learning_and_development

No matter who wins the next election there’s a certainty that the Public Sector will have to make significant savings. With the focus on maintaining so called ‘front line’ services, it will be the back office functions that will be in the sights of the Public Sector executives. From personal discussions, I’ve had with a number of local councils .The target is in the region of   5-7% annual reduction , which when compounded over 5 years yields a 30-35% saving target. This calls for radical rather than incremental intervention.

Take the current UK training and development sector, the back office ie administration and management of training accounts for over £5BN of the total £32BN plus annual spend. My best guess is that at least 50% of that is in the public sector ie £2.5BN to go after in terms of introducing efficiencies through Private Sector involvement. The amount outsourced today is a tiny fraction of this potential. There is a great opportunity for the Private Sector to introduce the concept of an Outsourced Managed Training Services provision. From my previous blogs, this can realise a 30-35% saving, so you would think job done!

My concern is that it’s not going to be straightforward though , there’s lots of Sacred Cows in the Public Sector such as: pensions, culture , protected areas such as child welfare and of course the Executives report into an array of committees , boards and politicians.

So I will be banging the drum of how the private L&D sector can help the public sector through 2010 and do our bit to if not reduce and least stem the Public Borrowing Requirement. I will keep you posted!

Continuing on the theme of why organisations should consider outsourcing training, my thought today is focused on getting decent management information out of your learning and development processes and systems. Can you answer the following questions?

• Do you know what the training gap (i.e. the current skill / achievement level versus desired state as defined by your Training Needs Analysis) is at the individual, team and companywide state for your business?
• If you know the answer can you determine the financial exposure / cost to fill the gap?
• Do you know when time bound qualifications (e.g. regulatory requirements) are about to expire and can you schedule training without causing disruption? 
• Can managers/HR easily access training records including hard copies of certificates and qualifications obtained from an employee’s previous employment and education?
• Are delegates registering themselves on a training course without an identified need either because they fancy 5 days out of the workplace or have an eye on career development for the ‘next job’ outside of your organisation. You only get to find out after the event?
• Are your courses running efficiently i.e. maximises class sizes , running in-house when the numbers make it effective and are you cancelling too many courses too late and incurring penalties.

If these questions have prompted concerns then it’s likely that your Training Management Information needs an overhaul, again we are happy to help!