“Nothing will work unless you do” – John Wooden
Stopped me if you’ve heard this one before: You’ve trained someone at least six times on how to complete a particular report or complete a certain tasks and it still doesn’t get completed as you expected. During a particular training I conducted recently, many of the supervisors in the room shared with me that they apparently feel like they keep re-training people on things they should already know how to do. They shared with me that they have retrained employees on how to make proper phone calls, servicing customers, updating systems or using technology.
If I just described your current situation, here’s a question for you: Do you think this is a people problem or a training problem?
Most managers I ask believe that they have done everything possible to properly train someone else. These managers claim that they already “told” their team multiple times how to do something. Many managers even claim that they specifically “showed” their team how it’s done. Unfortunately, my experience has taught me differently. The problem isn’t the group being trained. How do I know this? I was one of those managers who claimed to have done everything to train others. I was a perfect trainer! With time, I learned that I must assess two important factors.
1. How Effective Is The Trainer?
Most managers are not natural trainers. Most managers are also not teachers by trade. Most managers have never been taught how to train or how to teach other people. This doesn’t mean that there might be some managers that successfully train their team or lead their team, but it is very difficult to find a manager that can manage multiple tasks, lead a group of people, train them, coach them, meet all targets, be empathetic, meet all deadlines and think outside the box to improve a process. We are asking for a lot from managers.
Most of the companies I have worked for in my career did not have a process to effectively evaluate the person training others. In fact, many managers I know are expected to train their employees, but were never taught how to train. Therefore, most managers decide to put a few powerpoint slides together stand in front of a room and talk. Talking is not training. An effective trainer facilitates the entire process, checking for understanding and has specific goals to achieve during the training. Did the trainer communicate well? Did the trainer show, taught, explained or discussed the content of the training? Was the trainer prepared? Did the trainer give specific examples? Many times, we don’t ask these questions to really understand how effective our trainers might be. We just assume that the employees were the problem.
2. How Effective Is The Training Program?
Similarly, many internal training programs are not evaluated whatsoever. Many companies do their own training and cross their fingers afterwards, expecting employees to perform per expectations. This might work in certain instances, but many companies struggle with consistency as the company grows. The tiny training given at the early stage of the company’s lifespan might have worked, but as the company and industry grow or change, the training requires more structure, standardization and quality. Recycling a training year after year might not work at this point.
Furthermore, it is important to evaluate the efficacy of the training program. Notice that I included “program” after the word training. Most sports teams and successful corporations have a training academy or training program. Training is not a one-time thing. Is there follow up after the training? Was the training adaptive? Was there a reason the training was done in-person as opposed to online? Are we seeing results immediately following the training? Was everyone trained? Are there any learning gaps that might need to filled?
In the end, if you can positively answer all the questions I asked throughout this article regarding training and trainers, then perhaps you do have an effective training program and we can take a look at the ‘people problem’. Just remember: a heavy focus on developing your people will pay off.