Developing a Training Program With Better ROI

Dr Dan Harrison was recently published on leading HR Tech website, Talent Culture. You can access the full article here.

Businesses large and small have continued to increase their investment in training despite the economic downturn. Unfortunately study after study have found the ROI on this investment to be limited. One study found only 11% of employees actually end up applying the training they receive to their day to day work. Why is there such a disparity between spending and results? It's time for companies to shift their focus to developing training programs with better ROI.

All too often, companies rush into training programs without reflecting on what's really needed to support their objectives. Consequently, not enough work is done to understand the challenges employees face, how they learn best, and what sort of follow-ups are required.

HR leaders must transition from implementing professional training for training's sake to analyzing each program's effectiveness and ROI. Even moving the needle a few percentage points could have a significant impact on employees' success and your company's bottom line.

Achieving Better ROI in Professional Training just requires a little more planning before rushing into implementation.The goal is to figure out what training methods work best for your organization and calculate the true costs of that training ahead of time.

Set up key performance indicators to measure the success of training programs. Additionally, employee assessments can be used during the training process to more accurately analyze organizational data and the benefits of training and development. The important thing is to turn training from something good in the abstract to a practical, measurable, and mutually beneficial process.

With this in mind, Dr Harrison identified four steps that can help you focus on developing training programs with better ROI. These steps are expanded upon in the full Talent Culture article available here.

1. Develop an integrated education and talent management framework.
2. Create a digital strategy.
3. Favor flexibility.
4. Keep an eye out for silos.

Be sure to implement resiliency alongside other strategies in order to make the most of training. This has become a key human skill across HR departments as agility and adaption have become essential to survival.

Training is not a set-it-and-forget-it type of thing. Therefore, employers must re-evaluate training regularly and adapt it accordingly so that it remains applicable to both your company's and your employees' goals. By emphasizing resiliency and focusing on creating flexible, practical training programs, you'll see better results.

Read the full article in Talent Culture here.