Career Resources, Inc.

By: James Gutierrez
© 2008 Career Resources, Inc.

Many companies seem to view employee training and development as optional...a viewpoint that can be costly to both short-term profits and long-term progress. Training, in almost all company budgets is an expense, when looked at from a financial perspective. Companies do not look at the longer-term intrinsic value. When employees go to training with no measurable results defined, it is unreasonable to view training as anything other than an expense.

In order to justify training, particularly when budgets are tighter, it is necessary to be clear as to the outcome. By performing a needs analysis or as it is more commonly known, an outcome analysis, what you are defining is the result of the training or the benefit to the company. Keep in mind, that this may require some time to look at departmental as well as interdepartmental process, not just your products.

As you go through this analysis, consider what will make your company grow stronger in the short and long term in both process/efficiency and people. Common areas for improvement, in most companies, is helping supervisors make better hiring decisions and better manage for performance.

Many people move into managerial positions because they are technically good at their jobs, but they do not know how to be managers, how to hire by selecting the best candidate or how to help their subordinates achieve peak performance.

Determining your training and development needs based on targeted results is only the beginning. The next step is to establish a learning dynamic for your company.

In today's economy, if your business is not learning, then you are going to fall behind. In addition, a business learns as its people learn. Your employees are the ones that produce, refine, protect, deliver, and manage your products or services every day, year in, year out. With the rapid pace and international reach of the 21st century marketplace, continual learning is critical to your business's continued success.

To create a learning culture in your business, begin by having existing employees take an assessment test and then clearly communicating the results of such tests and your expectation that employees should take the steps necessary to hone their skills to stay on top of their professions or fields of work. Make sure you support their efforts in this area by aligning your assessment test with online learning courseware that will supply the resources they need to accomplish this goal. Second, communicate to your employees the specific training needs and targeted results you have established by assessment test and needs analysis.

Third, provide a sound introduction and orientation to your company's culture, including your learning culture, to any new employees you hire. This orientation should introduce employees to your company, and provide them with proper training in the successful procedures your company's developed and learned over time.

Every successful training and development program also includes a component that addresses your current and future leadership needs. At its core, this component must provide for the systematic identification and development of your managers in terms of the leadership style that drives your business and makes it unique and profitable. Have you spent time thoughtfully examining the style of leadership that is most successful in your environment and that you want to promote? What steps are you taking to develop those important leadership traits in your people?

Financial considerations related to training can be perplexing, but in most cases, the true budgetary impact depends on how well you manage the first three components (needs analysis, learning, and leadership). If you target your training to specific business results, then you are more likely to be happy with what you spend on training. However, if you do not budget training for specific outcomes, then money is more likely to be spent on courses that have no positive impact on the company.

In many organizations, training budgets are solely a function of whether the company is enjoying an economic upswing or enduring a downturn. In good times, companies tend to spend money on training that is not significant to the organization, and in bad times, the pendulum swings to the other extreme and training is eliminated altogether. In any economic environment, the training expense should be determined by the targeted business results you want, not other budget-related factors.

To help counter this tendency, sit down and assess your hiring, training and development needs once or twice a year to identify your needs and brainstorm how to achieve your desired results effectively and efficiently. Revise your current hiring process to ensure that manager make the best hire for the company. Test your employees and provide them with training courseware and mentoring that fits employee and company future objectives.

Ensure that performance reviews are not merely a grading system that is used for bonuses but that they are aligned with clear mentoring and on going training that is tied into company objectives.
All of the above can be implemented and measured to ensure that your organization has an aggressive approach that is aligned with the future objectives of the company. Your employees are your principle business asset. Invest in them thoughtfully and strategically, and you will reap rewards that pay off now and for years to come.

If you are interested in leaning more about reducing turn over, developing the existing people I your workforce and teaching your managers how to make better hiring decisions, contact James Gutierrez at 760-633-3110 x 6701 or

© 2008 Career Resources, Inc.