As economic times turn gloomier, training and development budgets become smaller and in places are likely to disappear altogether.
You would expect a dean of a business school to say that this is not a good thing and there is nothing as effective as a training budget well spent. However, it is fair to say that not every budget is well spent and I think we should welcome the challenge that will come from the top and ask - how do I know this is an investment in the future, as opposed to a cost that can be stopped without harming the organisation?
Let's consider what effective training and development should deliver. First and foremost it needs to be aligned to the achievement of a specific goal with measurable outcomes. This can range from a specific skill injection to support, say, a new technology or process, to longer-term behavioural or cultural change that will have an impact on climate and working effectiveness.
I am not an advocate of the ROI movement in training: there is a far easier approach to value generation. Link the cost of the investment in people to a business or project outcome that can be measured and recognise that part of the cost of achieving that outcome is investment in developing the capabilities required. This works best when you are arguing for investment that is aligned with the achievement of organisational goals. However, you can use the principle and apply it to individual development activity. The most straightforward measure that can be linked to investment in people is a reduction in the money you spend on recruitment when they leave.
Second, training has to deliver change in the organisation: if there is no change made in the way the organisation does things then it is unlikely that investment in changing people's capabilities will deliver because the processes used by everyone else will still be the same. If you keep doing the same thing, you will have wasted resources and the time spent away from the job learning to do new things.
It is critical in improving organisational performance that change in people is linked to changes in process and policies. Without it people find it much more difficult to sustain personal change. As a consequence one of two things happen: employees either revert to the old ways of doing things and the organisation fails to develop, or they get so frustrated that they leave.
Third, if it is to deliver real change, supported by the organisation changing itself, then the investment has to be with a provider that understands how adults learn, how they can change and how to blend personal and organisational change such that both are sustained and therefore deliver the goals of the initiative. Adults learn in complex ways and do it best when they have the chance to apply new skills, knowledge and behaviours to problems and then to reflect on what worked and what did not.Unless what you invest in is addressing learning in this way then it is far less likely to deliver a real return.
Before the inevitable slice off the training budget comes your way I think it would be better for you to review the efficacy of what you are currently supporting today. If it isn't delivered by a provider of quality with substantial depth of expertise in learning; if it isn't linked to other changes in the organisation that help support change in people; and if it isn't associated with a programme to improve performance in a measurable way (individual or organisational), then I'd stop it now. You would be doing yourself and your organisation a real favour.
The good news is that even in the toughest times, continuing investment in training will deliver results; the even better news is that tough times can force the change that so many training activities need such that they really do deliver the performance improvement you are looking for.
