During a Lunch & Learn, organised by Promatis and aNewSpring, five managers discussed how to make impact
How to make an impact
with your training offering
Recently, the managers of five training providers gathered on a stormy Friday afternoon for a Lunch & Learn session. The topic at hand? How to make impact through training. After the first, successful Lunch & Learn session in the Netherlands on ROI in training, it was time for a meet-up with Flemish training providers, to talk about what making impact with training means to them and how they communicate this to their customers.
Labour shortage
After a warm welcome with coffee and a lovely lunch, we were good to go. The managers first discussed the effects of the current labour shortage. This shortage obviously leaves limited time for training, as many organisations need all hands on deck. In turn, it’s harder to sell training courses.
At the same time, the situation underlines how valuable training can be for a company. By focusing their training efforts on high-value employees, companies can retain those staff members and promote themselves as an attractive employer to potential new hires.
Our managers represent various sectors, but all agreed: the labour shortage is a shared responsibility of training providers, companies and the government. Lifelong learning is only a part of this.
So, how can providers respond to this and ensure continued impact of a training? This is not always an easy feat, especially where it concerns one-day training without follow-up.
Again, the managers concurred: in order to establish a more efficient learning culture within an organisation, learning moments must be spread out, leveraging the powers of repetition, confirmation and reflection. The last two years have seen a tremendous development in the area of digital tools, giving a central place to blended or hybrid learning paths.
“ You can put yourself in the customer’s shoes. ”
– Dominique Santens
1. It’s about the result of the training and managing expectations
“ I will learn to speak Spanish in six months or I will speak Spanish in six months. ”
– Jan Roel van Rhee
The conversation touched various times on the expectations with regard to training. Our managers spoke on how a company and its employees can have divergent views on the desired outcomes of a training. This occurs, for example, when there is a deeper, individual dimension to an issue that must be resolved on company or team level.
“ I focus on the needs of the organisation and the needs of the individual user. ”
– Jan Kaas
Ideally, the training provider acts as a partner of the customer, analysing and devising solutions for an issue together. Unfortunately, this is often not possible. Creating a clear image of the desired outcome of a training for the company, allows providers to coordinate the required roadmap with the individual learners. Here, Dominique Santens adds, it is helpful to demonstrate your experience as a training provider.
“ If you identify a number of pain points of the company in the preparatory phase, you build confidence. The company starts to realise that the training can have an impact. ”
– Dominique Santens
Previously, Ger Driesen wrote an interesting blogpost that related to this. In it, he discusses the Jobs-to-be-Done framework and meaningful empathy in learning design.
2. A learning journey with (more) measuring points
Previously, the success of a training was measured at the end of training day. But a general score says little about the impact of a training, especially when secondary factors such as the quality of the lunch are included in this evaluation.
It is better to assess frequently how the training meets customer expectations. The focus must be on the individual and qualitative impact.
Few of the training providers at the table are keen on one-session learning interventions, as it is difficult to measure their impact. With a learning journey with various interventions and measuring points, it is easier to demonstrate the evolution of knowledge and skills and make a real impact.
“ Can they do it? That’s what I call learning. Do they keep on doing it? That’s making impact. ”
– Jan Roel van Rhee
Support your learners on their journey from theory to improved performance in the workplace. One way to do this is by following up the individual coaching with reflection forms for personal action points.
But maybe you are looking to invest less time, yet be at least as effective. It is also possible to establish online measuring points, with reflection forms with returning questions as part of the journey. You can continue your evaluation for weeks or even months after the last formal training session.
3. Become future-proof
The pandemic forced many companies to explore online options. Was that a temporary fad? Are we seeing a return to class-based training? Or are we leveraging this possibility to create a more flexible offering? One thing became clear during our conversation: it is crucial to partner up with the customer and collaborate.
Younger employees, let’s call them the new generation, have superb digital skills. They were raised in a world of technology where ‘online’ is a given, not an option. It’s better for training providers to go along with the digital thinking and adapt their teaching methodology, or they run the risk of offering obsolete training methods to the new generation.
Digital training is sometimes seen as a cheaper solution. You can raise the valuation of blended or hybrid training by communicating its benefits to the customer. Think, for example, of cost savings, flexibility and personal learning journeys.
Participants
Curious in which different industries these five managers from different training providers operate? Below, you’ll find the participants of this Lunch & Learn. We would like to thank them for an educational afternoon, filled with great conversations and new insights:
Jan Roel van Rhee | SB Management:
RED-Selling, training and change management for sales and services. SB Management lets your company flourish in sales and service provision. Best Practices. Driven by the customer experience. Only the essence.
Jan Kaas | bit by bit:
bit by bit has more than 30 years of experience in IT training, software development & implementation consultancy. We support HR and IT departments and their managers with the design and implementation of small and large software projects and training programmes.
Vanessa Bolsens | FENIX Consulting:
FENIX Consulting is your partner to discover and retain the right talent for your organisation and to guarantee their further growth and development. We strongly believe in the power of talent. Because, let’s face it: the talent in your organisation ultimately determines the success of your organisation.
Wim Depickere | StreetwiZe:
Our impact-driven StreetwiZe products for talent development and leadership originate from our inspiring encounters with youths from our StreetSmart projects. We analysed the power of the winners of the street and translated it to solutions for the learning issues in your organisation.
Dominique Santens | PVO:
PVO is your ideal partner for exploring your issues in processes, workforce and organisation. Our consultants shorten your lead times, improve internal and external collaborations, and uncover efficiency gains.
