Would you willingly spend $3,000.00 for a 10% chance your ‘investment’ would produce a good return? While many of you reading this instinctively thought “absolutely not”, there inevitably was a select few who thought to themselves, “depends on what the return is”. A 10% chance your initial investment produces a positive upside is not a favorable proposition to say the least yet businesses do this all the time, in fact multiple times, if not dozens of times, a year. I welcome you to the flunky world of ‘corporate training’. Skillademia, an online training and stats organization, indicates US companies spend upwards of $200 billion a year on training and said training carries about a 10% effectiveness outcome. The average company spends $3,000 per employee on annual training with dismal results to show for it. Why is it then companies consistently spend so much money on training for such a poor return. Answer – companies are missing the connection between information retention and positive reinforcement. In today’s fast-paced and ever-evolving business landscape, employee training is vital, yet just as important is the methodology and mindset of those involved (trainers, company management and the participants. This article seeks to shed some light on why training fails more than it helps, and how you can ensure the next time you invest in training you’re getting more of a return on your investment. THE FAILURE OF CORPORATE TRAINING There seems to be a never-ending list which offers insights into the reasons corporate training fails to meet the mark, therefore improving employee performance. The #1 reason corporate training fails is due to a lack of reinforcement: Hermann Ebbinghaus, a 19th Century German Psychologist, was a pioneer in the experimental study of memory and discovered ‘The Forgetting Curve’ which correlates a learners ability to retain information over a given time span. Ebbinghaus suggests people forget a large portion of what they learn if there is no reinforcement, as follows:
Other reasons training programs fail, include:
WHAT HAPPENS IF WE DON’T TRAIN After reading the above it could be easy for someone to say “why even make the investment in the first place” as it relates to corporate and employee training. While on face value that may make sense, the reality of the situation is far worse than most of us may realize. Electing to bypass training for your employees can have disastrous results for the company, its ability to operate successfully and its employees. Below are the common pitfalls, and associated consequences of not training employees:
IMPROVE YOUR CHANCES OF CORPORATE TRAINING SUCCESS So what you’re saying is “I’m damned if I do, and damned if I don’t”. While it may seem that way on first blush, there is a silver lining that is well within our reach. The bottom line is, if you aren’t training your employees you simply aren’t a competitive employer. So rather than avoid training all together, the better approach is to be smart about how you engage in the practice of corporate employee training. Below is a quick rundown of the three most important factors to implement to ensure your training dollars are well spent and well received:
TRAINING DONE WELL HAS A HUGE UPSIDE The verdict is in – most of us know training is a good idea, it’s our delivery that needs help. In fact, about 85% of companies with more than 50 employees provide formal training to their employees, and around 95.8% report offering some form of informal training. (InDemand Designer) If you follow the steps above in IMPROVE YOUR CHANCES OF CORPORATE TRAINING SUCCESS, many companies will find training, when done well, has a big upside, including:
Investing in employee training is not just a strategic move, it is a necessity for any organization which aims to thrive in today’s competitive environment. By enhancing skills, boosting morale, improving productivity, fostering innovation, ensuring compliance, promoting a positive culture, and preparing for the future, training provides a myriad of benefits that contribute to the long-term success and sustainability of the organization. Companies that prioritize and continually invest in training will undoubtedly reap the rewards of a skilled, motivated, and forward-thinking workforce. NEED TRAINING SUPPORT?
Square-1 Engineering’s medical device compliance & business operations training courses primary focus is to support the longevity of your operations through knowledge advancement. Hope, is not a strategy for addressing business challenges like poor team performance and product & system nonconformance. Learn how Square-1’s training courses in Solidworks, Design Controls, Risk Management and Root Cause Analysis can propel your teams performance to the next level. Visit us at https://www.sqr1services.com/training.html.
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Medtech Snapshot returns with an enticing debate as #RAQA medtech industry experts Stephanie Rallis-Daw, RAC, CQE, CMDA and Robert Lahaderne, MBA spar on the topic of "When starting a new job/ project, what is the most common medtech compliance shortfall you can expect to encounter at your new company?" New to Medtech Snapshot? Check out our archive of past episodes at https://www.sqr1services.com/white-papers/category/snapshot covering topics in R&D, Quality, Clinical and Manufacturing. Honey for your eyes and ears, friends. #medtech #snapshot #podcast #medicaldevice #compliance #quality #regulatory #documentation #training Think back to the last time you experience a moment where during a conversation an elongated pause or silence occurred between you and the other person, inevitably leading you to think in the moment “this is awkward”. Perhaps you were in a social setting, on a date, in a debate, or even at work. Whatever the situation may have been it’s highly likely you did or thought about saying something in moment just to end the awkwardness of the deafening silence between you and the other person. If in fact you acted and said something in order to break the uncomfortableness of the silence know that you just failed one of the basic lessons taught to many professionals about the art of negotiations. Don’t feel bad, it happens to all of us. Here’s why… While the situation you were just thinking about may not have had anything to do with a negotiation, the action you took and therefore the outcome is all too reminiscent of a typical negotiation setting. Did you know many people in a professional ‘buying’ role are trained on how to deal and negotiate with a seller? Meaning, they’ve been taught a ‘buyers strategy’ on how to negotiate with sellers in order to get an outcome which is more favorable to them as the buyer. I know this because I’ve been through the class. Many companies train their key people in decision making positions, such as leadership, buyers, purchasing, contract managers, etc. to use an interesting tactic in negotiations which is the ‘pause’. It’s a devilish and fairly simple tactic that works like a charm with sellers, especially those who aren’t particularly skilled with negotiations. Here’s how the ‘pause’ from a buyer works: Seller: Well Tom, we can certainly provide you with 10k units of ABS molded tubing at $3.85 per meter. Buyer: Doesn’t say anything in response to the sellers pricing comment; buyer just sits there with a smug look on his face starring at the seller creating an uncomfortable and certainly awkward silence. Seller (20 seconds into the awkward silence): Actually, you know what Tom, we can probably get that number down to $3.40 per meter if you’re able to sign off on a PO today. And there you have it. The art of negotiation at times is nothing more than a pause; flat out no response at all, no reaction. When an inexperienced seller is confronted with a pause in a negotiation they squirm in their seat to the point where they feel compelled to say something in an effort to get out of the awkwardness and hopefully move the discussion closer towards the sale. They then break the number one rule of negotiations, “whoever responds 1st loses”, and blurts out another offer. The buyer may have had every intention to buy the sellers product, they were just trained better in the art of negotiations to know that sometimes patience and not responding to the first offer can get you a better deal. It happens all the time. If you’re a consultant the art of negotiation is very much the same. Many times a client early in a conversation will put a consultant on the spot by asking “what is your rate?”. Most people and or consultants hate that question, especially if it’s early in the discussion as they haven’t been able to ask enough questions to better understand the client or buyers needs. As a result, the consultant throws out a figure with limited information which further puts him or her in a back peddling position defending their rate and or service with the client. If you find yourself in a conversation where the rate question comes out early in the discussion the best way to address it is, yep, you guessed it – use the ‘pause’. Pauses also work on the sellers side too. Utilizing a pause, a momentary stalling in discussion, allows you to adjust and think before blurting out an answer. Peter Bregman’s book ‘4 Seconds’ talks about the power of pause and how even a 4 second pause before responding can dramatically improve your outcomes. “What’s your rate?”, the buyer asks. “My rates are based on the work I’m performing, length and difficulty of the project. For this reason I don’t use a standard rate for my work and would need to understand more details of your project before I can ensure I’m the right person for the job.” Basically, you’re saying ‘I’m not a commodity, so don’t treat me that way’. You also didn’t rush into giving them a price which may or may not be reflective of the work the client needs completed. You ‘paused’ as the seller and backed up in order to reframe the conversation in a way that helps both you and the client learn more about one another’s capabilities. Key Take Away: If you’re in a negotiation don’t rush to fill silence with a comment that might work against you down the road. Stew in the pause, in the silence. You may find the person on the other side of the table cracks before you do. Action Item: Read the book by Peter Bregman called ‘4 Seconds’. It’s a quick read and provides great insight and perspective on how utilizing a pause, even 4 seconds, can dramatically change the outcome of your conversations, actions and even relationships. About the AuthorTravis Smith is the founder and managing director of Square-1 Engineering, a medical device consulting firm, providing end to end engineering and compliance services. He successfully served the life sciences marketplace in SoCal for over 15 years and has been recognized as a ‘40 Under 40’ honoree by the Greater Irvine Chamber of Commerce as a top leader in Orange County, CA. Categories
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