Cost Effectiveness and Your Training Investment

Training can be an expensive proposition, when you factor in all direct and indirect costs, training can quickly become a huge expense. Think about how much your company is investing in employee training and development and consider the effectiveness of your existing strategies for obtaining as high a return as possible on this investment. This article considers the efficiency of cost and the effectiveness of methods of training

The Cost of Training & Development

To get a complete picture of the impact of training on your company’s bottom line, it is wise to look beyond such direct expenses as the cost of the workshop and the cost of training material to such indirect costs as:

• Travel and mileage
• Hotel expenses
• Meals
• Compensation costs (salary and benefits) for each employee involved in the training
• Opportunity cost (for example, while a salesperson is attending a training, how many potential sales are not being closed)
• How much time will employees spend away from the workplace (number of staff x hours x hourly rate)?
• Is there a cost related to covering for employees receiving training (Costs associated with overtime rates or temporary staff)
• What pressure does the employees absence put on other staff?
• What is the impact of the employees absence on your service levels?( lost calls, high telephone response, safety issues?)
• What is the actual cost of using outside trainers v.s cost of sending employees on external courses?

The point is that your employees and contractors can cost you money, or make you money. Effective training, does not ‘cost’ as much as it can pay!  However,  improperly trained and poorly motivated people can cost you a fortune, £100,000s annually.

Measuring cost alone is irrelevant. Cost-effectiveness is what matters. An ineffective solution that does not produce the intended result is a waste of money!”

Ineffective Methods

Let’s consider the costs associated with ineffective delivery methods, many organisations favour lecture as a method of delivering training, research suggests that lecture presents one of the most ineffective forms of learning. With traditional, lecture-based, training, content can pass virtually in one ear and out the other. Lecture alone has many limitations:

• Our ability to retain information decreases badly after 10-20 minutes. 
• The audience is passive – Communication is one way
• Experts – usually subject matter experts are not always effective teachers
• Cognitive overload:  too much content leads to cognitive overload.

The evidence of the weakness of lectures to  is devastating. Bloom (1953) found that during lectures students’ thought involved attempting to solve problems, or synthesise or inter-relate information for only 1% of the time, while 78% of the lecture was spent in”passive thoughts about the subject” and “irrelevant thoughts”. Some people place so much faith in their ability to stimulate thought via their lectures and expect thinking skills to be absorbed, like some mystical vapours, from an academic atmosphere”.

Research by the National Training Laboratory (World Bank)
shows that the amount of new information learners retain depends
on how the information is presented.

This research suggested retention rates for seven common ways of teaching new information as follows:

• Lecture 5%
• Reading 10%
• Audio-Visual 20%
• Demonstration 30%
• Discussion 50%
• Practice by doing 75%
• Teaching others 90%

In other words, learners learn best when they are actively engaged in their own learning.

HR Zone recently published an interesting article Employers cling to ineffective training method   in which Dr John McGurk, the CIPD’s learning and talent development adviser, said: “Many of the learning approaches used by organisations are legacies  of a learning environment where the classroom, courses and ‘sheep dip’ learning were the order of the day. However, in today’s environment, the skills of continuous collaborative and connective learning are paramount.”

As Confucius said nearly 2,500 years ago,
I hear and I forget.
I see and I remember.
I do and I understand.

…………………Memory Fails Us All!

Return on Investment (ROI) in training and development means Connecting and measuring all of the economic returns generated from an investment in a T&D programme. That means measuring both the costs and the impact of the training.  Zero impact is not an option whatever the cost!

 

 

 

The Three R’s Recruitment, Retention and Reputation

Offering feedback to unsuccessful candidates who have attended for interview is considered best practice in recruitment and selection. It places a value on those who have shown an interest in working at your organisation and have made a commitment to both apply and attend for an interview.

Consider your brand values

In the past, prospective employees joined an organisation to gain an income or experience. Now, candidates are not only looking for a job, but a career. In order to attract and retain talent, organizations must enhance their value proposition by increasing their reputation as “the place to work” in the communities in which they operate.

Now, more than ever, organizations have a opportunity to strengthen their brand through their recruitment activity.  An organization’s reputation is crucial when thinking about joining. The proactive organizations focus on branding through quality products and services, strong values that matter to employees, such as corporate responsibility initiatives, to attract high potential employees and ensure the strength managerial talent.

The Essential 3 R’s Recruitment, Retention and Reputation

It’s essential that following a recruitment interview the applicants maintain a favourable view of your organisation, remember that applicants and their families may be your customers as well as potential employees, so it makes business sense to be fair and courteous

Also, there may be future job vacancies for which the candidate would be suitable and for which you would wish them to apply. Failure to get one job does not necessarily mean unsuitability for other jobs with the organisation.

 “Vodafone sees every candidate as an actual or potential customer. If a company values its brand, it will consider all the things that people will remember about it”

Using Recruitment Agencies

There are a variety of recruitment attraction methods available today and yet there still remains a demand for recruitment agencies to assist employers to attract and recruit key personnel to their organisations. Selecting the right agency and developing a strong relationship is essential to ensure that the agency has the ability to act as an extension of your brand. 

To ensure market reputation – talk to your network about which agencies they are using and seek candidate or client testimonials from your chosen supplier.

 Look for an agency that is willing to align their client offering with your culture and values.

 Add Value

Providing feedback can be an uncomfortable process for the person giving the feedback, particularly if the candidate failed to answer some or all of the questions adequately or was unsuitable for the post.

The general aim of feedback is to provide constructive advice to demonstrate why the candidate did not get the job, and to add value you may suggest some activities that could be of benefit to the candidate’s development. 

The following are key points to consider when giving feedback:

1. Check whether the candidate wants feedback, not everyone does!
2. Ensure that the feedback is based on an objective judgment relevant to the selection criteria for the job taken directly from the job specification
3.  Feedback given must be based on the actual notes taken during the  interview
4. Feedback should incorporate both positive evaluations from the selection process in addition to observation on areas where the candidate did not demonstrate that he/she met the criteria for the post
5. Feedback should be constructive e.g. suggesting ways in which the candidate may obtain the skills and experience necessary for the job
6. Feedback should be consistent with the majority decision of the selection panel, even if the individual providing the feedback does not agree with the decision
7.  When providing feedback over the telephone it is important to check that it is a convenient time for the candidate to speak as they may want to ask specific questions 
8. Select carefully who will provide the feedback, the candidate may ask questions relating to a technical/specialist area of the post or his/her own experience that the individual giving feedback is not familiar with
9. Create a “feel good” factor do no harm to the candidate!
10.  Always keep a record of any feedback given to candidates

Spectrain provide the following recruitment and selection development programmes: Investing in Recruitment & Selection and Recruitment for Results and Competency Based Recruitment & Selection

Contact us to discuss your individual needs

Transfer This – Before You Purchase Training that makes No Difference

Would you transfer funds from your account into an asset that does not enable you to measure its contribution to your business? That is effectively what you are doing when you send an employee on a training course without giving any thought to what you expect from your investment following the event.

In the training and development industry there are players  who will take advantage of customers who are not educated in the identification of need and the transfer and application of training back into the work. These purchasers of training are easy prey for many training providers because they effectively ignore the responsibility upon themselves and the trainer for  addressing the real  issues impacting  business and individual performance.

The consequence is that the trainer designs something generic that is inappropriate  and fails to consider the learners needs and the organisations development requirements. The learner becomes confused and cannot make the connection between what is being delivered and its relevance to the job role. People only develop competence only after they recognise the relevance of their own incompetence in the skill concerned.

Whoever purchased the training slowly reinforces the reputation shared by managers in the business that training and development is making little difference to business or personal performance.

Many customers assume that a training and development intervention will automatically lead to a change in employee/team behaviour or performance, and therefore take no responsibility  to take initiative to ensure that happens. You might as well make a fire and throw your training budget onto it as commission a training event that makes no measurable difference.

So, why focus on transfer?

1. To ensure a return on your investment which can be measured in terms of business benefit
   
2. To encourage and empower learners to apply the learning
3. To ensure accountability for implementation

Who can contribute To encouraging learning transfer?

Three groups of people influence the transfer of learning process at three distinct timescales:

Before Training Management Interventions

The Manager plays a vital role in clarifying expectations with  an employee by agreeing outcomes prior to the training.  Without the perception by the trainee of the need for new behaviours, there is no motivation to change and, therefore, no readiness to learn. An Epic Failure! Managers who reinforce the new or changed performance expectations prior to a training event enable participants who are ready to learn when the training program is offered and who are able to articulate their learning needs during the event.

Before Training – Involve The Trainer

There are many benefits to involving the trainer prior to the training event. Research clearly demonstrates pre-exposure to learning through an intervention designed to reach out to learners prior to the training can significantly accelerate the likelihood of learning.

Trainee readiness can be developed via a number of methods designed to generate curiosity and interest in advance of the training session. Techniques include attractively packaged pre-course materials distributed before the start of the program including  descriptions of how the program fits into the mission of the organization, how and why the training impacts their role. Examples of prerequisites prior to training include: pre course competitions, quizzes or simple self-assessment exercises that allow trainees to score themselves and identify areas for potential development

These activities help to introduce key concepts which  generate interest and enthusiasm, and connect the content to the employee’s expected  future contribution to the organisation; this ensures the training has meaning for the employee. Involving the trainer at this stage almost certainly contributes to ensuring the design of the training  is practical, targeted at developing the competencies required by the business and relevant to individual development needs.

During the Training

Goal setting is a powerful motivational tool. Trainees can build goal setting into their learning strategy by committing themselves to sit down for a few moments at the end of the session to answer the questions what will I do with what I have learned,  how can my manager support me? What can I do more of, less of, what do I need to do differently, and what performance improvements/goals can I identify that would tell me I was doing things better?

Transfer of learning occurs when learning in one context with one set of materials impacts on performance in another context or with other related material

Following the Training

Managers, team leaders and supervisors can make a valuable contribution to ensuring learning transfer following the training event by providing on the job reinforcement and opportunity to support and encourage trainees to apply training. Simple steps include removing interference in the immediate environment, to ensure that employees are able to practice their skills without encountering obstacles (real or imagined) in their way. One to one discussions help to identify opportunity to apply and further develop new skills.

I frequently work for providers of public training programmes, whose sales personnel make little attempt to understand their client’s business and what drives business strategy, consequently with little information to inform the design of training, the output is a generic programme which fails to meet the specific needs of the attendees and only a very experienced training consultant can address the spontaneous needs of a diverse group of learners on the spur of the moment and in situ.

Generic “off the shelf” training which has not been designed to address a specific purpose impacting people in an organisation or develop specific competencies may increase an individual’s knowledge, but may not influence them or motivate them to apply the knowledge therefore making no difference!

Understanding real world issues such as the context and culture in which the new skills will be transferred before designing a development solution is the most important preparation a trainer can do. An organisation spending considerable money on training should ensure that the trainer is aware of the issues the training must address and the potential to apply the new skills and knowledge.

Find the best fit

It is essential to research the most appropriate methods to develop the skills that are critical to improving your situation; we can acquire learning in a variety of ways job-shadowing, coaching and mentoring, these methods are often under-used because organisations do not recognise their value to the learning transfer process. . Sadly, those clients who ask for specifics about  how training and learning will impact on their organisations performance and how they might support this process are rare.perhaps their staff would benefit from our consultancy skills for training and development professionals programme to ensure that the training they commission is aligned to the needs of the organisation

If you want to ensure return on your investment as a result of your training activity take a look at some of our sample outlines and our clients comments on Http://www.spectrain.co.uk

Tips for Trainers – Managing the Classroom Challenger

Imagine the scene, it’s the first day in front of a new group of people, this contract is important to you and you hope that your  training course will attract favourable reviews. You are both positive and confident.  You begin to describe the outcomes and benefits of the course with great enthusiasm and barely make it to the end of your third sentence when you are confronted by the classroom challenger. Fresh out of charm school. A professional heckler!   Mr obnoxious clearly has taken an opinion pill and continues to challenge your delivery at every opportunity. Opinion is good if it provides positive intellectual challenge, however this is a barrage of abuse which crosses the line argumentative, rude and disruptive.

FEAR – False Evidence Appearing Real

Feeling vulnerable you try to maintain your confidence and professionalism, there is a parallel thinking process going on, the conscious mind is delivering the training course content, the sub conscious is desperately searching for strategies to deal with the situation. Your view of the situation becomes distorted you misinterpret the non verbal behaviour of the majority as delegates as sympathy and the fight or flight response kicks in.  When our fight or flight system is activated, we tend to perceive everything in our environment as a possible threat to our survival. By its very nature, the fight or flight system by passes our rational mind.

Prisoners, Passengers, Protestors and Participants

How many training courses have you delivered where people have been determined to sabotage the event? Very few if any! There are 4 types of attendees, Participants attend training events with enthusiasm and curiosity they represent the majority. Prisoners have been sent on the course, the luxury of choice has been removed for them your challenge is to convince them that their time will be well spent. Passengers come along for the ride; they scan the delegate list for like minded people, and are there to observe the proceedings. Protestors are extremely rare and provide a constant source of irritation for the majority.

You have the support you need!

Once the line between excessive contradiction and valuable contribution is crossed the other delegates are on your side, they find his behaviour annoying and disruptive also but they don’t have the authority to confront the individual directly. You can neutralise Mr Obnoxious with their support and the sooner you do this the quicker that support will be available

Neutralising the Noxious

Here are a range of useful techniques that will help you to head off unwelcome challenges:

1. Take a break

Impose a 5 minute coffee break, and ask your delegates to consider those behaviours that if they continue are likely to have a detrimental effect on them and your ability to make progress ask them to consider “If the cap fits” and what behaviours would be more productive and appropriate

1. Set the scene

Sometimes people behave inappropriately because they have no experience of being a delegate. One way to head off unwelcome disruptions is to let people know how they can get the best out of the session. A pre-prepared flipchart or a job description describing a successful participant can help to establish group norms and help people to adapt to aspects of successful team working quickly.

This approach has been incredibly useful for me when working with an organisation that has decided that all of its managers should achieve a certain accreditation as a benchmark/standard. Many people resented the approach and of course wanted to use the training event to protest about their prisoner status! To set the scene and head off the conflict that this unpopular policy had provoked my rules of engagement included a statement to say that the decision had been made and therefore the purpose of the training was not to debate the decision but to maximise the opportunity.

1. The doubtful and The disparaging

Use this metaphor to explain to the group that people arrive at training events with 2 suitcases labelled Doubtful and Disparaging. Tell them it’s OK to place the doubtful suitcase next to them and dip into it throughout the day whenever they have doubts that need clarification. However they should leave the disparaging suitcase outside the door because it contains disapproval and contempt, explain that if they still want it they can pick it up when they leave or we can simply arrange for the cleaner to put it with the rubbish

1. I want some attention!

Occasionally people draw attention to themselves not out of hostility but simply because they need a little attention. Rotating small groups and assigning these people to a leadership role works wonders in occupying them and channelling all of that energy

1. Recognise my contribution

I always go to events armed with a bag of prizes; they range from badges to sweets, fiddly toys, pens, and key rings. It sounds silly but we all appreciate recognition and this method is incredibly effective in rewarding and encouraging appropriate contributions

1. Thank you

There is no law that says you need to respond to every negative or distractive comment so and with great sincerity, simply thank the individual for their contribution and move on with your agenda

1. How will your boss react when he sees you back at your desk?

Use this as a final tactic when the obnoxious behaviour continues. Call a tea break and approach the individual causing the disruption. Simply say can I have a word, when you have his attention ask “Is this personal”?  This question usually generates a denial of any personal intent and catches the culprit completely off guard. You can now continue to point out the options available to you should this behaviour continue, which are to continue without the individual, or to cancel the whole event. Point out that the choice of which course of action would be best is entirely his!

Be Better! Developing Skilled Training Professionals – A Competency Based Course  Accredited By The ILM

 

Design Crimes in Learning & Development

Recently I have been “Optimising” a huge library of learning and development materials for an organisation who wish to transfer traditional teacher-focused learning to a flexible blended approach.

The collection of  learning materials has been designed by a variety of individuals and consists of a mixture of styles, templates, fonts, this is a mistake the approach has diluted the organisations branding and provides no consistency for learners, however this issue is relatively easy to address since in the future the material will be presented via a variety of methodologies aimed at producing learner-focused experiences which were simply not possible using the traditional classroom methods only.

What is difficult to comprehend is why the organisation failed to provide those they commissioned to design the learning materials with a standard template, and why these materials failed to deliver against objectives.  However the worst crimes have been committed by those who have designed the materials.

I am trying not to rant here, however when you have finished reading this article if you are remotely interested in ensuring the effectiveness of your training and development materials to accelerate learning, I suggest you go check them for examples of the following design disasters:

1. A picture is worth a thousand words, but are the selected images appropriate to convey information and to communicate goals? I am finding clipart for ClipArt’s sake in workbooks and presentations mainly, for the sake of aesthetic’s rather than to convey information. In many cases I find myself distracted by inappropriate and ineffective images and puzzled by the presentation which often became a media showcase the message or content buried.
2. Obscure objectives – Clear objectives help designers to figure out what content and activity is required to meet them and set expectations for learners. When clearly defined aims and objectives are lacking, there is no sound basis for the selection or design of material content and methods. I am also finding examples where objectives have been clearly stated and not met.
3. A focus on activities not information –workbooks stuffed with activities with no information about the purpose of the activity and no opportunity for the learner to evaluate the activity. Often the workbooks were designed  thrown together as support materials for accredited training courses which required participants to write assignments but of course when the material lacks the information required to generate new knowledge it is useless as a vehicle to provide continuous and effective learning reference resource
4. What does the learner need to know that is useful in the real world? What is the learner supposed to be able to do and what behaviours must people take to reach that business goal and acquire skills and/or knowledge that will be immediately transferable in their role at work? Oh dear I could weep –94% of the masses of material that I have assessed has been populated with excessive information about established models and left me as a learner asking “so what, how can I apply this, and why is it helpful”?
5. Spending too much time on the nice-to-know versus the need-to-know and therefore creating an information dump. You’re almost always going to have more information than you need and clear learning objectives provide a framework for filtering out the critical information. If learners have too much information they effectively overload and  unable to see wood for trees. Cover the need-to-know and put the nice-to-know in an appendix if necessary.
6. Using language that is inappropriate or patronizing. Use of unexplained acronyms, slang, culturally offensive and excessive text. The language used between the learning resource and the learner must be common to both rather than use few words to express meaning I have found pages upon pages of text pasted from Wikipedia which obviously hasn’t been proof read.

 The effectiveness of training and the ultimate transfer of learning starts at the design stage and the design provides an opportunity to take the first critical steps to engaging your participants – stakeholders if you are reading this perhaps now you might understand why your training and development materials dont achieve all they might and need to be overhauled.

Avoid design crime visit us at http://www.spectrain.co.uk/ for  bespoke effective competency based learning  and development designs and no crimes!