Training
What you will get: How to maximize your training effectiveness
“It costs billions!”
What does?
Training.
Every year Billions of Euros, Dollars, Pounds and any other currency you can think of are spent on training employees across the world.
In fact…
A recent survey across the US and Europe showed that over 80% of companies invest in training.
That’s why it really amazes me…
That so many companies do not calculate their return on investment (ROI) on training.
I have had hundreds of meetings with international companies interested in my blended learning leadership programmes, and one of the first questions I ask is…
…how are we going to calculate your ROI?
And most don’t know they answer as they haven’t even thought about this question, so I help them.
But…
Would you get your car repaired and then be happy for it to work for just 2 weeks before it broke down again?
Would you buy a new TV and be happy if it only worked for 20% of the time?
Would you buy a chocolate cake and be happy if it didn’t contain any chocolate?
So why do many companies invest huge amounts of money in training and then forget about the ROI and the follow up?
Beats me!
It’s almost as if they are happy to spend the money and justify using the allocated training budget.
So here’s a few concrete tips that will help you maximize your ROI in training:
- Start by linking the training to measurable outcomes. There are too many to list here but examples could be having a built in measure in the training (such as my LPI emotional intelligence report), retention rates, absenteeism, sales results, links to internal company performance surveys, attrition rates and customer satisfaction rates (in fact I used all of these with a recent training I did with one client)
- Always ask 2 key questions before starting the training. What will be the benefits to the trainees and the company if this training is a success? What will be the costs to trainees and the company if we do not do this training and change nothing?
- Always choose training programmes that offer a chance for follow up and allow learning to take place in regular, small amounts over a longer time period rather than one intensive day or two. One of the reasons I have developed my online Limbic Performance System for Outstanding Leadership is to allow people to learn and repeat the learning whenever they want, 24/7. Research shows this is far more effective than the traditional intensive classroom experience of training, where most of what is learned is forgotten when people return to work (the “Honeymoon Effect”)
- Repeat and repeat and repeat. The Hebbian effect shows us that “cells that fire together, wire together.” This means that if we repeat what we have learned regularly after the initial learning we grow new “learning pathways” in the brain that will become hard wired. Once they are hard wired the new learning has become a habit – we just do it without thinking.
- Teach others. As soon as you complete any training make a plan of how and when you will teach what you have learned to others. Teaching others requires active learning – so we really have to show we have understood the learning and can interpret in a way that makes sense to us.
- Change your learning environment and make it stimulating. Another reason I developed the LPS online programme that you can watch on your phone or tablet is so you can take your learning to different environments. Studies show we learn more effectively in stimulating environments, such as in a place of beauty in nature. And if you find yourself limited to classroom/office learning, make sure you decorate the room with inspiring pictures and messages!
So I’m off to deliver an effective training programme that is going to make a lot of money for one of my clients.
How about you? How are you going to make sure your next training is effective?
To your success.
P.S. To get your immediate lifetime access licence to my online leadership training containing more than 12 days of training content, just
click here.
P.P.S. To find out more about how I can help your company make money from investing in training, just email me at steve@stevenealeinternational.com
Steve Neale
“Europe’s Leading Expert on Personal and Professional Growth”
Psychologist, Executive Coach, EI Practitioner, Award Winning Trainer, International Author, Psychodynamic Therapist, Hypnotherapist, Mindfulness Instructor, International Speaker, Creator of the LPS, Creator of the Accredited Masters in High Performance Leadership
