i work for a large not-for-profit organisation (3000 employees) that has decided that it does not need to invest in the development of its people. It has doubled in size during my 3 years of employment, is protected from the vaguaries of the stock market (no share holders), enjoys relatively low staff turnover of about 11% accross all levels of employee, meets all the KPI's set by the regulating body, has been re-acreditted as an investor in people 3 times (latest employee survey had a 45% response with over 85% of resopondents giving positive comments...in an anonymous survey)...and yet there is absolute mimimum investment in people development....especially at managerial level! it turns almost every model of strategic human resource development on its head. What have I been wasting the last 10 years on? Is it time to become a hairdresser? Or maybe I should take up tree surgery!!
gillian doolin
6 Responses
fourth level evaluation
Unfortunately I think this is fairly common. Many organisations feel it’s important to have IIP status, but they don’t actually want to spend any money.
What I think you need to do is demonstrate that you are a value adding part of the organisation. Does the training you provide make people more efficient or productive? You need to find out by asking the right questions. If can prove your worth, in terms of a hard cash, then maybe they’ll take L&D more seriously.
you don’t have to be ill to want to get better!
Gillian
I’ve reproduced your input with some questions/comments added in brackets….
i work for a large not-for-profit organisation (3000 employees) that has decided that it does not need to invest (what, not at all) in the development of its people. It has doubled in size (by what measure..headcount, income, service or what) during my 3 years of employment, is protected from the vaguaries of the stock market (no share holders), enjoys relatively low staff turnover of about 11% accross all levels of employee (has anyone investigated what this costs and what the reasons are for the turnover?), meets all the KPI’s set by the regulating body (so are they challenging or are they actually too easy?), has been re-acreditted as an investor in people 3 times (latest employee survey had a 45% response with over 85% of resopondents giving positive comments (if these comments are about the L&D and that gets removed it will be a bit late to rectify)…in an anonymous survey)…and yet there is absolute mimimum (define minimum; cost efficient or penny pinching) investment in people development….especially at managerial level (why is this ? cultural, perception of no need, worry that it will appear wasteful etc)! it turns almost every model of strategic human resource development on its head. What have I been wasting the last 10 years on? (If you have been there for three years don’t throw out th baby with the bathwater) Is it time to become a hairdresser? (Would that make you happier…look at what you have got, not at what you haven’t got) Or maybe I should take up tree surgery!! (Please, won’t somebody think of the trees!)
Some times are finger lickin’ good and other times are really really bad. Think very carefully before you chuck it all up….only if you turn your back on those 10 years are they wasted
Hope this helps
Rus
As true as they always were
Hi Gillian,
You are not alone, when I began in L&D I was taught by external tutors that L&D was regarded by businesses as a ‘nice to have’, a peripheral activity. It would be one of the first budgets to be cut if times were hard, along with advertising.
They are as true today as they were when I was first told them. I think that there is limited scope for passion and idealism in L&D given that those two caveats seem to be immovable in business and management thinking.
However if you can learn to live with ’em, develope a realistic business head and temper blind enthusiasm, optimism and idealism then you can make a difference. Unfortunately L&D is the kind of inpirational subject that may lead one to believe in utopia – this is not found next door to corporatania.
L&D on the cheap
Gillian
You sound very disillusioned – my heart goes out to you. L&D is so much easier and satisfying if you have top management support, adequate resources and demonstrably worthwhile results. Unfortunately this is not always the case. The real challenge is in keeping on developing people despite the environment rather than because of it. This takes considerable resilience, a deal of creativity and boundless optimism.
In the not-for-profit sector resources are often tight and to survive you need to find low cash-cost interventions to keep the show on the road, such as coaching. In the longer term it helps if you can cultivate a champion at board level, get evidence of where L&D has worked (and where its absence has been costly), and praise the board on what little they do that does work and only be critical very selectively when you have a water-tight argument.
Being a prophet in your own country is rarely easy so you might try and find a senior manager in another similar organisation who would be willing to run a lunchtime session for your senior team on what they have done, what has worked and what didn’t. This sort of peer intervention may get listened too. But one action won’t work on its own; you need to be a positive dripping tap.
I hope there is something in these ideas that helps. Failing all else, your can always stay in L&D but change organisation.
Very best of luck
Graham
Some things I’ve done in the past…
Hi Gillian
Yes, I understand where you are coming from! I think we all feel like this at times. It does depend a lot on your organisation and it’s management.
One thing that I’ve done in the past that might help (other than changing jobs!) is to focus on the staff (rather than senior managemnet buy-in) and educate them without spending the budget: – I’ve run sessions on learning styles, team building, using powerpoint, getting the most from outlook and other in-house ‘free’ classes which I can run myself. Some have been during lunch times. I’ve shared lists on ’12 things to do to improve x skills’ and sent out links to various free e-learning sites. This has all generated interest and staff have pursuaded their management to go on the course and have come back showing improvement in various areas… this has let me to being able to charge participants’ Departments for other inhouse and external training. Start running some sessions and then ask staff what they’d like you to cover in the future.
I’ve done a similar thing with team leaders – I focused on educating them on the right way in induct employees, make training plans, evaluate training etc. You could run short workshop sesions on management issues or ever start a short monthly newsletter focusing on a different key topic each time.
Regards
Annah
its worth batting on
Gillian I was in your position and I am a hairdresser it aint the easy option trust me!what did I do set up my own training company with my own ideas and policies…watch this space.