Do you still think that training and talent development (TTD) in companies is the same as it was five years ago? We don’t even need to go back that far. Is it the same as just a few years ago?
Of course, basic training elements—like having top-level teachers, providing updated knowledge, developing practical exercises, and many others—continue to be relevant. But today, TTD has been enhanced more than ever before.
Review how you think, and assess yourself. Is your thinking jurassic when it comes to training? Or are you among those who can see the immense potential it has for the company?
Return on Investment
| JURASSIC THINKING | NEW VISION |
|---|---|
| Training Strategy and Learning Culture | |
| TTD should provide updated knowledge. | TTD is part of the organizational strategy. Therefore, it primes employees for personal growth and for meeting business objectives. To increase its effectiveness, it’s essential to have an organizational culture that supports each individual’s growth. Moreover, it should encourage not only learning but also effective communication and collaboration. |
| Needs Assessment and Individual Development Plans | |
| The purpose that TTD has within the company is to offer excellent courses, and not just that, but to train everyone with the same course, regardless of individual needs. | The training needs assessment (TNA) identifies strengths and weaknesses as well as skills to develop so that each individual does their specific job successfully. It’s the base for determining the key performance indicators (KPIs), which will later allow you to evaluate the training’s success. Once the assessment has been completed, development should be differentiated for each employee by customizing the training according to their individual career plans and the needs of each activity. Today, technology makes it possible to take the personalization of training to a significantly higher degree than in the past. |
| Instructional Contents and Design | |
| Offering meaningful content, providing good support material, and doing practical activities and exercises is what’s most important in training. | The contents should be developed by subject experts, and, at the same time, those contents should be transformed into creative and memorable learning experiences. Today, more than ever, specialized instructional design has taken on a greater relevance. A true learning experience design needs to have the right selection and combination of resources to maximize impact and promote the desired behaviors. |
| Company Training Resources | |
| TTD is (only) what happens in the training rooms. | In addition to traditional training, the company’s employees will be greatly aided in their growth by getting the content they need in small learning capsules (microlearning), receiving practical guides for incorporating what they learn into their daily work (job aids), learning collaboratively (social learning), and solving trying issues through challenges and games (gamification). |
| Technology in Training | |
| In-person training is best. There is no need to change. | It’s true, an in-person training that is very well designed is unparalleled. But today, technology makes it possible to enhance any teaching-learning process in order to reach more employees with better courses, optimize times, reduce costs, and standardize contents and learning methods. What’s more, people can learn anywhere at any time. Technology has allowed for optimizing budgets by making it possible to train many more people than in the past without needing to spend more. |
| eLearning | |
| Any content uploaded to the internet is good for eLearning. | Not all eLearning content has the same quality. A video can be a great conduit for training, but it doesn’t come close to eLearning with high levels of interactivity that “forces” participants to practice what they learn and to interact with each piece of acquired knowledge. |
| Training Logistics | |
| Implementing TTDs is a secondary matter. It’s just one more point to review on the checklist. | Implementing training is a key factor. The final result will be achieved by taking care of each of the training’s logistical details. |
| Evaluation and Impact | |
| Positive evaluations of instructors indicate the training’s success. | The evaluation of the training programs should be ongoing in order to measure progress and results in terms of capacity building, improved quality of work, and return on investment. Measuring the impact in this way will allow for making the adjustments that are necessary to achieve objectives. |
| The company will receive the benefits of training in the long term. If it doesn’t train, it will be left with lower-level employees and lose participation in the long run. | Certainly, a company that doesn’t train will experience drops in talent levels. But why limit yourself to only getting financial benefits from training in the long term when it’s possible to demonstrate them in the short term? It’s possible to measure the return on investment (ROI) of each TTD project. It consists of demonstrating specific benefits, measured in dollars and cents, with the resulting benefit of being able to secure support for the company’s new projects. |
About the author:
René Mena Seifert is the creator, founder, and CEO of IDESAA, TRUE e-Learning, and Foro Pro-Talento Empresarial. He specializes in the design and implementation of business solutions based on training and talent development projects that are customized for companies.
