Taking a 'rightsize' approach to training
You might remember recently I asked my network to help me to understand why people bought training courses. Was it about outcomes, certificates, new knowledge or something else?
The results were very interesting and very varied including:
- Clarity about concepts
- Confidence to apply concepts
- A better me
- Transferable and beneficial knowledge
- Personal development
- Context
- New thinking
They've led me to think about the value of training in a whole new way. Broadly speaking, and based on the responses to my question, people seem to buy training for two main reasons:
- Improvements for the present – allowing people to do their job better, to use best practices, and to apply proven concepts
- Improvements for the future – getting inspiration for ways people can change how they work, through innovation and cutting edge ways of working. Having staff who come back to the office keen to try something new
Following up on this, it would suggest that organizations can help their staff by making sure they invest in the right type of training at the right time. There are times when we need to learn about proven best practice, and times when we need something to inspire us to take a new approach. Our own maturity, the maturity of the organization we work in, and the level of change we're exposed to will all have an influence on rightsizing training.
I've looked at the ITSM Zone training catalogue in this blog and put all of our courses into the category that seems to be the best fit. I'd love to hear what you think and if you agree with my categorizations.