Looking for New Directions for Your Training Processes, Products and People?
The wave of the future of training is breaking on the shore. It's dissolving old ways of thinking and asking organizations to look at training in a whole new way. Why? Because much of what organizations did for years in training failed to produce the desired results, if expected outcomes were defined at all. Yes, results. It's no longer acceptable to hope an employee learns something - or maybe gets entertained - at a training session. The agile, changing organizations that will succeed in the future are thoughtfully developing their most important resource: the people they employ. Several of the trends highlighted have already attracted attention and followers for a number of years but not all organizations have caught the wave. Others are just beginning to dissolve traditional training methods.
- Adopt a Performance Consulting Strategy
Not another word for needs assessment, a training professional who can provide performance consulting is in demand. The training function is no longer a catalog of classes. Even the best of generic classes is not positioned to meet the needs of various people and job functions. Interacting with the potential internal or external customer to learn their needs and then to develop custom content to help them achieve their desired outcome is the recommended approach. This requires that the training professional can assess needs and make recommendations about activities, reading, lessons, classes, work assignments and approaches that will help the customers create their success. Scheduling a class for the customer will rarely achieve this goal.
To do performance consulting well, trainers need education in organization development, group process, and various other methods that will help them serve customer needs. They also need the active support of their managers as their performance becomes more independent. It is harder for an organization to see the results that are obtained from consulting engagements and follow-up. In a training session, you have the end of class "smile" sheet ratings to tally and average to get a score. A valid measure? Not entirely, but it's something a manager can see and hold. You can measure the success of performance consulting and training as the next trend demonstrates, but it's harder.
- Measure Results to See Impact
Long accepted as a good example of the "right" way to measure training success, Donald Kirkpatrick's (1979) four levels of training evaluation are hard for organizations to do, so especially level three and four evaluation is infrequent. The first level measures the learners' reaction to the training program. The second level measures the learning that has occurred. Third level training evaluation measures the changes in behavior the participants exhibit on the job as a result of the training program. Level four measures the results of the training program as these results affect the organization's bottom line.
Training professionals who want to stay in business and add value to their organization are evaluating training processes and programs on all four levels. According to the Learning Resources Network, 77 percent of organizations use reaction measures; 36 percent use learning evaluations; 15 percent measure behavior change; and eight percent measure results. All of the measures of effectiveness are increasingly used to assess training. Organizations that are maximizing the potential of the money they invest in learning processes are asking about measurable outcomes.
- Training Delivery Is Changing
Site visitors ask me frequently for resources about teaching line managers and other employees how to train. Trainers have the platform skills needed for effective training delivery, but people who work in your line organization have the knowledge about and control of the work processes. In fact, if it's the boss doing the training, employees are likely to learn the subject matter. Trainers are increasingly asked to impart training skills to people who are experts in subject matter. So, training others to train is a desired competency. With non-trainers training, the training professional needs to hone his skills in locating resources, needs assessment, training design and development, and performance consulting. These are the competencies you will increasingly use as a training professional. You'll sit in the audience and cheer your subject matter expert (SME) on.
- Training Delivery Systems Are in Transformation
According to a report by the Learning Resources Network (see side bar), currently, 80 percent of instruction is by live teachers, but about six percent of that is remote, mostly online. Computer-based training with no live instructor accounts for 13 percent of training. About 9 percent is by on-the-job, self-study or other means. You can expect this last to grow. Currently, most computer-based training is via CDs. More training is provided via Intranets than the Internet, but expect both of these delivery systems to expand in the future. The key is that multiple ways of delivering training are available to meet the needs and preferences of any employee. If you're not exploring methods of delivering training that utilize CDs, the Intranet, the Internet, and subject matter experts, you're limiting your potential to serve the needs of your organization.
- Your Customer Is the Individual Employee
As performance management systems and individual development plans replace the traditional appraisal system, increasingly your training customer will be the individual employee. This is amplified by the number of ways in which you can deliver training. In addition to classes, individual employees will learn through cross-training, stretching work assignments, lateral moves to different jobs, reading, facilitated sessions, and other methods. Development plans are increasingly individualized which requires that the objectives of any training experience are individualized. You'll see less department-wide sessions and fewer company-wide classes offered. As strategically important as people are for your future, you'll give individual employees the opportunity to grow. Or, the employees you most want to keep will find an organization that will.
- Training is Delivered Just-in-time, as Needed
Immediately applying the new information learned in a training experience allows the employee to practice new behaviors. Giving employees information months or even years before they need it will ensure training failure. You'll see more training provided in response to individual development plans just when the employee needs the training.
In Conclusion
These six trends are shaping your future in training. There are other training trends I did not touch upon here, but if you've caught the wave relative to these, you're setting yourself up for years of success in your organization. Can it get any better than that?
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