Devoted to Managers and those that seek to improve their management skills

Alicia Barker, vice president of human resources, Hudson North America commented with this recently:

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"Workplace training can be an invaluable tool to help recruit, retain and develop employees, but not if done offhand or as an afterthought."

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"Ineffective training is more of a burden than anything to most workers, but thoughtful programs give them the tools and knowledge they need and want to help them progress further and faster in the careers," she added.

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I think all of us have been in this position. To me it is a slap in the face to both management and employees to be required to enter into training that has no effectiveness or connection to the advancement of skills or careers. To simply offer training as something that needs to be done because someone has said it is, is counterproductive.

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Nic Paton says this:

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“It may be a welcome break from the daily grind, but according to one in three U.S workers, their most recent employer-provided training was a waste of time.” 

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“The poll of 1,674 employees by consultancy Hudson found that 12 per cent of workers felt their most recent training session was a total waste of time.” 

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In my experience I would tend to believe that the numbers mentioned above are actually very low in comparison to reality. 

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Think of that when you involve your employees in training. About a third think it is worthless is basically what is being said. This usually means that it is more discouraging and considered a joke if it has no bearing upon their current work situation.  

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Lisa Haneberg gives three reasons why a lot of the training offered isn’t worth the time and resources: 

I think the focus of training is often wrong. Competencies, task lists, blah, blah, blah. The very list of training topics is often questionable. If you were going to only ONE training course in 2006, what development would make the greatest difference to your ability to succeed? I doubt it's on the list.    

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I think training methods don't facilitate short-term or long-term application. How many classes have you attended, even liked, then forgot? Think of a class that you took that changed the way you worked the next day, the next week, the next month, the next year?   

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Many training sessions are taught by the wrong people. Hey, it's great to attend GTD with David Allen or Seven Habits with Covey. But most training sessions are facilitated by well meaning people who don't have a command of the material. No offense to trainers out there, but there is a difference. When trainers get certified in dozens of programs, it is unlikely that they will be able to spend the time to be amazing at any of them.  

These are excellent insights into developing training that will benefit and encourage your employees. Take it to heart and see how it will build up and benefit not only your employees, but your business!