This blog is a subject close to my heart. Having been involved in the training sector for well over 15 years, I have seen my fair share of training providers, candidates; hopes and aspirations and the sense of ‘need to get it done’ makes for some interesting perspectives from those who want training and those who say it is needed, I shall talk about ‘needed’ a bit later on.
Let’s start with professional development and training, those who are eager, wanting training, looking to better themselves and thus, their careers. Having the idea of self-development is the easy part, finding the right course, the right training provider, that can be a challenge. So how do you find what is right for you? This is the key element – what is right for you. There is a balance in a training provider having a course to suit many, but does the many suit the course? Also, one has to bear in mind the needs of an employer. They may well be supportive and enthusiastic in regard to professional development but ought to be mindful that selecting a course, I think, should benefit the individual first which will in turn benefit the business.
If one is to spend money, should it not be spent wisely?
And what of those who think training is just something that needs to be done to meet a criteria or attain some accreditation? Is there value in that for the business or the individual? How many of us know of candidates attending courses ‘because they have to’; either due to law or business request. If you have people and companies who want to train, the trainers job is easy. Many times, when I had a successful candidate, and being thanked, I used to say ‘it is not I who did the work, all I did was talk. You put yourself here, you allowed yourself to be trained, you did all the study, you are the one who passed, not I’.
And that’s how it should be, I think. Of course it is nice to receive praise but to me, as trainers, we have already achieved some kind of professional development whereas the candidate is only just starting their progression.
So what of the cost of training? Of course there is a ‘dollar value’ to training, and many courses are not cheap. Some are necessary, some are voluntary but whichever the case, someone has to pay and someone is set to gain. How do you balance operating needs against personal progression? After all, you want to make sure the investment actually benefits the business, and in this instance, it doesn’t matter who pays. Do you want your newly qualified to stay around or take their new knowledge elsewhere? How do we achieve that?
There ought to be trust on both sides: the employer having faith that having invested in training the candidate will use their new skills for the greater good of the business and the candidate must have the confidence their employer will allow them to hone their new skills within the business. So do we not need to give each other a chance?
And as well as the cost of training, there is the cost of not training. Lack of investment can lead to low morale, higher incident rates and poor company image, and that also has a ‘dollar value’. Can you afford to absorb all of that?
If you want to find out how to get the best out of your business and staff through effective and relevant training, please give me a call or drop an email and I will be happy to discuss.
And I am always interested to hear comments on my blog anyway.