Happy Break Up (contact me if you missed seeing it on Linkedin). It was wishing people Break Up; from their routines and mundane 'Zombie Zones' of repeating what they have perfected as opposed to master what they have learnt and the world demands.

Interestingly soon after January 01 and today, the first week of the new year, we started receiving queries asking for proposals that can be reviewed by the procurement (HR solutions evaluated by procurement??!). One common thing, among many that we have noticed for over two decades, is that people don't think what they want. They value volume of trainings within their comfort zones as opposed to putting training budget to good sense.

Here are 5 signs your organisation will waste training budget in 2020!

• Asking trainers for generic proposals is the most convenient way an organisation can shed-off its responsibility. Send emails out, refuse to meet the desired trainer, not consult them, just accept emails with blurb that has a fancy heading and is beautifully designed. Imagine selecting a life partner by seeing a model on the cat walk
• Valuing penny over person and purpose of the training. You engage someone because you have to pay less; you are better off giving them the money that will be more motivational. Imagine sending your kids to school where only criteria for selection is lowest service provider for education and development of your children
• Going for run-off-the-mill subjects because these words comfort the decision maker. Having your people go through the typical 'Time Management' is nothing but a waste. Another common fad is when people say they want training on communication, conflict management, stress management, motivation, self awareness and emotional intelligence (EI)... Duh! do EI properly, and that should cover it all.
• Focussing on methodology over material. Very often we get calls for training on a subject but interestingly all we end up discussing is the methodology that must be engaging. Lego Serious Play Method and Design Thinking, are both methodologies used to deliver on specific transformational needs of an organisation. Sadly, if your organisation just wants to play with Lego and call it team building, you are better off investing in a visit to a Lego store, ask people to create something collectively and call it team building.
• Choosing a trainer, who agrees with what you say and, how you say it, needs to be done. I would like to use the analogy of a doctor and patient to explain this. Patient (client) goes to a doctor (trainer), tells them the problem, the root cause, how to manage it, the desired prescription and wants the doctor to deliver the order in full.

This year, our heart felt request to organisations is to break up from the comfort of the above routine and get involved. Get over the 'know-it-all' ego and work with professionals who can dare to challenge yet collaborate with you. Funverks commits to challenging your imagination if you are willing to Break-Up your practices in 2020.