August 6, 2009

Making Work "Work": Resources for Busy Professionals

A quick gauge of training success

The money you spend training employees is wasted if they’re not putting their new skills to use immediately after completing the coursework. One way to ensure employees utilize their training effectively and determine if the training is worthwhile, says management consultant Jeff Colvin, is to ask this simple question: “What are you going to do differently as a result of this training?” This will remind employees that the purpose of training is to improve their performance and help them succeed.

In the same vein, don’t forget to ask yourself before offering a training what benefit you hope it will provide to staff and to the organization.  This thought process will help you decide if the training is a good investment in the first place.