Don't attend the training if you won't do the work!

It's not always a good move to outwardly share your innermost thoughts but sometimes........ well sometimes, I have to wonder what made a client invest, a not insignificant sum of money, in our training and then promptly do close to nothing with the information received?

However, I shouldn't be so harsh. I've around the block long enough and participated in plenty of training courses myself, to understand that simply attending a training workshop will rarely ever result in a significant change in behaviour, irrespective of the topic being trained. It still frustrates the heck out of me though, when a proportion of my clients don't apply themselves to putting what was taught in the classroom into action. BUT should I be frustrated or disappointed with this kind of outcome, after all, there have been many occasions when I have behaved in exactly the same way.

Why does training rarely work?

What is the main reason that training is rarely ever put into practise back in the business? Training is not development, it's development that helps turn theory into action. According to Mike Myatt, a leadership advisor to Fortune 500 CEOs and Boards, author of "Hacking Leadership" (Wiley) and "Leadership Matters" (2007), "While training is often accepted as productive, it rarely is. The terms training and development have somehow become synonymous when they are clearly not."

Having trained and coached business leaders and owners for more almost 20 years, here's what I have learnt about training, versus development.

• Most training is usually a one size fits all approach, every delegate's experience and needs will be different and should be understood and catered for.
• Rarely is post workshop support provided, either because the training company doesn't provide it or the client hasn't budgeted for it to happen.
• The classroom doesn't represent the working environment. What appeared to be practical and realistic in the workshop, no longer is so, once the delegate returns to the business.
• Most training is one dimensional, with minimal input from the delegate. Receiving information is only part of the learning process.
• No one ever takes their planner to a training workshop - unless you plan to put learning into practise, it simply won't happen. Make an appointment with yourself to apply your new found knowledge.

My business has been just as guilty

I realise that for the first few years of my business that we were simply a training company. However, we are now changing the format of our own 'training'.

Our training development programmes, rather than single workshops, obviously require more investment but they also allow for a strategy to be created upfront, followed by training and then backed up with an implementation planning session. This is the sort of programme that organisations, such as Investors In People (North), have undertaken with us, simply because they understand the value in the development rather than simply receiving training.

What 3 things must you do to make training work?

As a 'training company' we recognise that people learn by developing their skills over time, so we must provide the environment for this to happen. From the learner's perspective, he or she must be committed to turning what was learnt in the classroom into action by following 3 simple steps:

1. Following any training, immediately book time in your diary to apply what you have learned.
2. Prioritise a list of practical actions you can implement over a period of time, usually 1-6 weeks. Don't try and achieve everything in one go.
3. Take a look at the invoice for the training you received and remind yourself why you decided to invest in the training in the first place!

Have a great rest of your week and I look forward to hearing from you - please leave your comments and if you liked this post, would you share it with your network.

Thank you

Steve

PS - Look out for details of our new subscription service the Linked2Success Achievers Club - launching this month. For details - click here

Steve Phillip is Managing Director and co founder of Linked2Success, specialising in measurable social media sales & marketing support for businesses.

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