T
he class on improving time
management looked as if
it would be a smart idea at
fi rst. You had every employee
attend, and now months
down the line schedule slippages are
worse than ever. What is the problem?
Could it be because your concept of how
training works is outdated? According to
this oversimplifi ed view, training works like
a magic potion. With this uncomplicated
perspective, by attending training classes,
desirable results for your company will
come about automatically. Similarly,
on this view, by enrolling workers in an
online class and giving them access to
computers for learning, it is thought that
you will see gains in your workplace.
How training leads to a great business
outcome on this view can be shown
like this:Trainee Attendance >> Business ResultsThe arrows show this idea of how an
employee attending a well-designed
and implemented training event creates
the improved business results. Some
possible outcomes for the business could
be less time for a product or service to
make it to market, a decrease in customer
complaints, or an increase in customer
loyalty, to name a few examples.
This is your preferred perspective
if you view training as primarily telling
workers "what and how." Managers thatT R A I N I N GWHY AREN'T MY
TRAINING PROGRAMS
WORKING?
behave from this viewpoint are mainly
concerned with the "content" of the
program. As they choose a program, they
concentrate solely on the information that
their workers will be provided.
You can compare this approach to
seeing your trainees as pieces of hardware
or robots. With this approach, training
people works the same way as with
programming a machine: an employee is
led to the programming area, the brand
new instructions are "programmed" for the
employee, and the employee then returns
to their task at hand.
You may not even realize that you
view your employees as machinery,
waiting to be instructed. One method of
determining whether you view trainees asBy Leslie AllanI N D E P T H