At times of recession, it can be tempting to economise on the development of your workforce. After all, training can be expensive, and very often staff development can be an easy target for making savings against your budget.
We accept that training carries a cost and fully understand that you need to be convinced of the benefits. Think about this story?
At the annual World Lumberjack Championships in Canada, the contestants are whittled down to two finalists, who then compete for a full day for the ultimate prize. They are stationed within ear-shot of each other, in a thick forest. The jack who fells the most trees wins. A siren sets them off at day break and ends the contest at dawn the following day.
One year, there was a clear favourite. Tom Walker was bigger, more experienced and impressively fit.
He began by felling a tree every three minutes for the first hour. He stopped then momentarily. No sound came from his competitor for a full five minutes. Tom pressed on. Every hour, on the hour, Tom noticed the same five minutes of silence. He knew that if he continued at his current pace he must win. He didn't.
After accepting his runner-up's cheque, Tom Walker, still shocked, asked the victor what he'd been doing during his 5 minutes of silence:
'I was sharpening my saw' was his reply!
Just as the winning lumber jack needs to sharpen his tools, every organisation needs to continually sharpen its skills to succeed. Equally it is vital to consider training needs systematically, rather than just forging on ahead and training for training's sake.
HR Advantage Training can help you to sharpen your saw! By taking your organisation through the training cycle we may even be able to reduce your costs? and we can certainly help you to ensure that your budget is well spent.
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· Training Needs Analysis · Looking at causes as well as symptoms · Rigorous assessment |
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· Gap analysis · Performance measure · Feedback and assessment tools · Skill, knowledge or attitude? |
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· Decide what's appropriate: workshop, coaching, on the job learning, open learning etc. |
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· Build in evaluation measures from the outset · Clear success criteria · Quantify the impact on the organisation |
We can offer you tailor made course in a whole range of subjects, and an in-house programme run especially for your organisation is usually much more relevant and cost effective than using of public courses. But training is not just about courses, and often we can help and advise on other highly effective learning strategies.
If you'd like to talk more about this then either contact your usual consultant or contact one of our two trainers direct.
Marj Setters: 07808 864541
marj@hradvantage.co.uk
Sara: +44 7968317615
sara@hradvantage.co.uk
