As weird as it may seem, some people hate employee development and training. It’s weird, because, why would they hate training time when it’s actually a reprieve from the “real work” in cubicle land? All they have to do is sit in a seminar or workshop, listen and take notes. It’s easier than your average day at the office.

This is the challenge faced by trainers and business managers. How can they help these people to get a promotion or do their work quicker if they hate the process needed to up their skill levels?

Reality Check: Training is Not (not yet, anyways) Connected to Good Work Performance

In reality, work performance is not yet accurately correlated with training sessions at work. Most organizations and companies do not keep track of its employees’ performance or behavior after trainings.

An employee is required to go through the training, finish it, and pass. Unfortunately, most of the time, their improvements outside the training room are not monitored. It’s ironic. Isn’t the performance after said training more crucial than anything done within the training environment?

Companies are concerned with employee development and training, but it’s a quantitative concern for most. Perhaps their thinking is the more time spent in training, the better. That’s not always the case though, especially when training isn’t the root cause of the problem.

In an Ideal World: Employee Development and Training should Center on the People being Trained

The training’s value is centered on the employee, and not with the HR department or the management. Training should be given for the sake of helping employees grow, not just to comply with industry standards or company directives.

For that to happen, trainers should work hard to help employees see the good in these programs. Training should be promoted as a way to move up the career ladder, or else do their job easier or more effectively. If the management and the trainers could show these values to trainees, it would not look like they are simply completing their checklist of mandatory program.

Underperformance, Discipline and Training

Employee development and training can be a part of a performance support system, but companies tend to include such as a disciplinary action if an employee doesn’t meet expectations. Thus, many employees see trainings as punishments.

This connection between underperformance and trainings tend to carry a negative message to the employee, which makes them hate these programs even more.

There is also the connotation that a person did not learn well during the first training, and hence must go back to training to fix such problems. It’s like in school, when students are forced to go back to the same class because they flunked a test.

Training Doesn’t Answer Everything

There are other ways to further employee development and training, without forcing employees to undergo additional programs. Statistics show that employees only use 5 % to 20% of what they get from training programs, so it’s better to find engaging ways to help employees absorb new information.

Companies have to learn how to pinpoint the real problems when it comes to its workers and their performances, and realize that employee development and training is not the perfect go-to solution for every employee performance problem.

© 2013 Incedo Group, LLC