As performance consultants and training providers, we consistently meet people who express disappointment with their company’s approach to training and development. In some cases, the lack of opportunities for learning and development are cited as a reason for wanting to find new employment.

We also hear from business leaders who are struggling to balance employee expectations of training with the practicalities of undertaking said training. Most aired are concerns around training undermining the overall aims of the business, the disruption that courses can cause for daily duties and, of course, the added stress on the budget.

These concerns are completely reasonable. The expenses associated with employee training are rarely small, often including travel costs, training facilities, food, and equipment. It can quickly add up.

Similarly, the time that an employee spends in training is time away from their job. For some organisations, this can mean departments being rendered out-of-office for hours at a time. Training does not always seem a possible – or an effective – use of work hours.

Through our years of experience delivering development programmes all over the world, we know the impact the right training can have on an individual and on an organisation. This training can be some of the best money and time a business spends.

The right training will improve productivity, employee engagement and morale. It will promote whole-business growth and profitability.

The right training also helps you retain staff; according to a 2019 LinkedIn study, 94% of employees said they would stay with their employer if it invested in their development.

The key word here is right. The right training.

For many organisations, too many hours and too much money has been poured into training with little to show for it. Businesses’ often report feeling like they were overpromised on the results or underwhelmed with the delivery of a training programme.

Most of the time, it is simply that the training was not the right kind of training for them. Perhaps the content missed the mark in terms of outcomes, or the delivery approach was mismatched to the audience. Whatever the details, it boils down to something being wrong.

There should never be a one-size-fits-all approach to training.

Establishing what it is you are looking for from training and development will vary from employee to employee, department to department and business to business. We will work closely with you to identify and then prioritise you learning and development needs. Even when those needs are not immediately apparent, we often find that most managers or team leaders do have a sense of the skills their team are lacking. We help them to uncover these through consultancy, considering a team’s or organisation’s culture and developmental approach.

By engaging with managers early in the training process, we not only gain an idea of where to focus but how to focus employees. Again, no one delivery style works for each team or training programme. It can be a challenge for managers to encourage busy and overworked team members to learn something new. Being able to accommodate employee needs and best-ways-of-working maximises their chances of truly learning and developing.

Knowing what kind of training, learning or development your organisation or your employees’ needs is paramount to having a positive impact on your employees. We have seen it first-hand – just recently, at the end of a leadership training programme we were delivering, a delegate turned to the CEO and said: “If it hadn’t been for this programme and the coaching, I would have left.”

Our aim as training providers is to offer a personalised, bespoke training and consultancy service to each of our clients, reflective of their values and ethos. From coaching, courses and qualifications, workshops, consultancy, and leadership training, we can directly address your exceptional concerns or goals.

If you are not sure what you support you need? Or want to speak to someone for free advice about training options? No problem! Just contact us.