Hi, all. Currently, our main means of training consists of PowerPoint presentations usually delivered over a conference call. Our associates are asking for more instructor-led (in person / in classroom) training. However, or Senior Management does not see the value in flying an instructor, paying for printed materials, etc. Our associates don't see the value in the PowerPoint/conference call approach because they are too encouraged to multi-task...so they miss the majority of the training. How can I convince Senior Management that in person (instructor-led / in classroom) training is more effective and worth the cost?

Susan, your dilema is quite common, though this doesn't make it any easier to correct.

In my experience there are as many people who totally believe that conference call training is the best method as those who believe that in-person, instructor-led training is the best...and then there are the eLearning folks who have many of the same beliefs.

Based on what you have shared, I think senior management needs to pay attention to two things. Number 1: your attendees are asking for a specific delivery style. I dare you to find a better reason than that. They are saying the current method isn't good enough. Number 2: assuming you are the training guru in the organization, senior management needs to pay attention to your opinion. If you agree with the attendees, then you should submit a proposal with a rough agenda of instructor-led topics you (and your staff??) would deliver, and don't forget to include a rough idea of how much it will cost. Now, likely management will push back and ask for ROI...which is something you should be able to easily measure. You know the abilities and effectiveness of your associates now, so estimate how much better they will do with more effective training and promise to actually perform an ROI measurement (based on stats that you and they agree to) after some period of time following the in-person training.

Good luck!

Del Laughery
President, Instructional Dynamics

quote:

Originally posted by SusanE:
Hi, all. Currently, our main means of training consists of PowerPoint presentations usually delivered over a conference call. Our associates are asking for more instructor-led (in person / in classroom) training. However, or Senior Management does not see the value in flying an instructor, paying for printed materials, etc. Our associates don't see the value in the PowerPoint/conference call approach because they are too encouraged to multi-task...so they miss the majority of the training. How can I convince Senior Management that in person (instructor-led / in classroom) training is more effective and worth the cost?

Hi Susan,

I'm one of those e-Learning folks that Del mentioned. I'd agree with you that PowerPoint presentations on a conference call are probably ineffective for training -- that's more appropriate for communications. It's not training at all, actually, whether it would be done in person or over a phone/web connection, it's exactly what you called it: a presentation.

I don't know what it is your are attempting to train, though, so I'm not sure whether I'd advocate in-class training as the proper alternative; the fact is that it does cost more and may not be more effective than properly designed e-Learning or a virtual classroom session. I've found in a number of similar situations that people just don't understand how to create the kind of interactions necessary to keep people engaged in an online environment, and just fall back on in-class training because it's more comfortable, despite the costs.

That said, there are situations where in-class training is actually more appropriate, and I'll assume for now that that is the case here. The way you're going to convice management is through numbers. What is the bottom-line cost of ineffective training in this case? Do the associates end up spending more time (and thus cost) doing a task? Are they unable to close deals? Do they make more errors, thus requiring rework (thus time/cost), or creating an unprofessional appearance to clients (threatening income)? Do they need more materials for support than they would if they had effective training? Is there more turnover because the associates are frustrated by failure (that could be alleviated by effective training)? Do any or all of these things cost enough to outweigh the travel and expenses associated with ILT training?

Do you have any measurements (or can you get any) that compare the understanding/skill of associates coming out of the PPT presentation versus associates coming out of an ILT session?

Finally, how are the associates being held accountable for what they learn, regardless of delivery method? It should be possible to leverage that if failures are occuring as well.

Those are some examples of the questions I would try to answer in this situation.

Hope that is somewhat helpful.

Susan E.

Senior management appears to be laboring under the widely held but, false assumpton that you can do a little training while having peoplework at the same time. One would think that your fellow managers are very unsophisticated, new at this game and perhaps the organization is growing beyond the means of their management skill. Or making no money ??
Nevertheles, tactically endeavor to train suitable staff on site to establish a training presence. Allow their input, supply support from your central location. Have them treat with the managements at their local sites for time and space.
Strategically, Look for another job. Quickly.


Nero Wolfe

Build a Business Case

You convince upper management through building a good business case for what you want to do. This means doing a good cost/benefit analysis and showing that one form of training is better than another.