Training: More than a free lunch

Let's face it, training is not the first thing people think of doing when they have some free time, no matter how easy it is to access or how brilliant the programme is. If given a choice, who's going to choose attending a training progamme over hanging out with pals or watching a favourite TV show? But they should. 

Training is more than an event where free lunch and refreshments are offered. It leads to personal and organisational development. As opposed to methods in the wider field of learning, training aims at the improvement of defined abilities related to work. It enhances administrative and managerial capacity which is the scarcest resource in a developing country.  "It is the human resources of a nation," development economist Michael Todaro says in his book Economic Development in the Third World, "not its capital nor its natural resources that ultimately determine the character and pace of its economic and social development." 

Unfortunately, most organisations, either public or private, have a fuzzy assumption about training and development. An unskilled employee does not automatically come back as a changed, improved and skilled worker if sent to training. What happens before and after a training session is just as important as the actual instruction itself.

Companies invest a lot of time, energy and money in training with little to show for it. For instance, US firms spent $164.2 billion on employee learning in 2012, according latest data but more than 80 percent of the news skills were lost within a year. What goes wrong when it comes to training?  

"Ideally, organisations should allocate at least 2 percent of their budget to training. In Bangladesh it is way less than that," Khondkar Ibrahim Khaled, Chair Professor at Bangladesh Institute of Bank Management (BIBM), says. "Skills inventory must be done. Post training evaluation is very poor. A lot of public servants are sent for foreign training. But not even 1 percent of them get the opportunity to apply the skills as they are transferred frequently. The state of training in the private sector is even less satisfactory." 

First, organisations don't take the time to set the objectives which is a definition as well as a guide of what trainees will be able to do when they go back to workplace. Objectives must be defined in consultation with the trainees and supervisors so that individual and organisational needs are met. 

Then comes analysing what the training needs are - figuring out who needs training and what kind. It is usually the first step taken to cause a positive change. Without a proper Training Needs Analysis, training programmes run the risk of turning into the proverbial "banking model" where trainees are treated as empty piggy banks to be filled with knowledge, an analogy popularised by Paulo Freire, the educator-philosopher and author of the famed Pedagogy of the Oppressed. 

Training creates expectations. But just attending a lecture given by a trainer will not improve anything. Design is the key. It's what you do before, during and after. How are you going to allow employees to practice? How are you going to provide feedback? What's going to be the methodology? What kind of technology are you going to use? These may seem obvious questions, but few organisations actually pay attention to these details, research shows.  

The next important element is post-training evaluation: to find out how well employees have learned and to what extent objectives were met. Testing is paramount for recognising skills decay. Assessment should be done on a continuous basis. According to the American Society for Training and Development (ASTD), by the time employees go back to their jobs, they have lost 90 percent of what they have learned in training. 

Managers should lead by example. Keith Ferrazzi, author of Who's Got Your Back (Broadway Books, 2009), writes in the Harvard Business Review (July 31, 2015), "If managers want employees to engage in learning and development, then they need to show that they are actively pursuing their own personal learning journeys as well."

Training demands commitment at the highest policy making level. Ibrahim Khaled says, "There is a National Training Council which is headed by the prime minister. I think the last time they sat together was 10 years ago. A guideline for a national training policy was issued. That's hardly enough."  

Training improves performance. But it is not a panacea. Training will not be effective if a country is yet to establish transparency and accountability in the administration. In the absence of a consensus on national goals, aspirations and values which are the building blocks of a developed democratic society, it will be difficult to use the newly learned skills that are necessary for carrying out the ambitious development agenda. Training would contribute towards progress only when it takes place in a congenial environment where policies are formulated and executed to serve the long term interests of the nation and meet the rising aspirations of the common man. 

The writer is a member of the Editorial Team at The Daily Star.