Choosing the Right Training Programmes for Your Business Needs
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Are you ready to give your company a competitive edge by upskilling your employees? In today's fast-paced business world, continuous learning is key to staying ahead. But with so many distractions, it can be hard to retain and apply new knowledge effectively. The right training programme, tailored to your company's goals, is the solution.
Studies show that we forget most of what we learn at a startling rate. Within an hour, knowledge starts to fade, and after a few days, you might remember only 25% of what you learned. A week later? Up to 90% could be lost.
For companies, investing in training can feel risky. If an employee leaves, that valuable investment might walk out the door with them. But what if there was a way to capture and retain the knowledge gained from those training programmes? Imagine creating a centralised database of your organisation's expertise, where insights and skills are preserved and shared. If this is what you're looking for, you've landed in the right place! We will come back to this later, but first, let's explore how to choose the best fit for your organisation!
Choosing the Right Training Approach: Key Considerations
First, it's essential to think about value, not just features when selecting a training programme. There are two main options, each suitable for different needs:
Off-the-Shelf (Generic) Training Programmes — Designed to address common skill gaps across a range of employees, based on general trends in development needs. They are best when the learning objectives are broad, or you need to train a large group on standard competencies. In these programmes, the content and delivery remain mostly unchanged, often linked to performance appraisals and broader business goals. A key consideration when choosing these programmes are the organisation's ability to identify employees with similar development needs.
Customised (Tailor-Made) Training Programmes — These programmes are created to address specific performance challenges faced by a subset of employees that are hindering them from achieving company goals. They are best for targeted improvement of on-the-job performance, taking a systems-wide approach that integrates training with other performance management elements. These programmes typically involve higher upfront investment, as they are designed for smaller groups and may not be easily replicated.
Factors for Training Managers to Consider
Understanding your team's training needs means balancing several factors related to your organisation, decision-makers, and yourself as the training manager:
Organisational Support — What resources (financial, time, etc.) are you offered? Do you have strong backing from executives, peers, and those you're training?
Business Requirements — How complex are the challenges you're trying to solve? Is quick approval from business sponsors likely for a customised solution?
Your Characteristics — Are you highly motivated, knowledgeable about current training offerings and proactive in seeking out information about the business needs the training should address? Strong skills in investigating issues, problem-solving, decision-making and consensus-building are essential.
In-House or Outsource? Factors to Consider
A company requires training on a variety of topics—some managerial and others technical. These training areas are likely to change over time as the organisation’s business evolves. It's cost-prohibitive to maintain a full roster of specialised trainers in-house, especially when certain training needs are less frequent. Pulling internal subject matter experts away from their core duties to train others also disrupts productivity. That's why many companies turn to outsourcing for some or all of their training needs.
Benefits of Outsourcing Training
Cost Savings — Avoid the expense of training infrastructure (classrooms, equipment, etc.) and the overhead of a full-time training staff.
Access to Expertise — Tap into the latest training methods, content and specialised knowledge without having to develop it in-house.
Flexibility — Scale your training efforts up or down as needed and easily access trainers for niche topics.
Focus on Core Business — Free up internal staff to focus on their primary roles and responsibilities instead of creating and delivering training programs.
When Does In-House Training Make Sense?
Frequent, Ongoing Needs — If you have consistent training needs for a large group of employees in core skill areas, an in-house approach may provide long-term cost benefits.
“It’s also common to outsource certain aspects of training (like finding instructors or sourcing specialised content) while maintaining some functions in-house.”
Reasons for Choosing Outsourcing vs. In-House Training Programmes —
| Outsourced Training | In-House Training |
|---|---|
Cost considerations: If internal trainers are unlikely to be utilized fully, their overall costs may be higher than externally sourced trainers |
Relative costs: External trainers from reputed institutes or training organisations may be more expensive than internal trainers |
Lack of internal capability: If the organisation is unable to recruit trainers with the capabilities required for the training program, external experts may be the answer |
Core competence: If the training is on a subject that relates closely to the organisation's core competence, in-house training may be preferable |
Access to best practices and talent: Organisations want access to best practices in training and the best quality of trainer talent, which is more likely to be available externally |
Specific and idiosyncratic training: If the training programme is needed for meeting some specific/unique needs, external trainers may not be suitable |
Internal trainers (although capable) are unavailable: Internal trainers may be busy with other programmes or with other responsibilities, and hence may be unable to deliver the training program in the required time frame |
Capability and capacity constraints: Internal trainers (of adequate capability) must be available to meet in-house training requirements |
Focused approach: The training department may decide to focus on 5 core coordination tasks and avoid taking responsibility for conducting training |
End-to-end solution: The training department may recruit both managers and trainers, and serve as an end-to-end solution provider to the business |
Measurement and accountability: More effective measurement and accountability |
Control issues: Better control on the design and implementation of the training programme |
Organisational politics: Political consideration within the organisation may result in a push towards outsourcing |
Return on investment: Somewhat lower need to rationalise and explain the return on investment from a training programme |
Source: "A Decision Model for outsourcing Training Functions: Distinguishing Between Generic and Firm Job-specific-Training Content" by Eleanna Galanaki, Dimitris Bourantas and Nancy Papalexandris. Find full article here.