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Let’s paint a picture: You pay good money to go watch your favorite sports team, but when they begin to play they are horrible. Their execution is sporadic and sloppy. They seem to have a lackadaisical attitude and an I-did-my-part mentality. And the coach is nowhere on the sideline
What would you think? How long before you left the game or asked for a refund?
If we change “sports team” with your business, could we draw parallels or find similarities?
Why do we expect our favorite sports team to hire a head coach whose job it is to train the team on skills, look at execution and refine the processes until the team excels, but many of us would never do that for our own businesses?
Our training is short term and self-motivated, sometimes it is just on video; but we expect world-class results. Seems a bit silly to me.
Studies from the American Society for Training & Development (ASTD) say that 57% of workers want on-site or off-site training, but most actual training is video, if at all. Many have a manager on site who has not been educated in how to train effectively, but is expected to teach others.
Again, seems strange.
As much as we need training on product knowledge we need to have training on…well, training. What do sports coaches do? They map out strategies and each day they practice. Their teams are put into situations and rehearse how they will execute.
Let’s look at a typical day of those who have daily video training: The team comes in and watches video. The team takes the test together, checks off the list and heads out to work. What is missing? Well, did each person take the test? No, the group did. So, how do I know if anyone got the information?
Did they take the time to relate what they learned to what they go through each day? No.
Did they set up any follow-up to anchor in the training? No.
So how was that useful?
Take the sports analogy:
- The coach draws up the play and goes over it.
- The coach asks the team if they understand what needs to be done.
- They all say yes.
- They go out and play the game.
- The coach goes back to his office.
It seems funny when you put it that way, yet we do it all the time in our workplace.
Why do we hire a trainer? We need someone to be accountable to. We need someone to push us. Why not bring in someone to do this if you know your team cannot do it without him or her?
Look at it as an investment in your team’s health and success, not as a cost. Think of the cost of not doing it. What is the lost potential revenue for not investing wisely?
What is the cost of replacing an individual if they leave because you are not helping them succeed? The cost of replacing a team member is 1.5 times that of his/her yearly salary. Think of the time taken away from your management when they have to continually train new people because of turnover.
What would a consistently trained workforce mean to your bottom line?
If we invested the same amount of time and training into our own teams as a sports franchise does, just think how far ahead we would be of our competition.
Glenn Pasch is the current CEO of PCG Digital Marketing as well as a writer, National Speaker and Management Trainer. If you liked this article, please share.