Are templates disconnecting people?
Ravinder Bhan
Management Consultant | 35 Yrs Corporate | Across 6 countries | CEO Turned Farmer | Curating Memorable Experiences| Building Your Life Style Assets | Pro bono advisor to the needy employees and entrepreneurs|
A 3 minute read
Scene One
A few weeks back I had a half an hour conversation with one of the Managing Directors of a global MNC (2018 -$10 billion). Since we share an alma matter, it started as a great catch up on friends and family, but as expected, quickly moved to work and business.
I shared what we at TPS are doing in the L&D space and how we would be proud to be of service to their company, including our outcome based training models
He was candid and honest in sharing that, despite being quite highly impressed with what we are doing, being a multi-billion dollar company, it was nearly impossible to dive in to the system drilling through set process and templates and established vendors. He also shared how their L&D practices are some of the best on the planet. I was impressed by some of the practices he briefly described.
I was convinced that they have the right practices in place and any intervention by us may not really make any sense for either side.
Scene Two
A few days after the call, while going through the follow-up notes of one my OpenHoues, I recalled a lady in the audience who had asked me a question on career planning. Upon probing, she shared that she wanted to "leave her job even if it meant doing nothing other than raising kids at home". Intrigued by this, I suggested that it's not a wise decision to leave a job in hand unless one is moving for something better.
She smiled and said - don’t give me that lecture, anything can be better than the total work life imbalance I have at this company. She went on to elaborate some work situations and pressures, that genuinely seemed frustrating to me.
How I coached her after that is not important here, but one thing that rang a bell somewhere was that she works for the same company, I talked about in the scene one.
Scene Three
Fast forward, and a couple of days back, I read an article by the Director of Innovation at a leading L&D company, with offices in Europe and USA, where she quotes a study by #Capgemini and #LinkedIn, saying that nearly half of today’s digital talent (45%) describe their employers’ development programs as “useless and boring.”
Being curious I jumped to read the link to the survey and yes, it actually says ; Employees also feel organizations’ training programs are not hugely effective. More than half of today’s digital talent say that training programs are not helpful or that they are not given time to attend. Close to half (45%) describe their organization’s training programs as “useless and boring."
Quite interestingly, it confirms what I always thought due to lack of empathy and effectiveness of company training, employees should, and will, invest personally in their learning. The reports suggests that nearly 50% of employees (close to 60% for digitally talented employees) are investing their own money and additional time beyond office hours to develop digital skills on their own. [Most of the 1to1 coaching I do for people is for senior managers at MNCs who prefer not to be named.]
Since I have promised this to be a 3 minute read - I close with just one question
Is template training distancing the employee from the employer?
PS: All people mentioned here are real but I will not share their names and you will please focus on the message rather than the messenger. But if you wish to ask a specific question related to this article or any professional subject, please click here.
B2B Writer | Content Geek | Student for life | Supporter of holistic wellbeing
5 年I have worked with a few corporates where training is a mere drill. It was mandatory for employees to complete 40 hours of training every year. It was considered in our appraisals. However, the L&D department would conduct the same training programs every year. And most of them had no direct or indirect relevance to our job. Wasting an entire on an irrelevant training made no sense. External trainings were also far and few. I think we need an overhaul in the way L&D functions.?
l HR Strategy I Startup Advisory | M&A | Mentor
6 年A simple discussion forum but how such conversations can lead to deep provoking thinking and bring about changes and offering. A gap in what is perceived from receiver and sender
????????????, ?????????????? & ???? Leader with exp to US, UK, Europe & Indian MNCs - Decade each in [GE] & [TCS] | ???????????????? (India) - Leaders Excellence at Harvard Square
6 年Ravinder Bhan Indeed thought provoking! Appreciate your sharing this.
In my view, organisations need a combination of both template training as well as customised training. Here too, the template trainings need to be created keeping in mind the company's business structure, their staff profile and key deliverables. Such trainings are useful at the entry level usually and are mostly technical. At higher levels I don't think template trainings are effective. Hence the trainings need to be customised to address the specific business goals keeping in mind the skill sets and behaviour parameters of the candidates. Emotional and social intelligence plays a bigger role at higher level compared to technical know how.
Versatile Business Leader| Customer Experience | Customer Success | Product Management
6 年L&D taking back seat, is a clear sign of inviting higher attrition in near future.? ?