3 Biggest Training Challenges Facing HR Managers, L&D Managers, and Training Officers
3 Biggest Training Challenges Facing HR Managers, L&D Managers, and Training Officers
A survey by Training Provider MBM of HR Managers, L&D Managers, and Training Officers, predominantly in the UK Grocery Industry, revealed that the top 3 biggest training challenges are:
Employees do very little with what they have learnt
Ebbinghaus’ ‘Forgetting Curve’ strongly suggests that unless a piece of learning is repeated it is lost within 30 days, or less.
Line Managers rarely support the learning of their teams
A CIPD Learning and Development survey conducted in 2007 concluded that 23% of Line Managers do not take learning and development seriously. We suspect that a further 50% pay some attention, leaving only a quarter of Line Managers who are fully supportive.
Training evaluations are rarely completed
In the 2015 CIPD annual report, L&D professionals were asked, ‘How are the majority of L&D initiatives evaluated?’ The results concluded that over 50% of L&D professionals either did not evaluate the initiatives, or evaluated only by asking the Learners their thoughts.
The MBM survey participants were frustrated by the 3 biggest training problems because the problems are longstanding, a bone of contention with other departments, and that they felt powerless to significantly improve them. Employees came back from training courses moaning about lunch & not even mentioning the training course, or when the employees were asked days later about the training course, most had been forgotten. The engagement from line managers was nearly zero, and even when prompted the line managers paid lip service to supporting their teams, yet the Line Managers were the ones that had wanted their teams to have the training in the first place. And training evaluations were so complex to do that it was almost a losing battle.
Have employees who don't apply what they've learnt?
Top Tip
Don’t hand out any slides before, during, or after the training course. Slides encourage the learners to be lazy and they then rely on the slides to refer to later, which they never do. Encourage the learners to capture their notes, in their handwriting, that they can refer back to later. This will increase their engagement and recall significantly.
Do your line managers not support the learning of your team?
Top Tip
Arrange a lunch time 30-minute session and provide lunch. At this lunch put-up two flipcharts; ‘Training – What does a poor Line Manager look like?’ And the other flipchart; ‘Training - What does a great Line Manager look like?’. Invite the Line Managers to tell you what to write on each flipchart. They’ll have the answers. By the end of the session you’ll have gained more of their support for their teams.
Are your training evaluations rarely completed?
Top Tip
Email the Learners 30 days after their training and ask them for one example of an impact on the business that the training has had. The fewer the questions the higher the completion. Give an example of how they might complete the question, but stress that it has to be their example.
You can find a further 12 practical, simple, and effective solutions for each of the 3 biggest training challenges facing HR Managers, L&D Managers, and Training Officers in these free training guides.
- Written by MBM for Findcourses