Ensure Training Courses Deliver Real Results

Is it nearly always the case that you come away with great ideas from a training course, but the day-to-day business pressures simply takes over and 12 months on you have not put all the great ideas into practice?

Very often it is not necessarily the quality of a training course that is lacking, but the follow up, in terms of how we implement the ideas back in our businesses.

What are the issues you wish to solve or address?

Business Coaching typically starts by identifying the areas of the business that are in need of attention, radical change or improvement. In the same way, these techniques can be utilised in advance of a training course. In fact, this should be done even prior to selecting the area of training that is required and then the specific company to work with! In effect this is determining your criteria for selection and success.

Disseminating the golden nuggets.

It is very important to pick up on important actions points as you go through a training course and very worthwhile to reflect at the end of each half day session on the key gems that have been picked up or that could specifically affect your business or operation. This should really be noted, in terms of key action points, otherwise it is just theoretical and may be forgotten.

Setting goals from the training program

On completion of the training course, it is important to sit down with someone else and clarify what are the key goals to be achieved and implemented, as a result of what has been learnt. This could be with the person running the course, someone within the business or ideally someone who will then work closely with you, to support you and make you accountable for achieving the results you need to achieve. The key issue is to work with someone who will look at things objectively and won’t be tainted by the perceived blockers that there will be in the business. There will be potential obstacles in the business, but it is better to look at this with a fresh pair of eyes.

Goals should be typically set over 3, 6, 9 or 12 month periods.

It is useful to apply a technique for goal setting, which ensures the goal is meaningful. SMART goal setting is one recognised technique, where the goals are: Specific; Measurable; Achievable; Realistic and Time Based. Another really important criteria to add, is that the goal should be “Inspirational” and achieving it should really matter to you and the business.
In terms of the goal being measurable, it is important that the goal can be broken down into milestones.

Action Planning

Something that must then be done, immediately following the training course, is to create action plan(s) to deliver the goals, breaking the goals into milestones along the way. It is also really important to get some momentum going after the course, so note down at least one action that you are going to carry out on the first day back in your business after the training course!

Working with a Business Coach can be a cost effective option to significantly increase the effectiveness of training courses.

In general terms, Business Coaching has received some hugely positive feedback, as a truly progressive way of addressing key business problems, both in the USA and UK.

• According to the Hay Group, between 25% and 40% of Fortune 500 companies now use Coaches.
• A Metrix Global Study of a Fortune 500 company determined that coaching produced a return on investment (ROI) of 529%.
• Statistics on Business Coaching have proved that using a coach can increase a business’s profit margin by an average of 46%!

Most importantly for the theme of this article though……..

• Studies have shown that training, when combined with coaching, increases productivity by 86%, as opposed to a 22% increase with training alone!!!

Using a Business Coach to ensure you deliver the results you want from a training course, is a great way of ensuring maximum effectiveness from attending a training course. A Coach can assist with all the areas that have been specified in this article, right from identifying the issues to be addressed upfront and the criteria for training course selection, through to the completion of action plans, to ensure that key business goals and results are achieved. Regular contact with a coach brings accountability and a drive to carry out actions.

No longer will those golden nuggets from a training course be left in a manual, but they can be brought to life in the business, by using an outside, objective, supportive perspective, to ensure maximum effectiveness from the money spent and the time taken out of your business to attend a training course.

“Xerox Corporation carried out several studies on coaching. They determined that in the absence of follow-up coaching to their training classes, 87% of the skills change brought about by the program was lost.”  - Business Wire.

Tony Brooks - Business Coaching Consultant