As a training company, we are often asked to provide a training course to solve a problem.  A sales team is new, a sales team is not hitting its target, a manager can’t communicate, a coach can’t coach.  All manner of issues are thrown at us and the course of action seems obvious – go on a course. The magic cure to all problems.  It is more and more apparent to me that the cure for all these issues does not come in the shape of a one day or even a two day training course. This is a difficult admission for a training company to make but a one day course alone will not solve all of the problems & it will not change behaviours for ever.  It should however be the start of the process.

If carefully designed and delivered well, keeping in mind the objectives of the client and the participant, there is no doubt that a training course can make a big difference to an individual or a team’s performance.  However, it is what is done either side of the course that will make even more difference.  Careful pre course work will create a solid foundation for the course to grow from.  Too often participants arrive on the course without knowing why they are there or even what the course is covering that day!  Buyers of training and organisers of training have a responsibility to set the day up as best as possible.  They should talk to the participants, show them the agenda & discuss objectives.  As I write this I’m thinking surely this would be done, but my experience tells me that often it is not.  We offer pre course consultancy or a meeting with participants before the course but it is seldom used.

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The course itself should challenge and enthuse the participants.  It should leave the group feeling that they can try to use what they have learnt and will have practiced doing so.  Confidence will be high, so what environment will they find on their return from the course?  Too often they find an environment that does not support the training and managers do not have the skills to support the participant after the course.  Managers often hear that the course “was great” and it was “really helpful” and this lulls them into a false sense of security.  This does not mean that the job is done.  The participant will be keen to use what they have learnt and will say all the right things.  However, they will often be as confused by the training as they are excited.  Often training produces as many questions as it does answers.  Most people attend a course having been going along quite nicely, using techniques and skills built up over a period of years possibly.  They then attend a course that introduces a few new ideas or techniques to try and  they get a chance to practice these skills in the safe environment of the training room and then they return to the live environment.  They try to use the ideas and techniques and run into problems and understandably some of their enthusiasm is dented.  After a while they start to feel uncomfortable using the new skills and drift back towards their old, tried and tested methods.

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The environment that the participant returns to dictates the success or failure of the training.  Someone said to me recently that if you put a lovely new gold fish into a tank of dirty water, it won’t do very well.  Obvious I guess!  To help the participant do well, whilst they are out on the course, what goes on back in the workplace?  Does the tank and the water get cleaned? If managers and their support systems are not geared up to help and support the individual, results will not improve over the long term.   If you take training seriously don’t just buy a course.  Analyse the requirement, involve the participants, support the returning participant, follow up the training, read the reports, get the trainer back, train the managers to help their team members do anything you can to help and in short, accept that the course is the start of what could be a long process.  Overnight cures happen rarely.  Improvement can be achieved quickly but it is difficult to sustain.  Test the training company that you want to use and find out what they do to turn a training course into a successful learning experience?

I am not a great fan of trainer jargon and “a successful learning experience” sounds a bit like I am going down that route.  What I mean is that anyone can deliver a two day sales course but not many can deliver a series of events and interventions that ensure at the end of a year or any given period, techniques and behaviours are firmly embedded and results are greatly improved.