Slimmed down, squeezed and axed – the credit crunch is biting at the heels of the training and development budget. Annie Hayes faces the downturn and shares the secrets of shoestring delivery.

'Taming the Wolf at the Door', by leadership development organisation Common Purpose, found that almost half of training and development professionals surveyed are expecting a budget cut of 20% or more.

Team building and soft skills development will be hit hardest, while technical skills training and leadership development are considered the least likely to be cut, they say. It has never been more challenging to deliver a training and learning programme but it can be done - delve deep and a number of solutions can be found to be lurking.

Take it online

Rus Slater, a professional learning and development specialist and business coach has reaped the rewards of pounding the online networking boards: "There are a number of great, free resources including TrainingZone.co.uk's Any Answers and Business Balls – you can get material quickly or at a low cost."

Thrashing ideas around from the comfort of your own home with like-minded individuals is a real business benefit and as Slater says, it beats some forms of traditional networking hands down: "If I relied on a Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development branch meeting, I would have to wait for the next event, travel there and pay to be a member. That said it is true to say that some people will only divulge information face-to-face and wouldn't want to do it publicly on an online forum."

Peter Mayes, founder and chief executive of TrainerBase agrees but adds a note of caution: "There are a number of places where a trainer, looking for inspiration, can go, at little or no cost to get resources on which to develop programmes - TrainerBase being just one. Many trainers are willing to share resources, evident in the requests and answers posted on boards such at TrainerBase and TrainingZone.co.uk. I would however, caution about 'lifting' a resource from somewhere and using it verbatim. I have come across instances were a trainer has presented on a resource that they have not fully understood or researched and have been found wanting when challenged."

It isn't always necessary to spend time and money on new material either and Slater says that considerable costs can be made by re-packaging: "Take the 'prisoner's dilemma' exercise for example. It's been given several different names over the years and different guises but essentially it's the same." The trick says Slater is in creating 'updated versions', essentially it's the learning outcome and not how you get there that is the important element. But, says Slater, you must be prepared to offer alternatives to the client: "Some will say that they don't want 're-hashed ideas' so you've got to have some alternatives up your sleeve." Knowing your client really helps here.

Mayes says the key is to make the material relevant: "The biggest bug bear for me is relevance. Too many trainers will use material that is good, but in the wrong context. Edit, re-work or amend the resource so that it fits your style or context: building a house is not relevant to an NHS Trust regardless of being about project management, which is common to both. For sure, use a free resource as the basis for an activity or programme - but make it your own."

Of course material isn't the only overhead, as equipment and staffing can also add to costs.

Beg, borrow, steal

TrainingZone.co.uk member David Skinner says he found inspiration from 'Go It Alone' by Geoff Burch. Advice that he has learnt from includes: "Don't buy anything until you have borrowed or hired it at least three times. That applies to photocopiers, laminators, binding machines, data projectors and so on."

"Don't buy anything until you have borrowed or hired it at least three times. That applies to photocopiers, laminators, binding machines, data projectors and so on."

David Skinner, TrainingZone.co.uk member

Status and standing can also be crudely manipulated, says Skinner: "The book also says don't buy a fancy hat stand for your office, and don't buy an expensive car: instead, buy a rusty old white van but put the keys for it on an authentic Jaguar key ring. Then when you visit a potential client, park the van round the corner in a side street (not in front of their reception) and fiddle ostentatiously with the key ring during your discussions. It might help you to be regarded as 'reassuringly expensive', like Stella Artois beer."

This isn't for everyone, however. Andrew Miller another TrainingZone.co.uk member, takes a slightly different approach and says nepotism can pay dividends: "I have several contacts within large organisations that have great internal resources that they are willing to share with me, providing I book in plenty of time etc. Things like video cameras, training rooms, etc."

Swapping intellectual property and forming contra-deals where no actual cash is exchanged can also keep actual costs down. Being creative also helps. Slater says: "One client I worked with tasked each of their trainers to research and become the 'champion' of a given topic, they were given time but no budget. This provided a resource, developed the trainers (research, materials development, delivery), and proactively increased their value to the business. Another client is getting team leaders to present specially developed bite-sized sessions to their teams in lunch breaks."

These things aside, in a downturn, reputation and credibility usually win out.

Building credibility

Slater advises branching out where possible. Authoring has provided Slater with a way of building his credibility and reputation in the marketplace that has in turn won him business. Writing whole books, however, is not the only way to gain rapport with the market – Slater says it can be as quick and easy as building your reputation through online forums such as TrainingZone.co.uk's Any Answers.

Whilst appreciating these ideas, there are some practitioners who feel it is not necessary for trainers to scrabble around in the dark to try and make ends meet.

Mayes says: "I have to say that I would challenge the observation that trainers 'have' to tap into free resources and run their businesses on as low a cost base as possible. My challenge is why? If this is the case then they need to re-think their business model. Granted there is a squeeze on rates and a trainer needs to remain competitive but to continue to cut costs is not (in my opinion) the answer. To me this prolongs the false economy of training being a cost based transaction process where it should be a quality based transformational process."

There are those that also say that if you do the return on investment on training provision then there should be no need to have to do it on a shoestring in the first place. Sadly, in a downturn, this isn't always the reality and with budgets being slashed, the trainer is being increasingly forced to justify, verify and cut out the jargon. Lean times mean tough calls.