New Year – New Direction For Your Training Plan

Most organisations, whenever their financial year starts, use the New Year as a time to look at their Training Plan and see if it’s fit for the year ahead. After the traumatic events experienced in 2009 all organisations need to plan for and anticipate the challenges expected in 2010.

To ensure your Training Plan for 2010 is fit for purpose – it should take into account two seemingly contrasting demands; is it focused on the organisation’s Vision, Values and Goals – what we call the Purpose Framework? Whilst at the same time taking into account the diverse training needs of the individuals that make up that organisation?

Off-the-Shelf Training: most organisations can find some benefit from generic training courses; whether ‘soft’ skills or more technical skills. Where they have small demand but well-defined training needs, these types or courses can give individuals useful tools and techniques to help them develop the required skills and knowledge back in the workplace.

Standard Corporate Training: larger organisations often have their basic skills from Induction through to Management Development programmes standardised to fit the organisation’s culture and predominant learning style. Where this approach leaves gaps in the individual’s training needs the next style is often required as well.

Coaching & Mentoring: again most organisations benefit from delivering some one-to-one training sessions where they can utilise the knowledge and skills of experienced people to support trainees toward their individual training objectives. These can be highly impactful and tailored to suit different learning styles although they are less cost-effective as a result.

Bespoke Solution Training: in order to bring together real organisational focus with interventions that are tailored to suit the individuals’ training styles, courses should be crafted specifically to have maximum impact in a cost-effective approach that maximises the contribution to success.

All four of the above training quadrants have their pros and cons; some are more cost-effective than others but may only have limited impact on diverse employee populations. Other methods may produce more profound results but are more costly in terms of time, cash and resources.

For 2010 to be a real turning point for your organisation and position you for success in the decade ahead, your Training Plan needs to utilise and combine these four approaches in the most business-effective manner.