Don't Throw Money Away On Training - Planning Well Will Cut Costs and Increase Value



Learn Management Articles on management-info.biz. Don't Throw Money Away On Training - Planning Well Will Cut Costs and Increase Value article will help answer your questions on Management Articles.We at management-info.biz specialize in Management Articles. Management Articles at management-info.biz provides the most up to date news and articles. If you have questions please do not hesitate to contact us.

We've all done it. The glossy brochure with catchy headlines promoting training courses which seem too good to miss. We either see them ourselves or employees bring them to us with a previously unknown 'need' to have this training. Before we know it a large chunk of the annual training budget has gone on courses we didn't even know existed.

This sort of reactive approach to training and development costs far more than systematic training and is usually far less effective.

So, how do we do this systematically? If we cover the key elements of an integrated approach to managing people, the pieces will fall into place.

Planning The starting point should be the corporate plan - where is the organization going? If we know this we should also know what the obstacles are and what we are going to require of people.

In previous articles we have discussed what people have to deliver (documented on job descriptions) and how they are to do it (competencies and associated behaviours). Once these have been determined, it should be easier to see what, if any training or development needs there are.

Gun at the head test Here is a simple test to see if training is required. If the employee could do what is required if a gun was held at their head (please don't use a real gun!), they don't need training. They need better management. If they couldn't do the tasks, then training may be an answer.

Following on from the planning stage there are other parts of the system that will provide useful information on training and development needs.

Recruitment What are we having to recruit for? If we are paying a premium for certain skills, can we develop these internally? If we can't find certain abilities, do we need to start growing these ourselves?

Performance management What are the gaps in current performance? Are these caused by a lack of training? What are the aspirations of staff and do they fit in with our corporate goals? Can we meet these with internal development plans?

Rewards Are people earning to their potential through the salary system or incentive plans? If not, does this indicate a training need?

Succession plans Are all the key jobs covered? If not, should we be developing people right now?

By collecting all the information from these sources it is then a case of collating it and determining what needs to be done. But here is another trap. It does not mean we have to go out looking for training courses.

If our training and development needs are documented in terms of objectives, that is, what someone should be able to do after they have received the development, rather than 'attend management course' there are usually several options available. For some of these there may be no direct cost.

An example may be 'To be able to accurately set up systems for recording and analysing data and prepare reports with recommendations and action', not 'advanced Excel course' With some creative effort you may find there are experts in the organization already who can provide some assistance in the relevant areas without the expense and inconvenience of an external training course.

Also, it is worth noting that when research is conducted into why people prefer certain employers, high up on the list is usually the growth and development opportunities available. Accurately and actively identifying development needs makes good business sense.


The Vertical Project. - Why Increase Your Vertical Leap by 6-12 Inches, When You Can Double It?
Underground Hypnosis Course. - How can you Possibly make money as an affiliate with $15-20 payouts? For the same effort and Ppc cost, You can make $45/Sale!


Article Index: | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 45 | 46 | 47 | 48 | 49 | 50 | 51 | 52 | 53 | 54 | 55 | 56 | 57 | 58 | 59 | 60 | 61 | 62 | 63 | 64 | 65 | 66 | 67 | 68 | 69 | 70 | 71 | 72 | 73 | 74 | 75 | 76 | 77 | 78 | 79 | 80 | 81



More Articles:


1. Vampire Meetings and How To Slay Them By Peg Kelley
Meetings can be like mythical vampires – sucking the life out of intelligent and creative people. And sucking the funds out of businesses. Unfortunately, there are too many of these meetings in business today.A UCLA study said the “typical” meeting includes nine people. If you have nine people in a meeting room for one hour, you have consumed one entire workday – plus some.What about the dollars associated with this? Say the average salary of meeting attendees is $40,000. Their hour…

2. Developing Efficient Meetings By Doug Staneart
How would you describe meetings you have attended in the past? Last Tuesday, I was facilitating a workshop on how to lead better meetings, and to start things off, I asked the group that very question. The answers that they provided were very similar to answers that I have received from hundreds of workshop participants over the last ten years.The first two responses were…“Meetings are looooooooooong,” and “Meetings are BOW-ring (this workshop was actually held in my hometown of Fort Worth, …

3. Whadda Jerk! By George Ebert
If one does not understand a person, one tends to regard him as a fool. Carl Jung Sadly, public discourse today seems to have degenerated into warring parties spitting epithets at one another. With little inclination to see the other’s point of view, the parties are reduced to name calling, labeling and the simplification of complex issues. The only commonality is the shared belief that the other guy is a jerk. Thanks to Jung’s pioneering work on personality type, we know that there ar…

4. Employees - Treat Them the Way They Expect to be Treated By Alan Fairweather
When you have to deal with one of your team who's complaining to you, rather than allowing your negative programmes to take over, get your thinking part in gear and try to see the situation the way they see it. You don't necessarily have to agree with them but perhaps you can empathise with their point of view.The successful manager thinks about the people they have to deal with, is sensitive to how they see things and knows that they might think differently than they do.Let me give you an exa…