Why Corporate Training Fails – Part 2

Let’s continue with our examination of the major reasons that lie behind the failures of many corporate training initiatives.

Training Challenge Number Two: “The failure to tailor training to knowledge gaps.”

Too often, individuals charged with spending organizational money on training needlessly squander corporate resources. One-size-fits-all is a wasteful way to go today.

No longer does a company have to assign every electrical maintenance worker or instrument tech the very same curriculum. The means exist today to administer a valid skills assessment in order to determine exactly just what skills a specific worker already possesses – and, which ones he or she does not.

Since the most expensive cost in training is personnel costs, huge dollars can be saved.

By far, the smartest thing to do before making an investment in training is to administer a skills assessment test. The results of that test will clearly demonstrate the knowledge gaps for each worker who needs to be trained.

And then, of course, the individual worker can invest only that time necessary to fill in those knowledge gaps, without having to perform a seat-warming activity in those classes he or she does not need.

Corporations desiring to control costs would benefit significantly if they could successfully limit the away-from-my-job time that a “one size fits all” approach demands.

Organizations that implement a skills assessment system, when combined with targeted skills development, will certainly improve their business performance – because they will be making informed decisions. When an organization undertakes such a targeted program, investments in training begin to pay huge dividends.

And isn’t that what we all want? Training that actually works!

As we shall see in future blogs, delivering targeted training to the appropriate worker while using today’s most valid learning delivery methods (e-learning and multi-sensory multimedia) is really what it’s all about.

— Bill Walton, Founder of ITC Learning

“AMERICA WILL CONTINUE TO BE BUILT BY THE HANDS OF ITS MEN AND WOMEN”