What is your ROI on training investment?

I hate to break it to you but here is the truth.

A large chunk of money companies invest on training and development (T&D) programs are gone to waste. I am not saying T&D programs are not important or not required.

On the contrary, T&D is becoming very important in this fast-pace and ever-changing global environment.

The problem is that many get it wrong when it comes to T&D. The upside of curating and having effective T&D programs is huge, competitive advantage, productive and engaged talents to name a few. Unfortunately, from my experience, the ROI on T&D is very low.

Here are a few issues I have witnessed.

(1) Not every problem or issue could be solved by training or workshops, no matter how experienced or good the facilitator is.

Training can solve issues when there is a lack of Skills, Knowledge or Abilities. Sometimes, the problem is with only a few individuals and group coaching would be better. Other times when the issue is concerning with attitudes, building a culture and environment might be the right solution. So, we must remember that training is not a magic wand that could solve all the problems.

(2) Not having strategic alignment

This is the main problem for most organizations. T&D department must be seen as a valuable and strategic partner to achieve business goals. This is lacking in most organizations. All the training programs must be designed with the intention to achieve business goals. The T&D team must have strong business acumen to understand the key activities and challenges facing different departments. They must be in constant communication with all stakeholders to identify the training needs and support the training requirements. Most importantly, there must be strategic alignment.

(3) Designing poor programs and not measuring the results

Organizations either use internal or external trainers. From my experience, to be fair, most of the trainers are able to do the job. The problem normally is with the design of the program. Many of the programs are poorly designed with vague objectives and no follow up. Human are creatures of habit and we need time to form habits. A program does not end when the work shop ends. In fact, it is only the start of application journey of the participants. But, little or no thought is given to measure the impact and result.

To conclude, every dollar spent on training programs mean a dollar less for research, new product development or even bonus.

Training and development is going to play a big part for organizations as competition for talents become more intense, skills required to perform the jobs are ever evolving and the younger generation place a lot of emphasis on growth and development.

Thus, L&D professionals must continue to develop themselves, be strategic, engage the stakeholders regularly and be more intentional with the impact and results when designing programs.

Cheers,

I am passionate about designing effective and strategic programs that have real business impact for organizations. Reach out to me for interesting ideas and latest trends.