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

Training should be one of the "killer apps" of any company today. Not too many take a lot of time to bother with it, and some barely at all. It's somewhat looked upon as something to occasionally do because others are doing it. It's not understood too much why it's so important.

Here's the major problem with it. Usually someone in management decides that they should provide some more training to their employees. Something that they think the employees want and need. They either get someone in-house to do it or hire a professional speaker. The employees are never part of the process nor asked to be. The result is a resentment that makes things worse than offering the "training" in the first place.

The tragedy is that what should be one of most important part of the business and a part that actually enhances the employee, has now become a liability.

Here's what we need to do: First there should be some type of in-house survey that searches out what it is that the employees feel they need some help and insight in. What do they want or need to be trained in. What are they struggling the most with? Where do the problems lie?

To create training sessions without including employee input, is a recipe for distaster. They have no ownership or overall interest in what is being talked about.

Employees that give input into what they need will definitely engage the sessions. It's not that they don't want to receive training; most do. They recent the waste of time that totally off topic sessions treat them to.

It's worse to impose management-picked training than to not have training at all.

I read recently where "one seminar the employees were so offended by being required to attend that an entire section of the audience sat with their backs to him."

Don't make this mistake. Let you employees decide and create the agenda for training in the company or division and it will be a real morale booster and focus on what's really needed, rather than create more bad management/employee relations.