…In fact, it’s not just a question for these tougher economic times but one to confidently answer at any time. And, of course, we ask ourselves this same question in our business.
A common phrase we’ve been hearing publicly during the last 12 months has been “we need to be ready for when things pick up…” It’s this need to be ready that is helping organisations to answer our question. Being ready will mean that key people stay with you (talent retention), your people and teams are ready (talent development) and there is a strategy that delivers this readiness (talent management).
Training, learning and development are key to this. “But you would say that, wouldn’t you!” I hear you exclaim.
OK, let’s talk… The ‘Starter for 10’ question above leads to a key sequence of other strategic questions including:
- What are our financial priorities from the short to longer terms?
- If we reduce training and developing our people, what could be the effects on our success as an organisation over time?
- What could be the effects on keeping our key people - our talent - if we stop spending on their development now?
The answers to these questions show some elements of the role of learning and development in the organisation’s strategy.
We’re all acutely aware of payroll costs and current times bring sharp focus to the task of identifying who represents your talent.
Simultaneously, your talent continues to give their current role in your organisation a meaning in the wider context of their career plans and aspirations. They’ll be assessing their experiences of working with you right now and looking and listening for signs that their development is important to you. The engagement they feel, affecting their performance and decisions to stay, will depend on this.
Bold organisations are continuing to invest in developing their people to maintain or increase their engagement. Some are launching leadership development programmes with the aim of identifying and producing those who will take their organisations, teams, projects and strategies forward.
They’ve found ways to keep the costs of such programmes lower by putting together modules that need little tailoring and then adding a personal coaching element. Other organisations are turning to using local, scheduled, public training courses as part of the talent development because they need specific learning for certain individuals. Either way, the talented employees are continuing to be developed.
So, our original question - “shall we cut the training budget?” needs to be rephrased to its opposite: “can we afford to cut the training budget?” Answer: NO, if retaining and developing your future talent is important to you.
Rob McWilliam
Coaching & Consultancy Services Manager
Thales Training & Consultancy
rob.mcwilliam@thalesgroup.com