Craig Bulmer

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Training and Performance – does it fix it?

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Training and Performance – does it fix it?

I am interested lately in the way corporate approach managing performance. Some organisations are still sending non performers off to training with their virtual fingers crossed that the person will return to the workforce a changed person. Others are having the “come to Jesus” conversation to get people to change and others have quite convoluted performance management systems in place.

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Whilst I am an advocate of training and development initiatives, I am also a realist and recognise that training is not the magic pill it has been seen as in the past. Training is great for improving the skills of an employee and usually has great uptake because of its relevancy to the employees role. However if both the manager and the employee don’t have a clear conversation about why the person is being sent to a training programme then the likely hood of behavioural change is low – hence we have statistics suggesting that only 10% of content is remembered 8 days after the training event.training? Is it a lack of confidence? Is it something external to the business? There are numerous reasons but unless we sit down and fully understand the situation we are only guessing.  Often we even expect too much of a person when they don’t even have the capability to perform the tasks we ask of them.

One way I have seen things change is when an organisation truly understands the aspirations of their employees. What are those things in life that would make them feel fulfilled and how can we as an organisation support their pursuits? Rather than offering a team building event what if you organised a team experience? A Team Experience is where a group of employees set themselves goals, do some good for the world, and are able to dissect the learning and implement  it into the business. The research on this type of activity is strong when it comes to building employee engagement and improving performance. Click here to find out the types of activities you could do.

Yes training can be a good solution but perhaps a team experience will get you a better result.

I Think I Can, I Think I Can …

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Remember Casey Junior, the little train from the movie Dumbo that thought he could? He was all loaded up with circus animals taking them to the next stop, when he approached a hill. To get himself up that hill, he muttered to himself, “I think I can, I think I can, I think I can …” and as we know, he did get to the top of that hill.

As much as having a Casey Junior attitude is a positive trait, I think we also need to be careful as trainers that we don’t say we can do things when the reality is – we can’t.

Often opportunities arise for us to deliver content that is outside our expertise, and we say yes because the financial rewards blur our thinking. The challenge is to look at that opportunity and be honest with yourself and say, “Can I truly deliver a program that will change behaviour?”

I’m not doubting that you could create a program, I’m not doubting that you could research the content – what I’m saying is that your past experience and your training development skills is what takes a trainer from being good, to being great.

My thoughts:

  1. Be honest with yourself
  2. Use your network to maximise the opportunity
  3. Know your expertise and stick to it

Who Are You?

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Do the names Gagne, Knowles, Bloom, Skinner, Rogers mean anything to you? Who are these people?

Recently I was working with a client mapping my Training the Trainer workshop with an accreditation process that they required. Part of their accreditation had us looking at three key learning philosophies (behaviourism, constructivism and cognitivism) as it was critical they understood elements of this learning theory to pass their accreditation.

What was really exciting for me was to re-visit people like Skinner and Knowles and be reminded of the contribution they had made to adult education.

For those of you who don’t know;
Bloom’s Taxonomy – great for writing learning objectives.
Malcolm Knowles – the pioneer of adult learning principles.
Gagne – contributed to the theory of instruction with his ‘9 Events of Instruction’.
Skinner – had his Programmed Instruction Theory, which he called ‘chaining’.
Carl Rogers – a psychologist who had an impact on education with his personality theory.

All of these people’s theories form the foundation of what you do as a trainer. Not only in the training room, but how you prepare and how you design your programmes. I challenge you this month to re-visit some key learning identities such as the aforementioned, and map it against your delivery and design. Maybe, just maybe – there are elements of their theories that we’ve forgotten, yet should include in our sessions if we are to be the best trainers we can possibly be.

Training and Performance

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Well what a magnificent two weeks of sport that has just passed. I am an Olympic tragic and was both amazed and inspired by the performances of numerous athletes.  It got me thinking though about the impact of training on performance.

The aim of training is to elicit a change in behavior. If you are sending people to training programs or workshops the ultimate goal is to have them do things differently when back in the workplace. Like the Olympic athletes who have trained for years and are expecting certain results, you are looking for a return on your investment in the program or workshop.

There is a problem though. Often behavior doesn’t change after training and the statistics back this idea up with quotes of approximately 80% of training not achieving the business outcomes. Imagine running the 100m event at the Olympics and doing the wrong training for it.

So can training affect performance? Absolutely, if the training is tailored to meet the need of the business and the need of the learners, if the training is reinforced after the event and if there is post workshop activity after the training event. 

Organisations need to stop wasting money on training as a sole solution to a person or person’s performance. As a performance consultant I am often faced with many more factors that affect performance that are not solved by training alone and that is why I have been successful in influencing people to change the way they do things that positively impacts on the business.

In summary you can witness some outstanding performances e.g. Usain Bolt with the right training or intervention. Right being the operative word.

You’re Crazy!!!!

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As a mad keen runner others often tell me that I am crazy. I’m told you are mad running those distances. But the kicker is when some one says, “there is no way I could do that”.

But could they? Of course they could.

Recently I ran the Chicago Marathon and there were another 34,999 runners all believing they could do the full 42.2k marathon distance as well. So what makes us any different to those people who say they cant?

To really lift your performance there are few things that are essential:

  1. Be very clear about your goal or objective. Sure many others have touted this many times before but I can’t tell you how many times I have been coaching or mentoring people and they are unclear of their goal.
  2. Learn! Learn as much as you can about how to achieve that goal. What will it take to be able to perform at your desired level?
  3. Just do it! Once you have enough knowledge – get out there an implement. No excuses just put into practice all that you have learnt.
  4. Build a support network around you. There is no doubt when you are attempting to reach a goal that is a stretch that it will get tough. Having people to support and encourage you is essential.

I hope you see these things are not just about running. These apply to anything you are hoping to achieve in your life. 

What are the outcomes of such an approach?

An enormous sense of pride.  A sense of well being. And a wonderful sense of achievement.

Don’t make excuses – get crazy!!!

It’s On Again

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For the past 3 evenings I have engrossed myself in this seasons The Biggest Loser. There are so many emotions I go through whilst watching. I’m disgusted, I am sad and I am grateful.

What ever the emotion though I find myself questioning how hard they are pushing the contestants. Most have not participated in exercise for many years and all of a sudden they are taking part in a team Half Marathon (21k’s). The contestants are in pain – excruciating pain – yet the trainers keep yelling at them not to make excuses, not to give up and to change the way they are thinking because it’s that type of thinking that has got them to the state they are – extremely overweight.

So when is enough enough? When is the difficultly of a task actually difficult or just an excuse to give up? I don’t know scientifically! However I do think that you know deep down. If you are truly honest with yourself you will discover if you are giving up or if you are truly being realistic. Maybe these tips will help.

  1. Purpose – know exactly why you are doing what you are doing – is it connected to your values.
  2. Belief – truly believe that the purpose is the real deep down purpose and don’t just say it is.
  3. Chunk – break down the task into achievable chunks so it is less daunting.

Set yourself a task this week that would be quite difficult. You may have even being putting it off.  Get into it and as it gets tougher – challenge yourself to push through the difficulty. Challenge yourself to go further than you have before with the task. Be sure not to make any excuses and be honest with what is happening for you. Good luck – and remember to Step Up.