Is Your Training Pointless?

Have you ever walked out of a training workshop, a webinar or even after completing an eLearning course and said to yourself, that was a waste of time or pointless? All too often employees are being forced to participate in training that not only do they feel is pointless, but it really was unnecessary for them to attend.  Maybe they already had the skills.  Maybe it lacked what they really needed to know.  Maybe they just didn’t see the purpose.  For whatever reason, the time and expense it took to develop and attend this event was pointless to them and probably pointless period.

All company executives, not just the Human Resources Director and the Training Director, should be asking these questions.  Is your training a series of pointless events?  What do employees say about your training efforts?  Do they long for more information, different skills or a more engaging environment for learning?

While we never set out to develop pointless training solutions, pointless workshops or an entire pointless training department, it sadly happens way too often.  And each time it does happen, it makes a turnaround that much harder to implement.

This book discusses the big skill areas that most companies should be developing in their employees and how to make a purposeful impact and avoid pointless processes.  You no doubt will recognize times you have experienced or implemented pointless training yourself.  But while recognizing pointless training is step one, the real learning comes from understanding what you can do differently going forward.

In my first book, The Training Physical^TM: Diagnose, Treat and Cure Your Training Department, I explored what it takes to have and maintain a healthy training function.  In this book I continue my training philosophy using similar medical analogies at times to draw the reader into a quick understanding of how to engage learning and where employees are applauding the training function, learning applicable skills and increasing the effectiveness of the company.  Like a bandage on a cut, it has its purpose when used appropriately.  But when the cut needs stitches, it is pointless to use a bandage.

Check Out Pointless Training: The Consequences of Inadequate Training Strategies at your local or online bookseller.

I Dare You To Make A Difference

 As kids we used to challenge each other by saying “I dare you” or if we really wanted to spark a challenge we would say “I double dare you.”  When it comes to signing up your learning function for a Training Physical, not even a triple dare would motivate some HR and Training Managers to open themselves up for an audit.

Five years ago I published The Training Physical: Diagnose, Treat and Cure Your Training Department as a tool for training managers to conduct their own self-audit, but it turned out that the book has been primarily used to educate senior management as to what a healthy training function should look like.  When it is discovered that there are some areas that need help is when I am called in to review the function.

One of the hardest things for most training managers to do is open themselves up for a review.  Yet I always stress this is a documentation of the health of the function.  What is working well?  What is missing?  What could be done better?  The results are always met with a lot of appreciation, and because I leave a report that documents everything, along with a roadmap for what to work on in a prioritized order, all of these companies are headed in a better direction.

Yet it remains a constant fight to find new clients because getting volunteers to make a difference in their organizations is difficult.  So I am going to dare any reader to sign up for a Training Physical in the next two weeks.  Out of the companies that sign up, one will get their Training Physical for Free (not including T&E) and another for 50% off (not including T&E).  Just send me an email with the following information to Jim@jkhopkinsconsulting.com

• Your Name & Title
• Your Email & Phone Number
• Your Company Name & Location
• Number of Employees in your company

Your email must be received by midnight (PDT) on September 30, 2015.  So if you are the only one that signs up, then you land up getting it for free.  Make a difference in your company by learning the health of your learning function.  I dare you to make a difference by signing up today!  In fact, I double dare you!