Training - A Tool
The best way of thinking about training is to think of it as a management tool, much like a carpenter's tool. Just like a carpenter picks the hammer and not a screwdriver to pound a nail, the manager should be choosing training because it is the RIGHT tool for the job.
Also, to continue the analogy, if the supporting structure (the wood) is rotted, only the foolish carpenter would attempt to pound the nail into the wood, and expect it to help. It is the same with the manager. If a manager expects things to improve as a result of training, he or she needs to ensure that the supports are there for the use of the tool, and that there are no other non-training related problems hanging about.
Training can be a valuable tool for the organization and the manager, provided it is the right tool to solve the problem or address the identified issues. Even then, there must be supports in the organization so the training can be effective. Other articles in this edition discuss some of these supports.
Even Movies Can Train
What Gets You The ROI?
Being a trainer or a trainee does make no difference. But the image that you portrait with the role you play definitely make a difference. You should believe in the role you play and when you believe it you start living it. When you live it, you obviously be evidence for it.
Envisage this happening in a family you know. Every morning the father and mother when they have to cry aloud “I’m the father of this house” and “I’m the mother of this house” would you believe them. I anticipate not. You would deem them a bunch of weird animals or monsters. The one reason being a Father or a Mother does not have to remind the role they play rather they have to exhibit it.
In the similar way, if you are a part of training, either as a trainer or a trainee, you have to show yourself rather showing off yourself. All you have to do is commit yourself, organize your way of training or learning and acquire the values to show that you are not just a sample, but an example to be observed. It is difficult to find organizations that would say, "We find that training has little impact on our bottom line year on year". Is this because organizations know exactly what return they get from training? The answer to that question is a clear no.
It’s always the commitment towards the work in executing the assignment that makes the training effective and gets you the return on the investment you have made. When I browsed in the internet I read an article which says, The American Society for Training and Development reported that only 3% of organizations measure what happens to their bottom line as a result of training. Or is it that it is politically incorrect to say in an organization that has a high investment in training, "We waste our money on training". Sometimes, this is somewhere near the truth.
The trainer and the trainee have to contribute something on their part to get the returns, the result of the training. The reason I insist on the contribution is because we always have the tendency to do the same thing each time and every time, which obviously quite easy and involves no effort. But you do not get better results when you keep on doing the same thing.
Given the numbers 2 and 3, you’ll get the result 5 if you add the numbers at any instant. There will be no improvement in the result, because it is done the usual way and obviously the result. If this 2 and 3 are your KRA’s, then what appraisal would you expect? You guessed it right, 5. The same job done in the same way, yield the same result. What’s the big miracle in it? Instead, if you are asked to arrive at the highest possible score with these numbers, then I might get a 6 or 8 or 9 based on your creativity and capability.
This scenario explains two things clearly. People do not change their routine unless they are asked (given a chance) to or forced (designing) to and when people do not contribute (transference), they do not get better result. Designing training that allows adults to learn is no simple feat in itself. A designer, once the objectives of the training are understood, has to design training with four major elements in mind.
Participants must recognize the need for information and rapport with the trainer must be established early, otherwise the trainer's efforts will be in vain. The opening of any training effort must provide a believable and appropriately challenging answer to the question, "Why am I here?" and must lead to an early engagement between the participants and the trainer.
The design must also be able to reinforce positive behavior. In doing so, the design must not ignore negative or undesirable behavior. The design needs to include negative reinforcements to eliminate the undesired behavior as much as it includes positive reinforcement for desired behavior.
Retention is a key aspect of training design that is often ignored, in that very few entities undertaking a training program test for retention. Participants must also have adequate opportunities to practice what they learn to increase levels of retention.
The fourth critical element of training design is transference. Participants must be able to transfer what they have learnt in to a new setting away from the classroom. For example, the workplace!
Participants are more likely to transfer their learning to the workplace when the learning is critical to them doing their job or the learning revisited familiar patterns of work or knowledge. Conversely, they have a high probability of learning transfer when the learning was very new and fresh.
Transference is stopped cold if participants return to a workplace which has policies, processes and measures of processes which promote behaviors opposite to those reinforced in the training. If negative policies, processes and measures are well known and expected to remain after the training then motivation for attending training will be severely hampered as well. Most training is completed over a period of a day or two. In many industries it is difficult to allow participants the time off to attend even a day's training hence the training may only be a half day or two hours.
Being a trainer or a trainee does make no difference. But the image that you portrait with the role you play definitely make a difference. You should believe in the role you play and when you believe it you start living it. When you live it, you obviously be evidence for it.
Envisage this happening in a family you know. Every morning the father and mother when they have to cry aloud “I’m the father of this house” and “I’m the mother of this house” would you believe them. I anticipate not. You would deem them a bunch of weird animals or monsters. The one reason being a Father or a Mother does not have to remind the role they play rather they have to exhibit it.
In the similar way, if you are a part of training, either as a trainer or a trainee, you have to show yourself rather showing off yourself. All you have to do is commit yourself, organize your way of training or learning and acquire the values to show that you are not just a sample, but an example to be observed. It is difficult to find organizations that would say, "We find that training has little impact on our bottom line year on year". Is this because organizations know exactly what return they get from training? The answer to that question is a clear no.
It’s always the commitment towards the work in executing the assignment that makes the training effective and gets you the return on the investment you have made. When I browsed in the internet I read an article which says, The American Society for Training and Development reported that only 3% of organizations measure what happens to their bottom line as a result of training. Or is it that it is politically incorrect to say in an organization that has a high investment in training, "We waste our money on training". Sometimes, this is somewhere near the truth.
The trainer and the trainee have to contribute something on their part to get the returns, the result of the training. The reason I insist on the contribution is because we always have the tendency to do the same thing each time and every time, which obviously quite easy and involves no effort. But you do not get better results when you keep on doing the same thing.
Given the numbers 2 and 3, you’ll get the result 5 if you add the numbers at any instant. There will be no improvement in the result, because it is done the usual way and obviously the result. If this 2 and 3 are your KRA’s, then what appraisal would you expect? You guessed it right, 5. The same job done in the same way, yield the same result. What’s the big miracle in it? Instead, if you are asked to arrive at the highest possible score with these numbers, then I might get a 6 or 8 or 9 based on your creativity and capability.
This scenario explains two things clearly. People do not change their routine unless they are asked (given a chance) to or forced (designing) to and when people do not contribute (transference), they do not get better result. Designing training that allows adults to learn is no simple feat in itself. A designer, once the objectives of the training are understood, has to design training with four major elements in mind.
Participants must recognize the need for information and rapport with the trainer must be established early, otherwise the trainer's efforts will be in vain. The opening of any training effort must provide a believable and appropriately challenging answer to the question, "Why am I here?" and must lead to an early engagement between the participants and the trainer.
The design must also be able to reinforce positive behavior. In doing so, the design must not ignore negative or undesirable behavior. The design needs to include negative reinforcements to eliminate the undesired behavior as much as it includes positive reinforcement for desired behavior.
Retention is a key aspect of training design that is often ignored, in that very few entities undertaking a training program test for retention. Participants must also have adequate opportunities to practice what they learn to increase levels of retention.
The fourth critical element of training design is transference. Participants must be able to transfer what they have learnt in to a new setting away from the classroom. For example, the workplace!
Participants are more likely to transfer their learning to the workplace when the learning is critical to them doing their job or the learning revisited familiar patterns of work or knowledge. Conversely, they have a high probability of learning transfer when the learning was very new and fresh.
Transference is stopped cold if participants return to a workplace which has policies, processes and measures of processes which promote behaviors opposite to those reinforced in the training. If negative policies, processes and measures are well known and expected to remain after the training then motivation for attending training will be severely hampered as well. Most training is completed over a period of a day or two. In many industries it is difficult to allow participants the time off to attend even a day's training hence the training may only be a half day or two hours.
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