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Why Training Fails: Maybe Necessary...Rarely Sufficient

By Harold D. Stolovitch & Erica J. Keeps
hstolovitch@hsa-lps.com & ekeeps@hsa-lps.com

"I need a training program on…" is the opening gambit in what often precedes a tale of performance inadequacy. You've heard it so often that you immediately anticipate not only the request for training to be handed to you but also the expectation that you will provide performance problem relief. What you're in fact hearing is, "I've got a problem. You fix it…with training." What's the perfect response? "I can help you solve your problem." This response allows you to help your distressed client without promising or delivering unnecessary training. In this brief article, you will learn a shortcut method to rapidly spot those cases that are unlikely to require major training efforts and investments. You will be presented with a cast of suspicious characters whose appearance will immediately tip you off to be on your guard against unnecessary training. Further, it offers a prescription for how to handle each one.

Suspicious Sayings to Twitch Your Antennae

Check off the sentences or phrases in the list below that you have heard in the past as they accompany a request for training.

Are your antennae twitching? They should be because each of these cases strongly suggests that whatever you or anyone else does, training probably won't be the answer. Let's see why.

• My employees are practicing and trying out what they're supposed to know right in front of customers. Fix the training! It may be that the training didn't provide enough practice or wasn't sufficiently hands-on. However, if employees are practicing in front of customers, you should suspect that they are receiving insufficient coaching and feedback on the job. Too frequently, trainees are trained and then sent out to face customers without some form of transitional scaffolding.
  
  Prescription: Review the current training, but examine the support structure and feedback mechanisms to strengthen them. Clarify work standards and expectations.
  
  
• They just didn't get it the last time they were trained. They need retraining. "Retraining" and "refresher training" are two highly suspect terms. Perhaps training was poor. More than likely other culprits require investigation.
  
  Prescription: Check to see if the original gap that triggered the training intervention was based on a skill and knowledge deficit. If they didn't get it the first time, something is suspicious. Redo the analysis.
  
  
• They went through all that training, but they still don't seem to be able to do it. They need more or better training. Perhaps. Better to verify first if selection is an issue. Do they have the prerequisites? How are they being supported post-training? Are there disincentives for doing it right?
  
  Prescription: Before going to more or better training, verify selection criteria on characteristics as well as prerequisite skills and knowledge. Check the resources, standards and support system. Verify for competing priorities or task interferences that inhibit essential performances.
  
  
• I don't understand. They passed the certification tests and still can't get the job done. You had better give them advanced training. Whoa! Certified and still can't do it? Advanced training will have a low probability of success if the basic program didn't work.
  
  Prescription: Start by verifying the certification standards and exams. Often, they require "talk about" knowledge rather than "do" capability. If the certification testing emphasizes memorization and explanation, that's what performers will focus on. Align certification standards and testing to job requirements. Set up labs (virtual or live) for people to practice. Peer assisted learning or on-the-job mentoring also works well. Snoop for the cause before heading to the fix.
  
  
• We trained them how to do the job. But, boy, are they slow. We need to train them on how to do it fast. Training builds basic skills and knowledge. Speed, or fluency, comes only with practice and feedback.
  
  Prescription: Set ever-more-demanding standards for performers to attain - but these must be attainable with practice. Create opportunities for timed practice exercises. Reward increasing success. Provide corrective feedback on process if there is a problem. Recheck work processes. At this point, no more training.
  
  
• We keep increasing our training time without getting better results. What other training should we include? There is considerable research demonstrating the value of parceling out smaller portions of training with time in-between allocated for on-job practice. It takes time to assimilate new knowledge and apply it well.
  
  Prescription: Don't include anything more in the training. Reduce it wherever possible and break it up. Focus on on-job practice (e.g. practical experiences; team participation; internships) with graduated challenges and feedback. Provide job aids. Analyze the current training to see what you can eliminate or postpone for later skill upgrading.
  
  
• We select them carefully for the job. Then we invest in the training. But the washout rate on the job remains high. Could you come up with a new training approach? Sure. "We can help you solve your problem." Not necessarily with training, however. Questions to raise include: "Are the selection criteria focused only on competencies and not on characteristics?" "Are job expectations clearly defined as well as standards?" "Are they receiving necessary guidance and support, especially in the initial period post-training?"
  
  Prescription: Begin by finding the answers to the above questions. Good, well-trained people don't usually wash out unless there are obstacles or job nuances that affect their confidence or hidden "killers" in the environment.
  
  Surprisingly, we forget that even very bright, capable people can feel lost and insecure in new job environments. There's far more to building performance than a week's training.
  
  Prescription: Verify how these high performers are transitioned from training to the workplace. Establish graduated expectations with management. Ensure frequent and continuous feedback. Initially, pair the performer with an experienced, compatible peer. Create a communication flow between performers and managers. Remember: high performance capability does not always mean high self-confidence in new situations.
  
  
• Our training seems to be great. They learn well and can do the job fine. Then they leave us. Maybe we should change the way we train them. Our training is getting to have too good a reputation in the industry. If the training is great, be delighted. Don't decrease the quality. This is a strong indicator that the training is fine, but other factors are not. If employees are leaving it may be due to inadequate compensation, rewards, recognition or feedback. They may feel that they are in a dead-end job. Investigate more thoroughly.
  
  Prescription: Verify why employees are leaving and where they are going. If the position is entry-level and there is no defined career path, ambitious, capable employees will soon leave. Definitely examine the environmental and emotional/political factors first. Increase the value of what they are doing. This is not a training issue.

What you should take away from this article is that the default "training" intervention is the frequent favorite of many of your clients. Keep a sharp eye and ear out for suspicious sounding reasons why they are making the training choice. The more attuned you are to these, the more rapidly you'll be able to diagnose the true basis of their difficulty and "solve their problem."

This article is an excerpt from Harold Stolovitch and Erica Keeps' award-winning bestseller, Training Ain't Performance. Interested in learning more about why training maybe necessary but rarely sufficient? Visit http://www.hsa-lps.com/To order.htm#TAP
to order a copy of the book.

Workforce Performance Solutions Columnist

Workforce Performance Solutions is a bi-monthly magazine directed to top-level management, senior human resources, and workforce and organizational development executives whose task is to optimize the abilities of their human assets to drive and improve the execution of enterprise strategy. Harold Stolovitch is the regular "Human Performance" columnist for Workforce Performance Solutions magazine. You can read his latest article, "Feedback, Feed-Forward" by visiting page 16 of the January 2006 digtial edition at http://www.wpsmag.com/digital0106. For more information on Workforce Performance Solutions, visit their Website at www.wpsmag.com. If you have any topics for Harold to address in his column, please email him at hstolovitch@hsa-lps.com.

Learning Leaders Conference in Barcelona

Harold Stolovitch was honored to be a keynote speaker at the Chief Learning Officer Symposium EMEA '05 at the Hotel Arts de Barcelona. The symposium, held November 2 - 4, 2005, was the first conference of Learning Leaders held overseas organized by Chief Learning Officer Magazine. The theme, Workforce Development for the Global Market, attracted nearly 200 representatives from Europe, the Middle East, Asia and North America.

Harold's address entitled, Stop Wasting Money on Training, was enthusiastically received by the participants. As usual, his provocative topic, well-researched content and lively style made him a conference favorite.

If you are looking for a speaker for a corporate or organization-sponsored event, look no further! Visit http://www.hsa-lps.com/Emails/Speaker.htm for more information
on how you can have Harold Stolovitch at your next occasion.

Guest Author Series

From time to time, we come across interesting articles that we feel are important to share with others. Our Guest Author Series features these articles by various professional colleagues. The latest in our series is by Gina Walker. Gina Walker, Ph.D., CPT, manages her own consulting practice, s2ar INC., and has over 25 years experience in training, development and project management. She excels in creating e-learning, classroom instruction and blended solutions that are targeted to client needs. Recently, Gina has worked on the development and implementation of e-learning solutions in both the private and public sectors. She produces high quality, customized solutions that are practical, innovative and instructionally sound. Gina enjoyed the challenge of working with Harold Stolovitch and Erica Keeps for more than five years as HSA's former Director of Eastern North America. She is a former professor of Concordia University and a past president of the local chapter of the International Society for Performance Improvement (ISPI) in Montreal, where she resides. Gina can be reached at walker.g@videotron.ca.

Scoping Instructional Design Effort:
Accounting for "Hidden" Factors
By Gina Walker

How good are you at calculating the time required for your instructional design projects? Most of us have our own formulas for estimating development time, but how many take into account the risk factors that will make it a challenge to meet expected deadlines? How many times have you been "off" your initial time allocations? We often set our baselines with the assumption that nothing will go wrong, but one thing is for sure, we rarely "over" scope a project.

To make our estimates more realistic, we can try to assess some of the "hidden" factors in a project that can take it off track. What pitfalls can we avoid? Let's begin by looking at a real-life example of a project that went off the rails.

Julia, a training manager for a leading US retailer, was asked to develop a web-based training program on team-building for the company's first level supervisors. This was a high profile initiative with a tight deadline. To guarantee success, she decided to resource the project with the two best instructional designers on staff, Krista and Steve. The project, however, missed its first deadline and then sputtered along failing to meet all subsequent ones. What went wrong and derailed the project?

Here are some of the factors that Julia didn't take into account. Krista had a proven track record, but her experience was limited to developing technical training. She had never designed anything in the "soft skills" area. Meanwhile Steve was a whiz at developing classroom training but had only recently started working on web-based training development projects. Julia's two star performers both hit a learning curve requirement early in the project.

Hidden factors, such as limitations in skill set and experience an individual brings to a project can impede progress. While an instructional designer may have performed well in the past, it is imperative to determine if the new project requires a different set of instructional design skills.

Another unseen variable that can influence the performance of the instructional designer is workload. How many projects is s/he working on concurrently? Many instructional designers prefer to work on one project at a time and can sometimes manage two. However, if they take on more than that, you increase the risk associated with each project. Transitioning between projects takes time.

Other factors come into play if the project involves a team of instructional designers. Has the team worked together before? The less experience they have in working with one another, the higher the risk. Are they compatible in the way they work and their approaches? Have you provided a project style guide or are you expecting the instructional designers to resolve their own differences? Is anyone new to the team?

Now let's examine some client-related factors that may not be obvious. We all know the perils associated with lack of subject-matter expert (SME) availability - if they are too busy and unavailable, they represent a serious threat to timelines. But what about the subject matter itself? Are you dealing with content that SMEs need to agree upon - is it contentious or still not solidified? Do you have to account for additional group processing of content to take place? Will you be looking at new processes that are currently being designed or customized? (The development of training for emerging systems presents a formidable amount of potential risk.) Will there be upcoming policy or process decisions that may have an impact on what goes into the training?

Another key client factor that can wreak havoc is the lack of review experience in the project team. It is important to assess upfront the familiarity of the client with the instructional design process. Have they undergone similar development projects? Do they understand the importance of initial reviews or will they merely pay lip service to the assessment of draft material until it is late in the process? Reviews that are not thorough or timely can result in significant rework at the end of the project cycle.

Hidden factors, such as those described in this article, play a role in how accurately you really can scope a project. Start with the metrics you are familiar with to establish baselines. But, to do yourself and everyone involved in the project a service, track down the less obvious variables that can trip you up. Account for them in your project planning process.

While you may be unable to claim more time or budget, you can, minimally, plan to better address the "hidden" factors. In doing so, you will increase your ability to control risk and keep your project on track.

For a copy of a job aid to help you scope these “hidden” factors, please contact Gina at walker.g@videotron.ca.

Do you have an article you would like us to consider including in our Guest Author Series? If so, please contact Erica Keeps at ekeeps@hsa-lps.com.

Upcoming Events

Harold Stolovitch will be presenting at ISPI's South Florida Gold Coast Chapter on February 16 & 17 in Fort Lauderdale, FL. He will also be presenting at Acadian Ambulance Service on March 3 & 4 in Lafayette, LA. This company-sponsored event is also open to local ASTD and ISPI members. Visit http://www.hsa-lps.com/Events_Summary.htm to view HSA's Events Calendar to learn where and when Harold will be speaking as well as to read session descriptions.

ue to popular demand, Harold will be the principal speaker and facilitator at ASTD's Telling Ain't Training Mini-Conference on March 27 & 28 in Irvine, CA. Visit http://www.astd.org/astd/conferences/TAT/tellingainttraining for more information. He will also lead ASTD's all-new Training Ain't Performance Mini-Conference on March 29 & 30 in Irvine, CA. Visit http://www.astd.org/astd/Conferences/TAP for more information. Can't make either of the conferences? Visit http://www.hsa-lps.com/To order.htm to buy the books.

Ask Harold

Do you have any burning human performance technology questions? Visit the Ask Harold section of HSA's Website and ask your questions for Harold Stolovitch to answer. Here is a recent submission that might intrigue you:

I would like some advice on paper versus electronic job aids. I'm concerned that paper gets outdated and people still hold onto the old information, even when updates are provided. The electronic format is good, but it's not as convenient so may not be used as much. Please share your thoughts on this subject?

To read the response, visithttp://www.hsa-lps.com/Expert_Q_A.htm#JobAids. To ask your own question, visit http://www.hsa-lps.com/Expert_Q_A.htm and fill out the form at the bottom.

Publications

We knew performance consulting was far-reaching but who knew it went as far as the animal kingdom? Michelle Ellis, a recent Front-End Analysis workshop participant, and her cat seem to share a love of The Handbook of Human Performance Technology. If you or your pet would like more information on or to buy copies of our books, visit http://www.hsa-lps.com/To%20order.htm.

If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to contact Samantha Greenhill, Publications and Communications Specialist, at sgreenhill@hsa-lps.com.

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© Copyright 2006 Harold D. Stolovitch & Erica J. Keeps