training

Keeping on with my recent theme around the spare capacity of training venues being sold to the open market in the form of hotel rooms, my next question is: Have HR teams, particularly my friends in Learning and Development (L&D), finally struck a killer blow to the 4am ‘last man standing’ bar session. I am guilty like the best of us having made a pact with myself before dinner to be back in the room at 10pm to wade through the ‘homework’ for the following day. Then appear fresh as a spring bunny for the 8.30am start over coffee. But then your new best mate whether it is the marketing director or new sales executive, very seldom was it the boss (there’s a clue here), finds that inner self in you that has two pointy ears and glows bright red. Next thing you know its 4am, the barman has kicked you out and you’re on your zig zaggy way back to the ‘Stable block’. Research says that, normally people remember about 15% of training content 48 hours after its been delivered, throw a 4am’er in and your well on your way to zero. You can just about remember that you’re in the ‘Stable block’ or was it the ‘Boat house’ and that’s the morning after. Well this has been a bit of a ramble but necessary background to explain what I think is happening now. The L&D guys have got smart and used the current global crisis as a front to pave the way to cut interventions down to a one day ‘bite size’ , a coded way of saying no bar !. They have also elected to use the ‘on the job’ delivery technique so that the only bar you can sneak off to during the day is the Salad Bar in the canteen. As a leader of a managed training services business, I have to support the professionalism but are we missing some of that human, social interaction that is so important to forming high performing teams by banishing the 4am into history?

At The Outsourced Training Company we provide a wide range of outsourced learning and development, managed training services for a number of large clients. As a result we have developed very close relationships with the Learning and Development (L&D) teams in the respective organisations. There remains a constant debate as to whether training is a necessity or actually forms part of the reward mechanism for the employee. Then there’s the additional issue as to who benefits most. There are a number of training requirements that have to be delivered such as: mandated Health and Safety, licences to operate (e.g. Fork lift truck driving) and specialist equipment and processes. These are the kind of things that keep the executives out of court and need to be done. But what about the more ethereal side of the fence, such as: transferable skills training, leadership, chartership (e.g. CIMA, SIPS etc). There’s an argument that all you are doing is arming your employee with a cracking CV to go and jump ship to the next better paid job as soon as it comes along. The other argument is that by investing time, resource and money in your employee you will get better productivity, efficiency, motivation and loyalty as a result. We all know the way to measure it is through some form of complex Return on Investment measure usually based around the famous Kirkpatrick Cycle, but usually the analysis just doesn’t nail the simple truth. I find that internal L&D teams are so close to the trees that it’s difficult to fix and effective measure despite reams of Management information being on tap. As part of the service provision included within an outsourced training provider its key to have an objective set of ROI techniques and processes. We can usually get to the heart of it and tell you whether you’re paying for CV development or adding value to your operation.

As part of the job, I do have to travel around the UK. As a result I am always on the lookout for a bargain particularly when it comes to hotels. The days of ‘lording it’ in a Crowne Plaza or Marriott have gone. Driven by an eye on cost control and being able to offer competitive prices to our clients, oh and make some profit!

What I have noticed recently is a series of training venues offering their hotel style accommodation at very attractive rates. Usually they are the sort of place that’s been a family seat of some wealthy Victorian engineering magnate with more wings to the building than you can shake a stick at. I usually get a room in the ‘stable block’.

It then begs the question why are these places empty?

The first theory is that it’s a blip caused by the global downturn and the well publicised impact on training and development. In an effort to fill spare capacity the venues are selling off spare rooms cheaply. It’s all going to come back when times come good and the 4am marathons in the bar will become the norm for executives under intense training!

Second theory  is somewhat different .It is that organisations have had a good close look at the effectiveness of offsite residential training and said there’s a better way. It could be that they’ve brushed off the old Training Need Analysis and concluded that rather than relatively expensive offsite courses let’s focus on: short one day sessions, on the job and maybe even sprinkled in a bit of E/ blended learning for good measure.

I will take a sample over the next few months and keep you posted. In the meantime I look forward to seeing you in the deserted bars of these venues; otherwise it will be back to looking for bargain deals somewhere else.

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 organisations ‘sticking to their knitting’. Many HR organisations have highly effective back office staff i.e. administrators and co-ordinators but their focus is on running operations related to the company’s core business whether that is an airline, automotive manufacturer or retail giant.

The whole business of booking trainers, venues, ensuring that the right employees turn up to the right location and then keeping accurate management information becomes a distraction as it’s not what they are best at doing. It becomes a real drag on your organisation as people are diverted from their day job to ‘sort out’ training issues. Many of these are trivial but time consuming such as; the trainer has arrived at the wrong address, too many people have pitched up for a session, the tea has gone cold etc. By outsourcing these particular aspects of training management, you allow your teams to focus on what they do best and begin the high performance culture you as a manager / leader have been dreaming of.

That’s where we The Outsourced Training Company come in. Our day job is providing training administration and effective management information. By us rather than you doing it we can also save you more than 50% of your admin costs. Seems a ‘no brainer’ to me!

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!

Now a personal view from me.

It only seems a few months ago that I’d be settling back to watch another episode of ‘Corrie’ , tea and biscuit in hand and watch a succession of adverts tempting adults back into education and Upskilling through Train to Gain (TTG). I thought, wow, there must be some money behind this to advertise at peak time. Now less than a couple of seasons later can you find the money, the answer in our case is no!

The Outsourced Training Company as a managed training service provider works with a number of organisations to deliver a wide range of vocational qualifications aimed at Upskilling in the manufacturing and engineering sectors. At the beginning of 2009 we had lots of people on a level 2 (the same as 5 good GCSE’s) and Level 3 qualifications (the same as A levels) funded by Train to Gain. Then like a proverbial drought the money just simply dried up. It’s frustrating for us as we have had to disappoint a number of people that through a poor school education ended up in their working life with no qualifications on paper but are now very able individuals. We had promises from Government that special cases would be made for some sectors such as Automotive … we still can’t find the money!

If you read the National Audit Office report the whole Train to Gain scene became a bit of a gravy train that needed controlling but not to the extent that there’s now no cash !

Longer term it’s going to hurt the UK because it’s a sure bet that Germany and France are still investing in their engineering and manufacturing skills.

It’s not all bad news as there is still money around for apprenticeships … maybe I shouldn’t have said that!

So an appeal to those of you out there that either know where the money is or how to get it, please give me a call

There are lots of different views on what defines Outsourcing Training. The key however is allowing an organisation to focus on what it does best such as designing and manufacturing cars , flying aeroplanes or treating and saving patients to name a few.

Question:

What’s the first budget head to get the chop when recession begins to bite?

Answer:

Training.

Question:

Why?

Answer:

Because it’s often a fragmented, ineffective non-core activity that is viewed as a luxury, not a necessity.

Question: What is the alternative?

Answer:

Take a good look at outsourcing your training provision. Here are some of the reasons we think you should:

• The UK spends £33bn on training, of which just £2bn is spent on external training providers. There’s a lot of ‘hidden’ cost being spent by the organisation that’s difficult to measure .This means that massive amounts of money are spent on non-core activities.
• Airlines should concentrate on flying aeroplanes, car manufacturers should concentrate on making cars and widget manufacturers should concentrate on making widgets instead of running in-house training departments, when training is not their core skill.
• Outsourcing training and the management of that training leads to savings of up to 40% and a more focussed strategic approach to training management that measures training with direct benefits to the company’s bottom line.
• If your global training budget is devolved to departmental budgets then you are likely to have a fragmented and expensive inefficient training provision that is not aligned to corporate objectives and therefore wasteful – which is no doubt why you cut the training budget in the first place!
• Outsourcing the management of training across large and complex organisations has many bottom-line benefits, but perhaps the most significant is the training service provider/ outsourcer’s expertise in accessing Government funding for NVQ Levels 1,2, 2, and 3 qualifications that have a direct effect on corporate production and performance. This means that training is FREE!

Question:

What are you waiting for..?