Everybody knows they need to train and develop staff. It builds organisational capability, and has a positive effect on retention. But, how do we know what development works, and what doesn’t?
The sad truth is most organisations do absolutely nothing to determine what return on investment they receive from staff training and development. It’s one of those things where it’s difficult to come up with absolute answer, so it’s far easier to put our heads in the sand.
Just because it’s difficult, doesn’t mean we shouldn’t do it. In fact, it’s borderline professional negligent for managers to do anything but ensure sufficient return. It’s pointless sending your staff on development or training opportunities if they have no tangible benefit to the organisation or employee.
This is not in any way meant to be anti training or development. In fact, I’m reminded of a quote by motivational speaker Zig Ziglar – “The only thing worse than training people and having them leave is not training them and having them stay.” This is more a call for managers to consider carefully the ROI on development opportunities. If a vendor can’t clarify the return from your investment, find another vendor.