When your workforce is found snoozing at their cubicles, or, worse yet, when managers wish they had been sleeping because their work performance was so awful, are you blamed?
Each year American companies invest $50 to $60 billion a year on workplace training, says Diane Valenti, a performance consulting specialist. Yet as in the banking industry, she points out, "no one is accountable for ensuring this investment contributes directly or indirectly to business results."
"Based on what I've seen over the years in my consulting practice, I'd say as much as 50 percent or more of that investment is wasted," says Valenti.
Senior managers often blame training departments when training does not work—even though the managers themselves are in the best position to assess effectiveness. "The rubber meets the road on the job—not in the classroom," Valenti stresses.
Valenti's standard of success puts a lot of pressure on trainers, but the good news is there are steps you can take to avoid losing the blame game. Here are Valenti's top five tips for covering yourself:
•Focus on ROI: Identify how the training will increase sales, decrease costs, improve productivity, or enhance customer satisfaction and loyalty.
• Identify metrics. Determine which metrics to use to measure a change in business results.
• Identify risks: Work with management to identify risks and to develop contingency plans to remove them.
• Get powerful allies: In order to get the necessary support, create a steering committee comprised of people who have something to gain if the training succeeds.
• Measure results: Set up a process to measure whether employees are using what they learned. Then report the results to the steering committee.
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