The Importance of Managers in Training

There is a significant body of evidence that shows training is not being effective. In the article ‘Why (most) Training is Useless”, David Maister,  the retired guru of business, commented ‘only a microscopic fraction of training is ever put into practice and the hoped-for benefits obtained’.  This should be a concern for any organisation, as it represents not only a waste of money, but the needed development of people does not happen.

Research has also shown that the #1 influence on the effectiveness of training, is not the person being trained, nor the trainer, it’s the manager or supervisor (click on diagram below).

The solution to the challenge of transfer from “classroom” to “workplace” is to deliberately design the training intervention, or programme to include the things that will lead to application on the job.  This said, the only way this will happen is when those at the top of an organisation fully embrace this approach and make it possible for managers to spend the time needed.  In many cases this can be a big “ask”  as it needs the organisations to be aware of how their managers spend their time, and the degree to which they are overloaded.

However, it is easy to make a start. Conducting a simple audit of managers’ time can be done via using a tool like Survey Monkey (free for 10 questions or less).  Questions can also address which areas of a manager’s workload relate to tasks that could be more efficient, or are of little value.

As an alternative, building in coaching by a party other than the manager will assist in the transfer from class to workplace.  This can be a role undertaken by a senior member of the team, but only if they have had some training, and are suited to the role.  This is good preparation for management as managers should be effective at coaching.

Of course it maybe that the skills don’t exist within the team, so an external coach may need to be engaged.  Of course finance may be a block to this approach, but what is the cost of not achieving transfer.  A recent 2 day sales course run in Christchurch cost NZ$1,500.  Given the research this could be money down the drain without on-the-job support.  Coaches vary from NZ$80 to NZ$200 per session, so if we assume 3 coaching sessions will be sufficient the follow-on costs will be between NZ$240 and NZ$600.  Group coaching can reduce the cost per head.  The good thing about sales is that an improvement in job performance is fairly obvious – increase in revenue.