An organization that doesn’t help its people get better will keep losing its best people. Because that is what drives the best — the opportunity to grow.
However, most learning and development programs in the industry are limited, don’t cover what is important and don’t measure the outcome. In short, they don’t do anything to improve the very people they are targeted for.
In addition not a lot of companies can afford (not just in terms of money but also in terms of time #startup pains) a very well structured training and development program for what its worth. Besides in new industries, the requirements may be very different from what is already available out there.
If the training doesn’t change the behavior or improve the skill sets of your people it is basically a waste of time — which ironically is how companies measure these programs. And as a manager you don’t have to wait for a company designated program to improve your team. If you can point out areas of improvement and ensure that your best team members work on it repeatedly, often in real life scenarios, it’s one of the best things you can do to improve the performance of your team.
As Intel CEO Andy Grove once said, “Training is quite simply, one of the highest leverage activities a manager can perform.”
In addition, training when imparted by colleagues is much more likely to be contextual to the organization who are likely to understand the organizational needs much better than an external vendor. Besides, who would you rather listen and pay attention to — an external vendor or your manager?
That is not to say that there are no corporate trainers out there who can improve your team. Its just that you don’t have to depend and wait on them to improve your team starting today.
