Have you ever heard a manager lamenting that their company training program failed to - PowerPoint Presentation

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Have you ever heard a manager lamenting that their company training program failed to deliver? No improvement in capability and no ROI. Pity. What could have been the cause of this wasted effort, time and expense? Should the manager look in the mirror and take the blame themselves or peer out their window and blame any or all of the following:The external training provider who prepared the solutionThe HR department for scoping the programThe sales effectiveness manager for orchestrating the initiativeThe internal trainers who delivered the programThe CFO for not providing enough money for the programThe CEO for not supporting it In our nearly two decades of experience we have seen millions of dollars wasted on ineffectual forays in to training. In most cases the intent was right but the strategy and execution were expensive mistakes. Generally, we see evidence that the programs failed because training sins were committed. In many cases multiple sins were committed in the same initiative.

These are the 7 Deadly Training Sins to avoid:1Thou shalt not buy off the shelf programs or providers! 2Thou shalt not run one off events!3Thou shalt not waiver on the commitment to invest in ongoing development.4Thou shalt not embark on the program without enthusiastic endorsement from the senior leadership team!5Thou shalt not accept less than one day of coaching per person per month!6Thou shalt not progress without a measurement tool that provides feedback to the individual and links their KRA’s!7Thou shalt not accept anyone less than outstanding trainers to facilitate the learning!

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The 7 Deadly Training SinsSlide2

So how will you avoid these 7 deadly sins and set you and your company up for success? Follow this advice carefully:SIN #1 Thou shalt not buy off the shelf programs or providers!

Temptation: Sure, buying off the shelf is easier and often costs less. But in training, as with many other professional services, the price is what you pay, the value is what you get. Don't be tempted by trying to get away with a cheap, generic offer. It will cost you lots more in the long run. Solution: Invest in a tailored program that is customised for your industry, your company and your brands within that industry. It makes it much easier for the target audience to buy in to and ultimately adopt as their new way.  This will typically involve having your consultant spend some time in the field with your sales people, talking with customers and testing ideas with your managers. It takes a few days but the difference in the quality of the materials when you roll it out is dramatic. The team buy in when they know they were part of the build. They will resist anything that gets imposed on them, especially when it is generic.SIN #2 Thou shalt not run one off events Temptation: Sure, you have the annual conference and everyone is being flown in. Why not tack on a few days of sales training and you can tick off your education commitment for another year. Perfect. Not really. Solution: The more effective way to educate adults is to give them a series of mental mouthfuls over time.  Perhaps use the annual conference for a big upfront fast start, but we know that even if they have the best workshop experience they will only retain 54% of what was taught, at best! So be prepared to spread your program content over the year. By all means have a launch event but be prepared to revisit the content two or more times, whilst going deeper with a greater emphasis on applying learning back on the job, raising the capability benchmark over time.Slide3

SIN #3 Thou shalt not waiver on the commitment to invest in ongoing development Temptation: Sure, you have brought in a training program and had a good year with it. You spent a bit but the market is tightening. Better make some savings on travel, training and advertising. Yep, you will save some money in the New Year but you have sent a clear message to the team that you are not really committed to their strategic development. Shame.

Solution: To get consistent ROI over time and to ensure that behaviour change is sustainable, you must commit to a multi-year program that builds layers of competence. Foundation – Intermediate – Advanced. If you stop, you undo all the good work. If you have the right program and provider, training should be easily self-funding. So why stop when things get tight? Research shows that the best companies over invest in tough times and trim when times are good. Are you in the group of best performing companies when it comes to staying the course? SIN #4 Thou shalt not embark on a training journey without the enthusiastic endorsement of the senior leadership team Temptation: Ok, so you are empowered to make decisions for your business and the SLT are busy. Do they really want to be briefed on the program and provider you have chosen to dramatically up skill the sales team? They should be, but it is so difficult to get the air time. That might be so, but explaining why it didn’t work might be evenmore painfulSolution: To build your profile as an effective manager and developer of people, you absolutely should be engaging the leaders of your business in all elements of the program: What are the identified training needs, how will they improve the business performance over time (short, mid and long term), how will you know you have been successful, what ROI can you expect from the investment, what will it cost the business to not build the capability? These are the questions to answer for the SLT.  For your team to see that the Executive are behind the training initiative gives them more reason to buy in and maximise their take out. You could consider having a senior leader open a program, share a video of support or to be part of the program as a presenter, subject matter expert or trouble shooter. The more that they can adopt the language of the program, the more congruent the message of positive endorsement flows to the team. Avoid this one at your own peril. Slide4

SIN #5 Thou shalt not accept less than a day of coaching per person per monthTemptation: So the training has been delivered and the happy sheets suggested the food was acceptable and the program content had some value. These are NOT the measures of success.

Solution: Repetition is the mother of skill. We know that if training is not reinforced within 30 days of attending, then 87% of its value is lost. Crickey! The contribution from regular, quality coaching together with appropriate feedback and guidance is a far greater contributor to overall program success than the initial training itself. Best practice in many industries, especially amongst the highly sophisticated FMCG players, is to provide a full day of in field coaching per person per month where the focus is to “catch people out doing things well”, together with having constructive conversations in identifying key development opportunities. The coach earns their money when they can demonstrate to the salesperson key areas of development opportunity.SIN #6 Thou shalt not progress without a measurement tool that provides feedback to the individual and links to their KRA’s Temptation: Having put on the training and invested time in the field coaching, surely that will see a lift in capability. Well maybe. But how will you know accurately and on which dimensions has development taken place? Solution: You need a measurement tool and benchmark that can measure and calibrate where every team member is currently performing against a clear statement of “what good looks like”. The ideal is for the individual salesperson to be able to self assess current capability versus “what good looks like” and start a development conversation with their manager. Then they can spend some time in field to demonstrate the evidence of how they are performing versus the self-assessment. The manager then validates the accuracy of the self-assessment against what both the coach and coachee saw on the day’s calls. The data is then recorded, shared with the business and a copy sent electronically to the salesperson’s inbox or performance dashboard. The ultimate outcome is that the sales person goes in to their annual performance review with absolutely no surprises as they have had at least 10 full coaching days throughout the year and they are very clear about their strengths, opportunities and development trajectory.Slide5

SIN #7 Thou shalt not accept anyone less than outstanding facilitatorsTemptation: If you buy off the shelf, as in Sin #1, you are setting up for failure on content. If you buy in a generalist trainer because their fees are cheaper then you are about to commit another costly sin. Don’t do it, avoid the temptation!

Solution: For trainees to “buy” what is being sold to them in the program, you need a number of elements of persuasion working for you, not against you. These include early and genuine trust in the provider that they don’t just know their stuff, but that they can take the business and the individuals on the learning journey and safely deliver the outcomes with low risk. By just buying on price, you dramatically increase the risk of destroying value for the business…..and perhaps your reputation at the same time.  In Maister, Green and Galford’s book, the Trusted Advisor, the authors used a neat formula for trust. T = (C + R + I)/SI  Where T stands for Trust, which is a function of….   C is Credibility, R is Reliability, I is Intimacy, divided by SI is Self interestSlide6

If your team is going to trust what is being taught to them, then trust needs to be established very early on. Ideally during the build of the program, well before any workshops are delivered. (See above for the solution to Sin #1 and involving the team in tailoring the program.) The provider needs to assert their credibility (C) from work history, positions held, projects delivered, industries consulted to and results delivered. If you can’t get the answers to these questions, you have the wrong provider. Reliability (R) means you will get quality often, not just as a once off. Successful trainers need to be flexible and multi skilled to keep more of the people happy more of the time, but can keep changing the people! Intimacy (I) speaks to the environment that is created and the care for individual’s concerns, needs and challenges. The best trainers establish this comfort very early and remain congruent to it throughout the program. Information is protected, respected and is not shared with other clients. The final part of the definition of trust is the degree to which the audience sense the trainer is focused on their needs as the client or their own self interest (SI) as the consultant. Your provider might have lots of credibility, be consistent in their delivery with high confidentiality, but if it is more about the trainer’s needs than the those of the you the client, then you have just committed another sin. Trust is impacted and the program loses its impact. Is it worth saving a few bucks by buying on price when value is so much more important.

 SummarySo you now have a manifesto for choosing carefully and choosing wisely with your next investment in training and development. Your profile within and outside of your business will rest on avoiding these 7 deadly sins. Can you resist the temptations?    Simon Dethridge Managing DirectorBIG Consulting© BIG Consulting 2018