Cost Distribution – More Learners, Higher Costs

When it comes to controlling costs associated with training, you first need to know how costs accumulate. The general rule of thumb is the more people you have to train on a given topic or curriculum, the higher the costs. This is especially true in instructor-led training (ILT). The bulk of your expenses are in training materials development and distribution of those materials and content. If you are fortunate to implement an e-learning model for training distribution into your company, you can dramatically reduce your costs. A post published last year on the PinPoint Performance Solutions Blog compares the cost and benefit to a centralized e-learning distribution model versus the more traditional training distribution model found in classroom instruction.

Shared-Cost Model

Not all companies can afford to implement e-learning however. Some simply do not have the logistics to support such a platform for training. If you must go the ILT route, you can control your costs through a shared-cost model. We often think of training costs being associated with development and distribution, but we often overlook the cost of of training associated to downtime when an employee takes time off from their assigned duties for training. Productivity tends to suffer when they are away from work, therefore a shared responsibility between the employer and the employee is needed to maintain performance in the workplace. To remedy this, encourage employees to attend training on their own time such as evenings or weekends. An alternative would be arrange half-day training sessions where the employee attends training in the mornings or afternoons. This way you can minimize downtime or time spent away from the workplace. A shared-cost model is a fair exchange if the company is fronting all or most of the cost associated with training and the employee is receiving the benefit of increasing their knowledge and skill set.

Leverage Technology

As illustrated earlier in this post, if you have the technology you should take full advantage of it. Adopting e-learning, whether synchronous or asynchronous, will help lower distribution costs. If you can leverage content online and make it reusable, rally around knowledge management practices to ensure learning content is up to date and easily accessible.

Conclusion

Just because times are tough and companies need to watch their expenditures, it doesn’t mean you should sacrifice training. Costs can be mitigated and controlled if you think differently about it, utilize your resources, and partner with your employees to build a learning organization that’s still competitive in the marketplace.

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Needs Assessment

Training programs should not be developed based on perceived needs. While the stakeholder may be confident that the training need they are approaching you with is legitimate, you still must validate the claim through some form of needs assessment. Often times people close to the problem only see it for what it is worth and unfortunately fail to look at the problem in a much broader context.

Objectives

Every training program must have a clear set of objectives that are measurable and observable. This not only lets you know that the training you are delivering is working in the selected target audience, it also demonstrates value. Without objectives, once again, you are only doing training for the sake of training.

Evaluation

In relation to objectives, evaluation is the opportunity to learn more about the training you developed and delivered. Donald Kirkpatrick’s Four-Level Evaluation Model measures the learner’s reaction to the training, knowledge gained from the training, changes in learner behavior and results. The information you gain from applying evaluation methods after you deliver training will help you further refine the training and make improvements where needed.

Other Important Tips

In addition to the previously mentioned elements to effective training, here are some other important tips:

• Be sure to put the training you are delivering into proper context for the target audience. Tell them why the training they are being asked to participate in is important. Explain how it will relate to their work and if you can, provide appropriate rewards, recognition and incentives for training completion.
• Foster leadership in the organization by training managers first. They can serve as examples by modeling certain behaviors and attitudes to motivate co-workers and team members to participate in training.

Conclusion

Above all, it is especially important to make sure there is a true training need before you commit to designing, developing and delivering training. Training is an expensive proposition and the training need that some in your organization thought needed to be addressed, may only turn out to be a performance problem that could be remedied through a non-instructional intervention such as replacement of tools and equipment or changes in processes.

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More than a year ago, I wrote a post on how cutting training during a down economy is not a smart move. What was said then is still true today, or any time for that matter. A well-coached, well-trained employee armed with knowledge can excel for for any company when competitors or companies in related industries are dropping their programs all together.

Good training that is objective and performance-based will empower employees to perform to expectations, supporting defined business goals and objectives. When the economy is down, training is more important than ever. Layoffs and job restructuring shift new duties and tasks to those remaining in an organization’s workforce. That alone prompts evaluation of current training programs and new training needs that must be met. Times like these are an opportunity to ensure that the existing workforce still engages and continues to work toward meeting an organization’s goals.

Any redesign or reassessment of training programs should be based current business objectives. Before the urge to cut training programs take hold, think about which training programs work and are effective for your organization. Do they produce the intended results? What knowledge, skills and behaviors needed for top performance out of any employee are present in the current training programs? Find ways to evaluate the current training programs by measuring and quantifying results that tie back to the organization’s business objectives.

Despite the negative impact of economic downturns on our businesses, somewhere within the challenges we face are opportunities for creativity and new solutions to emerge. Training is one of them. There are many alternative methods in presenting training to support your business that are efficient and cost effective, such as e-learning. Many of the resources at the disposal of most companies can be leveraged to provide learning experiences that keep your workforce active and engaged in staying productive to emerge from the recession we are currently in.

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