As Martyn Sloman bows out of the CIPD, he discusses his final legacy report and its implications for trainers with features editor Louise Druce.
As his final swansong at the CIPD, Martyn Sloman wants to shake-up training in the workplace. But it's not all about the trainer. He believes a shift in focus from what he calls "sterile" debates on the traditional evaluation of training onto what motivates and engages learners, and how this knowledge and skills translates into organisational benefits is needed for better organisational learning.
"The role of the trainer has become about supporting, accelerating and directing learning that is relevant to the organisation."Martyn Sloman
This idea is explored in his final report - or as Sloman puts it, the "great thank you and goodbye" as adviser, learning, training and development at the CIPD, a post which he has held since 2001. Called 'Supporting, accelerating and directing learning', and researched with fellow learning and development advisor Victoria Winkler, it looks at the implications for trainers in today's service-led and knowledge-driven economy.
"The role of the trainer has shifted," says Sloman. "It's no longer about performance art, it's about a whole host of interventions in the organisation, of which the training course might be one."
Learning to learn
Instead, he sees the learner as central to learning. It may sound obvious but his argument is that you can make a person sit in a training classroom or watch videos about gaining new skills but only the learner can learn. "What is it that persuades someone that they need to acquire new skills in order to assist the organisation?" explains Sloman.
He goes on to say that, fundamentally, learning, training and development in organisations is about how the acquisition of individual knowledge and skills can allow them to offer higher value-added products and services to customers. But it's important to distinguish conceptually between training and learning.
"When people talk about training they think about a taught course but, essentially, training is an intervention by the organisation to try to transmit knowledge and skills. The phrase I like is support and challenge. The role of the trainer has become about supporting, accelerating and directing learning that is relevant to the organisation, is appropriate to the context and the starting point for the learner."
Show and tell
The two biggest issues Sloman identifies in creating this vision is identifying the role of the line manager and what is meant by the alignment of learning with organisational needs.
Recent CIPD research showed 35% of people believe learning and development can best make its contribution to organisational effectiveness in the future by becoming more closely aligned with the business. But it's easier said than done. A previous poll indicated that many find alignment simpler at the operational rather than strategic level, with 40% of respondents stating their organisation's strategy is unclear. Over half said their top managers do not see learning, training and development activities as strategic.
Furthermore, decisions on spending on learning, training and development are still determined, in the majority of cases, year-on-year, jeopardising the learning strategy as needs change.
Sloman's new report suggests senior buy-in is key to developing management trust in the value of learning and getting line managers to engage in pinpointing strategic learning priorities for the organisation and determine appropriate investment in learning and training.
More specifically, when it comes to line managers, the report also highlights a CIPD poll from 2007, looking at the role or trainers, line managers and learners and the barriers to learning. It revealed many of the problems perceived by the training community can only be solved at the micro-level, where line managers are key players when it comes to allowing time-off and appreciating the bottom-line link to learning, training and development.
"The line manager has an increasingly important role in the process of individual acquisition of knowledge and skills," says Sloman. "When it comes to who initiates training and discussing [the aftermath], the role of the line manager has increased at the expense of the HR training department."
No such thing as magic
Sloman is also dismissive of quick-fix solutions when it comes to workplace learning and the belief that technology will be a workplace training saviour. "Periodically, you get a flurry of interest in technology for learning. At the moment it's social networking and how it's going to transform learning in the workplace. Quite simply, it isn't," he says.
"What we're certainly going to have is yet another round of 'are you sure you are giving value?'. In the current economic climate, if organisations haven't got as much cash, things will be cut and there will be more demands on proving your worth."
So, as Sloman bows out of the CIPD, he offers this final warning: when it comes to improving training in the workplace, we're in danger of looking for things that aren't there. "One of the things I feel quite strongly about after having done this job is that there are no silver bullets around at all," he explains. "The future is about organisational change and the success of the organisation, which is why we're shifting the training debate into a wider canvas."
To read Martyn's report click here
