How many of you have had the dream when you are trying to run; trying so very hard, but try as you might, you just can't get to where you want to go? Your heavy, heavy legs just not ready to take you to your destination.
Have you ever felt like that at work? That you can see what you want to achieve, you know how you want to make it happen, but that it would be easier to nail a handful of freshly set jelly to the wall?
Talking with fellow training professionals, it is clear that our job can feel like this at times. That whilst we have the potential to have a tremendous impact on our organisations, we are not always in the position to deliver what we would like to.
Why is this the case? Why can this wonderful job we have feel so very frustrating at times?
The survey I carried out this summer on 'What makes great training?' (https://www.trainingzone.co.uk/blogs/francesmf/seeking-clarity/penny-your-thoughts) gave me an unexpected insight into this frustration.
225 people (both L&D Professionals and end-users) completed the survey. One of the questions they answered was:
Who has the biggest influence on the success of training & developing employees?
How many of them do you think selected the answer "The Trainer"?
It was 5%.
The top 2 answers were Learners Line Manager (39%) & Learner (32%). This is how it should be, but should we be comfortable that the Trainer is so far behind?
What do you feel when you read those numbers? Are you sad? Are you surprised? Do you feel frustrated? Are you nervous? Or do you see a challenge worth taking on?
For many of us, having the learner at the heart of what we do is second nature, but what about the environment in which they will be applying the learning?
How much time do we spend engaging their manager on the process? How do we harness their needs & wishes to ensure the learner is encouraged to implement their learning? How do we reward & recognise the manager's who support our work and make things happen?
In a world where we are increasingly being asked to prove our worth; a world where ROI & Evaluation are more important than ever, our relationship with the learner & their manager is key.
Real, consistent success only comes when the 3 of us work together to deliver results. Even better, when we work as a team to deliver the outcomes, it enables us to tell the world what we achieved together.
