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Maybe it's Time for a "Skill Snack."Do you really have the time, resources, capacity (or even the need) for a full training program? The economic conditions most companies are facing today require every employee to be as productive as possible - often absorbing the work load of those who have been laid off. Training and development budgets have been scaled back, focusing only on those initiatives that can produce a quick and tangible ROI. Even if budgets aren't constrained, employees often do not have the time (or mental bandwidth) to attend training workshops that last a day or longer. In fact, even half-day programs are a stretch. Everyone knows if they are out of the office of a half-day, when they come back they'll be a full day behind in their work load. "I've noticed lately that during the breaks, everyone is checking email and voice mail and trying to squeeze in as much work as possible. In fact I tend to lose a good number of the participants for at least 30 minutes after the break. They've got so much going on that they just can't 'check out' for even a couple of hours. And to be honest, I doubt that I have their full attention even when they are in the seats." —Corporate Trainer "What I'm struggling most with is that I know many of our employees really need development help. They've been given expanded responsibilities and need new capabilities. But we don't have the resources or budget to give them what they need. And even if we did, they don't have the time or capacity to learn it. —Director of Training
So we are all trying to do more with less. More training in less time. More employee development with a smaller budget. More productivity with fewer resources. But maybe this isn't all bad. Maybe this is an opportunity for corporate training professionals to truly sharpen their approach. Even before the recent economic downturn, if you had ever experienced a typical corporate training workshop lasting anywhere from a half-day to several days, you know that most of the time what you walked away with, in terms of truly usable and actionable information or skill development, could often have been compressed into a few hours. Sometimes even less. Even if all of the training content is relevant and well delivered, most us simply do not have the mental capacity to absorb so much information in a single sitting. When we were full time students, with little else to tax our brains, sitting through days of classes and completing long homework assignments was a reasonable educational approach. We were empty vessels yearning to be filled with knowledge and insight. But we are no longer empty vessels. For many of us the vessel feels pretty full right now, and trying to add more to it too quickly just results in spillage. The primary goal of corporate training is to help employees develop new skills and capabilities to become more productive contributors to the organization. But most of the learners in a corporate training experience are not empty vessels. They come to the training with their own knowledge, expertise and insight. They also have many responsibilities beyond simply learning. They have jobs to do and often feel the pressure to get the training done as quickly as possible, to check it off of their "to do" list in order to get on with their jobs. Given this reality, does it make sense to herd them into training workshops in which everyone gets the same content no matter what their their individual capabilities may be? Some corporate training departments emphasize workshops because this is the only way they have been able to force employees to actually complete the training. "We tried to do our annual sexual harassment and corporate compliance training online, but we couldn't get everyone to do it. At least when we scheduled the workshops, we forced their attendance." — Corporate Training Manager So maybe there is something to this approach. At least the long workshops force their attendance. But when when employees sit through a full-day workshop, how much do they truly retain? And when they head back into their work environment the next day, does any of the training actually "stick?" Both the formal research on this subject and your own informal observations probably give you the same answer: not much. To maximize retention and on-the-job usage of new knowledge and skills, corporate training should strive to be:
Of course it is easy to say that training should be delivered in "small bites" which are targeted to the specific development needs of individual employees. And that employees should have an opportunity to immediately apply what they have learned before putting them through additional training. This makes sense, but it is also very difficult to execute. How do you actually assess individual development needs and provide genuinely targeted training? With a limited budget and time capacity, is this realistic? For most corporate training departments the answer is no. So even though they realize it is sub-optimal they still go with the "herd them into a room for a day" training approach because it is something they can execute. SkillMap Assessments and Development Guides were developed specifically to help corporate training departments break their training down into smaller "bites" of learning. First by assessing individual and organizational needs, then by providing targeted training tools and resources. Assessments are available in a broad range of competencies: Assessments are administered online, and respondents get immediate feedback. Each skill category in the assessment includes development guidance available in a variety of formats. "We were able to administer the selling skills assessment, then have every salesperson complete an individualized learning program based upon their unique needs. Everyone was able to focus only on the skill development that was relevant to them. Truly a targeted and effective training program for us." — Vice President of Sales When a respondent views his or her results, there is often an immediate desire to learn how to improve results in those categories that scored lowest. The depth of feedback and development guidance available to the respondent is determined by the client organization and is available in the following formats:
In addition, if your organization wants to deliver onsite training, fore each SkillMAp assessment there is a Facilitation and Coaching Guide available with fully scripted workshops for each skill category. When a group completes a SkillMap Assessment you are able to generate a report which shows you the aggregated results for the entire group. This report can be very valuable in helping you target your group training toward the skills and habits that are most relevant for that group. And finally, the best part. SkillMap assessments are extremely cost effective. You can administer these assessments for as little as $8 per employee. Note: The actual investment will vary based upon the number of employees, the specific assessments administered, and the type of post-assessment training desired. For more information on Frontline Learning's innovative SkillMap assessment and development guides, click on any of the links to the right of this article.
Whether your training need is small and focused, or enterprise-wide, you can count of Frontline Learning to deliver. For more than 20 years we have been helping organizations achieve their business objectives with targeted training initiatives. For more information click on any of the training solution links on this page, or send an email request to FastHelp@frontlinelearning.com
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