A Client Story: Change is Needed
If learning programs you are bringing on-site or offering virtually to your employees are not enabling for application immediately back on the job, you need new programs. If the programs you are offering just don’t fit the bill any longer, you need to make changes to satisfy professional development needs within the organization.
This three part article will share with you the results of a project with one of Abudi Consulting Group’s clients.
The Client
A national organization contracted with Abudi Consulting Group (ACG) to do an evaluation of their current learning programs for employees. They use a combination of their own content and third party providers – much of the content was on the ground (instructor led, face-to-face training) with some webinars offered. Many of the programs have been offered to employees for a number of years, without evaluating whether they continue to be effective.
Some Background
When the programs were first offered, they were selected or developed based on a survey taken of all employees regarding professional development desires/needs as well as based on performance reviews. This was over 5 years ago. Certainly much has changed in the organization since then:
- They have expanded into new locations and are now a national organization
- They have increased the number of employees by over 40%
- A number of new (and vastly different) products and services have been released
- No new training has been added to the portfolio of offerings since the launch
Why Evaluate Now?
Human Resources (HR) and business line managers have noticed that over the last year fewer and fewer employees were taking training. A survey was sent to employees by HR to gauge interest in the current training programs offered. Here is what they learned:
- Many of the employees who had been there awhile found nothing new in training offerings to interest them
- Those who took training didn’t feel like it was able to be applied back on the job (they couldn’t make the connection to real work)
- The training seemed outdated and irrelevant given how the organization has changed over the years
- Given the changes in responsibilities, being away from the office for 2 – 3 days for training workshops was no longer practical
- More and different options were required to help employees increase skills in key areas
First Steps
Our first steps with the client included the following:
- Evaluating current offerings (both in-house developed and third party vendor provided)
- Meet with small groups of employees to follow up on results of the survey
We allocated 1 month for this effort. After the completion of these first steps, Abudi Consulting Group would provide the client a report of their findings along with recommended next steps.
Part II of this client story will focus on our work during that one month time period.
