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"The Training Reflex" - View/Print this page as a .pdf file.

As employees, managers, consultants, and instructors, over the decades we've received a lot of training, and we've delivered a lot of training. In terms of the desired outcomes, some of it has been great – some of it hasn't. Probably every person in business would say the same thing. Nonetheless, when someone perceives the need for individuals to get some new skills or knowledge, 'training" of some kind is often a reflexive, and possibly even inappropriate, choice. And rarely is anyone ever challenged or criticized for spending on it, or wanting to get some.

But here are four reasons why traditional business seminar and training offerings can be a marginal investment:

1. Professionals in adult education know that if new knowledge and skills are not quickly reinforced through application, within six months the new learning is virtually extinguished – the training might as well never have been undertaken.
    
2. Moreover, if this application is not actively supported by senior managers and peers, or is resisted within the larger organizational culture, the inability to gain traction with new insights and motivation from the training session can become a source of frustration and discouragement for recipients – resulting, paradoxically, in a negative return on training time and monetary commitments.
    
3. And if individual teachers/trainers/instructors are not clearly experienced in the application of the principles and practices that they teach, and able to back up their recommended courses of action with passionate conviction and support of 'ground level' applications, the lessons aren't convincing – and participants aren't confident or motivated enough to take the risk of trying to introduce and test their new learnings after returning to their own settings.
    
4. And if so-called "customized" training programs are not underpinned by the offering organization's capability to astutely diagnose current situational needs, appropriately translate and apply generalized 'off the shelf' program materials, prioritize the deployment of the best and brightest instructors and support staff, and then orchestrate the delivery and continuing reinforcement of program content – the promise of the approach dissipates before it can even come close to fruition.

In today's fast paced, turbulent times, the new imperative is innovation in the diagnosis, design and delivery of an integrated, reinforced training experience – learning that rapidly becomes embedded behavior. Please call us for a good (no obligation) "business system conversation" about pre-empting the training reflex in your company!

Bill Hannon and Tom Buchner - Creators / Developers / Instructors of The Business System Lab [sm]