Five ways IT Training budgets get wasted. Vote for the worst offender.

Getting lean

Are you wasting your IT training budget? Most of us are challenged to deliver more value from reduced L&D budgets.  In fact, sixty five per cent of large companies in the UK have been cutting their learning and development budgets by around 12% according to Deloitte’s 2013 UK Learning Factbook (1).  So it pays to identify causes of waste and achieve efficiency savings, as the alternative could be redundancy!  One area where you may be able to cut significant costs for your organisation is IT Training.  Could you actually be delivering too much training?

I was struck by a passionate discussion raging on LinkedIn recently.  The discussion topic ["Employees forget 80% of what they've been trained on within 30 days…"] attracted a huge response, mostly from trainers complaining that this was a real problem for their organisation.  However, one contrarian point of view stood out from the crowd –  “You may as well stop training the 80% that people forget as it clearly adds no value to your organisation”.  Responses to this post were mostly hostile, for example “Are you saying 80% of what we teach is cr+p … that’s pretty insulting to L&D professionals”.

But if you really take a step back and think about it, if people forget 80% of what they are taught, the time spent delivering such training really isn’t making any difference to a company’s performance.  It’s a drain on productivity.

Training versus Learning

There’s a real problem with the language of the above discussion, it’s not just the faulty grammar and it’s more than a matter of semantics.  Years ago I was taught (no irony intended), that effective trainers don’t teach, rather they stimulate a desire to learn.  Regrettably many trainers are at a disadvantage in this respect, as the training they deliver is dislocated from the moment of need.  That is to say, necessity is the biggest potential motivator for learning, and if training is delivered too soon it’s extremely difficult for any trainer to engender a desire for learning that makes new knowledge and skills stick.  Looked at through this lens, it’s perhaps not surprising that so many trainers complain that employees forget so much of what they’ve been “trained on”.

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70:20:10 - Moving from training to performance support

The 70:20:10 model for workplace learning suggests that employees learn:

• 70% by experience (doing the job)
• 20% by social learning (including coaching from colleagues / boss)
• 10% by formal planned courses and reading 

Or more starkly, employees learn 90% of their skills in the workplace (experience & social) and 10% through formal planned training.  In order to help workplace learning flourish organisations are investing in performance support technologies to facilitate moment of need & social learning.

L&D Managers who are keen to move their organisations towards the 70:20:10 model, would do well to focus initial attention on IT Training, and specifically the area of software end user training, as it’s particularly well suited to a performance support approach.  Here’s why:

• An increasingly computer literate workforce: People are better prepared to find answers and develop skills at the moment of need.
• Granularity: Many such new skills can be learned quickly at a granular level of detail.
• Context: If we can determine what a user is trying to do, it is comparatively easy to deliver support content that is contextually relevant to the task at hand.
• Help in the workflow: There’s the potential to embed performance support into the user interface, so that users do not need to stop what they are doing whilst looking for help.
• Connectivity: The user is connected to the network, so that collaboration with peers, subject matter experts and support staff is comparatively easy.

Is performance support a panacea for software training?

More traditional and structured approaches to software training are not going to disappear altogether.  There’s a place and a time for eLearning and instructor led training, and in many areas compliance requirements may dictate a more formal approach to competency assurance. However, you really need to build performance support into your approach, to alleviate resource constraints and reduce costs, particularly if you are faced with an upgrade to business systems like ERP or CRM effecting hundreds or thousands of users, or perhaps a migration to MS Office 2013 or 365.

Where’s the waste in your current approach?

Embracing the 70:20:10 model could significantly reduce your IT  training costs.  If you think about your current approach, it’s probable that you are experiencing one or more of the following causes of waste.  What’s the main culprit in your organisation?  Enter your vote and join the discussion.

Slow training content development methods

If you're still creating written software training materials using MS Word, screenshots and PowerPoint – or creating interactive content using something like Captivate, the chances are you could save a significant amount by adopting a built for purpose integrated documentation, eLearning and performance support system – enabling you to reduce the cost of producing and maintaining of such content.

Too much training & learners forgetting

If employees forget 80% of what they are taught on a typical training course, how much shorter should your software training courses be? With a world class solution for performance support, you should be able to reduce formal /structured training time because your employees will successfully learn what they need when they need it.

Avoidable logistics costs

If courses are shorter there will be a significant logistical saving – including facilities, travel and accommodation.  Moving towards eLearning and performance support would also reduce the environmental impact of training.

Avoidable support costs

Moving towards eLearning and performance support has the potential to transform the software support desk function, as users become adept at answering their own questions. Supports desk staff and subject matter experts become curators of the on-line knowledge base.  The benefits  - lower support call volumes, reduced cost and faster problem resolution.

Redundancy of training content

A high proportion of training materials have low residual value beyond the training event, as they are ill suited to moment of need learning.  Company specific systems are subject to regular enhancements, rendering training materials largely or partly obsolete.  The result is content redundancy or high maintenance costs.

What’s the top culprit in your organisation?  Let me know what you think.
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You can learn more about this subject by attending the TTS Webinar MOVING FROM TRAINING TO PERFORMANCE SUPPORT on 15th October at 12 noon UK time.  More details and registration here.
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Sources:
(1) WhatWorks™ Brief: The UK Learning Factbook 2013. Link