We develop training in an iterative approach together with our clients. We do have a stock of materials, which we use as thought provokers rather than “stocking stuffers.” The resulting training is specifically designed to meet your needs and fit your culture. This thinking extends to the deployment as well.

Participation of Top Management

Training without the support of management is a nice way to spend some time away from the real work. We do believe that effective training starts with management’s involvement.

Management needs to set direction, management needs to free up time and resources, and management needs to insist on measurable results which they need to capture. In short: management needs to support and utilize training.

We prefer to start training with a management introduction. This can be a short presentation at staff meetings, or a telephone conference. Anything that allows us to present the training and describe the intended benefits. From there, we can answer questions and tweak the training to accommodate specific needs. This customization can take several forms:

• Content: specific focus, materials, or benchmarks can be used
• Structure: customized emphasis of certain segments of the training program
• Timing: deployment in larger or small chunks/events; bundling of training units into larger events

We also appreciate any hands-on support by management. Especially when talking about new concepts, early on the Change Path Curve, an on-site introduction by management and partial participation can enhance training considerably.

Define Training Focus Points

Training needs to have focus. Without that, it is a entertainment. Our focus is set through the work with management. Focus translates into objectives, which translate into Key Performance Indicators.

Our training provides opportunities to define, capture, and analyze KPIs before, during, and after the training. We believe that only an array of set targets and the verification of change against these targets can make training meaningful.

Select Participants

The last step in training deployment is the development of participant lists. Who will participate in what training can make or break the success of training. An abundance of “Free Thinkers” will turn away those with a more measured approach to change, effectively creating a deep divide between those two groups. Just as well, too many “doubters” will stifle training excitement and disillusion those hungry for change.

We prefer to work with management to assemble the right training team at the right time. This includes avoiding times when voicemail and cell phones will be a big distraction due to some operational need. We also want to make sure the topics we will work on are timely and relevant to participants. It is sometimes better to wait a little and start a buzz in the organization before rolling out big training chunks.