How to make your training programme sink without a trace...!

Over the years I have been privileged to work with some incredible associates, clients and organisations to design and deliver some truly ground breaking, award winning Learning and Development programmes.

Enough with the hyperbole ... you want to know about the ones that didn't work so well .. otherwise why follow the link! It occurred to me that when I consider the programmes that didn't go as well as they might, there were generally a handful of factors that helped the session to sink rather than float and fly as it might. These are the top reasons I have identified why programmes and sessions never quite achieve their full potential

DO NOT have the support of the level "above" the population attending the training

This is consistently one of the easiest ways to ensure your training programme sinks without a trace. Frequently organisations decide to start a programme "at the coal face", reasoning that the target population will be able to put any new skills or behaviours into practice soonest and then the business will see the benefit. The reality is that without the support and maintenance of the "level up" delegates will find reasons not to attend, will struggle to transfer new skills to their day to day experiences and will largely conclude that the extra effort is simply not worth it.

DO NOT ensure your key L&D team or partners are happy and "looked after"

Putting a programme together and then delivering it, whether in house or as an external, is hard work and requires a certain amount of resilience. Of course, external suppliers are well remunerated for their efforts, and in house are doing what they get paid to do so surely they are happy? Yes to both of those, but getting a programme up and running requires a series of meetings and presentations where the work proposed, and frequently the style of the facilitators, is put on "trial" by the various stakeholders. That is fine and as it should be, but once the programme is running it is wise to hold regular catch ups with the delivery team .. not just for the tweaks and changes, but also to explicitly thank and show some appreciation for the work being delivered.

DO NOT put a full Return on Investment plan in place

I have referenced this many times in posts and seminars where I have spoken. There is limited value in running an expensive and resource heavy training programme if you have no measures and no plans in place to help delegates transfer learning to the workplace, and to see how new behaviours impact the bottom line. If you are hoping the management level above will do this for you then ensure you have taught that population what you need them to do, how and why.

DO NOT expect your training team to run all the administration for the programme

Maybe contentious, but on a large programme the running of the courses can become an industry in itself. Whilst is is certainly the norm to collect attendee names, I have seen organisations expect highly paid and skilled L&D professionals to book their own accommodation, to create endless spreadsheet reports and in some cases to even turn up with bags of lunch from the nearest supermarket. Yes, it all seems sensible from an Operations perspective to ask the nice L&D folk to do these tasks but in reality there are other people better placed and with more applicable skills to do these tasks.

DO NOT fully plan why you are running this programme and what you want to achieve

Surely organisations don't start a programme without a clear outcome do they? Well, some do yes. I have spoken to numerous managers over the years who clearly expect learning to happen by some sort of osmosis .. simply by making delegates attend then maybe, possibly, somehow people will learn AND then see some sort of benefit to the business. No one knows what benefit, but there has to be something, right?

All of the above are common ways in which organisations sabotage their own efforts - and the reality is they are all easy enough to "fix". A little preparation and you can achieve far more from your training programme, event or conference.

I have spoken about this same topic on my podcast here - How to Sink your Training Programme! (and how to make it succeed!) .... new podcast just out...https://lnkd.in/dJR6Cvv