Training Secrets
Training -- More of a Bottom-Line Issue Than You Think
By Roxanne Emmerich, CSP, CMC

While attending a panel session at a bank president’s convention, I once heard a panelist tell the group that he doesn’t train people because he’s afraid they might leave.

Here’s a scarier thought: What if they stay?

Research by ASTD has proven that training is the highest return on investment transaction in business today—higher than investments in equipment, buildings, or even technology.

Knowing that, you can hardly go wrong with an investment in training. But the way you deliver your training will make a huge and measurable impact on your profitability. So how do you get the best possible return on this investment? Here are five tips to help you   maximize your return and get the best change of behavior.

TIP #1
Know what you’re trying to change 
A good place to start in your training assessment is to ask yourself, “What exactly is the problem?” Is the problem an issue of employees not having the necessary skills, or is it an attitude problem? A good question to ask to get to the source of the problem is: “If a gun were held to their heads, would they be able to do what I’m asking them to do?” If the answer is yes, it’s not a skills training issue. It’s an attitude issue.

Most training needs to address both the skill set deficit along with the attitudinal issues that prevent people from committing themselves to doing what you’re asking and doing it was passion and soul. However, based on which issue is dominant, you should alter your training approach (see next tip).

TIP #2
Use the right training method 
You want to use the least expensive method of training that gets the best results. Often, managers choose training methods because they are “hip” or new, and later find that the results were less than spectacular.

Start by determining if you’re primarily trying to change skills or attitudes. Skills can be learned through books, facilitator-led training sessions, and CD-ROM training. Changing cultural issues such as customer service or sales, however, can best be learned by group training sessions and have minimal results from individual training methods.

Think of it this way. People are very driven by peer pressure. If an entire group is sitting together and examples of horrible telephone techniques are discussed while group members laugh and commiserate about how awful those types of behaviors feel when you’re a customer, it’s a little difficult for an under-performer who has consistently done many of those terrible telephone techniques to go back and repeat those behaviors. The gig is up! Peer pressure does wonders to shift cultural behaviors.

To shift cultural behaviors, your two best options are trainer-led training or video-assisted training where a leader’s guide tells your untrained facilitator exactly what to do. Bringing in a trainer is always a more expensive approach, and depending upon the quality of the leader’s guide that accompanies the video training, it can be almost as good. The added benefit is that the person who is doing the training becomes an extreme advocate for the change, and so you have an internal cheerleader around long after an outside trainer leaves.

TIP #3
Train your newbies before they sink the ship 
New employees who don’t receive immediate training on cultural issues will do two things: They will be much more difficult to train after several weeks and months, and   they will impact the more tenured employees who see that there’s no need for everyone to consistently do those things you said were important (but no longer seem to be important). Video training on customer service and sales culture issues should be built into the first week’s training for all new employees; this is the least expensive way to deliver immediate training.

TIP #4
Measure and celebrate 
After the training, ask trainees to commit to what they’ll do differently as a result of the training session. Mystery shop, measure, and celebrate those commitments to show them you fully intend to help them be all they can be.

TIP #5
Offer certifications 
People are driven to completion. Create a training system that allows them to earn a certificate. Generation Xers, even more so than boomers, want and demand training and want to build their list of achievements. Provide that opportunity.

Today’s employees demand to be trained. They know that if they don’t have it, they can’t compete. Conversely, you need to demand results from training. Let them know you’ll provide the training, that you’re expecting great things from it, and that you will be measuring the results.

When you create your training budget, ask yourself that scary question. If you don’t invest in training and your employees stay, what will THAT cost you?