Dear Udayabhanu Jena,
The answer to this post is quite comprehensive. Probably the training function or training activities are not audited in your company. Had it been so, you would not have asked this question. Please check my article "
Why Employee Training Fails" that was published about two and a half years ago in Deccan Herald, Bangalore.
Anyway, coming to the point. First and foremost, you should be able to do proper TNI. In the last three years, I must have interacted with 500+ HR personnel, and my experience is that about 80% of them could not do proper TNI.
Secondly, have a check on what is happening in your company and what is not happening that is supposed to happen. What is the operational efficiency of various departments? How can it be increased? What skills are holding back the operational efficiency?
Thirdly, do you measure customer satisfaction index (CSI)? Why are you not at 100%? If you are at 100%, then what should be done to remain there?
Fourthly, do you have KPIs/KRAs well in place? If yes, then find out which skills are important to attain those KRAs?
Once you do the above two things, decide on the skills that you must inculcate in your employees. Any training program should build those skills only.
Once you do this gap analysis, you will be able to design objectives of your training programs as well. My observation is that hardly any HR or Training manager is able to design the objectives of the training program on his/her own, i.e., without taking help from Google. Frankly speaking, Google is destroying our creativity.
Vendor Selection: This is something quite important. There are a large number of middlemen and agents who sell the training services of someone else. Have a policy on whether to deal with these agents or training professionals directly. Many times these agents do not possess an inch of subject knowledge yet they promise the moon.
While selecting a vendor, talk to the training professional directly. Give him/her a chance to understand your requirements. He/she may offer you a better solution.
Never fall prey to the tools of training, i.e., NLP, psychometric tests, games and simulations, outbound training, magic, and fun, and so on. No single tool is adequate to build any skills. You will find training vendors mastering a particular method. They try to pass off that tool as everything in this world. This reminds me of what Stephen Covey has said, "if the only instrument you have is a hammer, then everything starts looking like nails."
"Never, never, never evaluate a training professional only on verbal communication skills. There are a good number of talking parrots in this world, but they fly a little. These smart talkative persons pass off their talkativeness as everything in the world. Verbal communication skills are only superficial. The training vendor must be capable of building the skills among your employees."
Measure the skill levels of each employee. Tell the training vendor to improve the skill level. Tell the employees that they are attending this training program so that they need to improve their skill level. Tell them when the measurement will be done again.
When you train your employees, first make sure that their managers also possess those skills. I faced this situation many times wherein my participants told me that "whatever you say is fine, but you should first train our managers."
Post-training follow-up: My observation is that about 99% of companies do not make any provision to create a mechanism for post-training follow-up. Managers must do constant follow-up with their subordinates. They must use the important terms and keywords that are used in the training handbook.
The quality of the training handbook plays a major role. It must be read, re-read, and re-read. Unfortunately, at times I found the handbook is abandoned at the training venue itself. Other persons who are a little sensitive take it to their home and abandon it there. After a few months, the dust is shed off, and the training handbook is given to the child for doing some math assignments!
Post-training evaluation: Specify the time period after which the evaluation of the training would be done. You should communicate this to the employees well before the commencement of the training program. Quantify the change and try to measure the business impact. Yes, there is the Kirk Patrick model to measure the effectiveness of the training, but it is very difficult to implement. Secondly, it requires a lot of organizational maturity to implement this model.
Thanks,
Dinesh V Divekar
Management & Behavioral Training Consultant
+91
"Limit of your words is the limit of your world"