I'd be interested to get an insight into how other organisations manage their staff training budget.
I currently have a budget agreed at the start of the financial year that is expected to cover the training and development needs for all our staff. Training requirements are raised through managers/directors as well as me identifying them from appraisals. A short application process involves the relevant director agreeing the need for the individual to attend the training and I then facilitate the booking/payment through the training budget.
The system does not set out a budget limit for each individual. I can see the benefit in this, in that there is no pot of £x that each staff member would try to spend if it were allocated to them, and it also enables us to be able to afford to fund some courses that would otherwise be far too costly. This can only be the case of course, if some staff do not apply for any training funding in the year.
Where it seems to fall down however, is where one or two individuals become 'course happy' - justifying their need to attend course after course and in my view taking up an inordinate amount of the training budget.
I managed to nip it in the bud with one staff member when I insisted that if he went on courses he would have to deliver a session on the course content for all other staff when he returned to work, to gain maximum benefit for the organisation from its training budget. Interestingly, he doesn't go on many courses now...
So, please let me know - do you have a personal training budget for each member of staff, or do you have a budget that staff are able to apply for through their manager? I'd appreciate your feedback.
Thanks
Steve
Replies
Some great resources there from Helen and I like your approach asking the 'training happy' individual to present back what they've learned so others can benefit from it.
It's hard work managing a training budget especially in this climate where the budget is getting less and less and there is still an expectation to deliver and show return on investment,
This return on investment might be tangible
e.g learning new skills taking on more tasks and therefore becoming more productive
Or less tangible
e.g. Going on a presentation skills workshop (yawn) - where they don't really need these skills in their job so how could you ever measure its value.
For me there are a few things to this and it all boils down to one thing - performance.
Training isn't or shouldn't be seen as an escape from the day job, a skive or a way to twiddle your thumbs for a day. Unfortunately with no thorough process, follow up or accountability put on the trainee this is what can happen and training is de-valued and not seen as value add.
Couple of thoughts for you.
Don't think training - think performance - how is any training going to benefit those going on to it and how is this going to translate in to improved productivity and performance. If this link can't be made then I'd question the value of them attending the training. If the link can be made how is it going to be measured and how are you going to know that whatever they've learned has been put in to practice and they are doing it?
This is the $64 million dollar question
Rather than focus on the training course or learning objectives of that course think about the outputs and performance outcomes - by flipping it you start to question and think about what happens after the training - that's what you're paying for a change in knowledge, skills or behaviour. If you can't link any of this change to a business improvement or value then why should anyone attend? Sounds harsh but in order for training to be seen as value add these are the conversations that need to take place and some sort of follow up and measurement is needed. Otherwise so what? Start by thinking evaluation first not the perceived learning /training need.
We promote this approach within all our CIPD Learning & Development programmes using the Kirkpatrick Four Level Certification programme - we're the only UK training provider approved to deliver this training on behalf of the Kirkpatricks and it's a great way for organisations to make more of their training budget and really promote a culture of performance rather than training.
It sounds like it might be of value for you Steve (you could even redeem your Top Collaborators credit against it) and help develop your approach to managing your budget and the way training can be evaluated.
Here is a link http://www.dpgplc.co.uk/what-we-offer/kirkpatrick-evaluation-progra...
Hope this helps with your thinking anyway :-)
Here is a link to a blog that discusses the shift to performance outcomes in much more detail
http://learningsnippets.wordpress.com/2013/09/22/from-learning-outc...
Hello Steve,
I think this is a really interesting topic and I might be going slightly off on a tangent - as I was thinking about the perspective of how do you ensure that your L&D department is operating as efficiently and effectively as possible.
Having run a training function which used a request basis - I sympathise with the course happy approach - I once managed to achieve 23 requests from one individual in one day! And like you I had a long conversation with the person about how much learning could one person take on board at any one time. In my current role as a freelancer I have found myself travelling to deliver courses which only had one or two people on and have considered the costs involved and thought is that the best use of a training budget - for example travelling to Swansea ( from Stoke) to deliver a course for three people for two days. In this example you could consider mileage, hotels stays, time out of the business for those people attending.
I have included some links to some resources below which you might find useful which are
- The CIPD Costing and Benchmarking factsheet which looks at effective and efficiency measures
http://www.cipd.co.uk/hr-resources/factsheets/costing-benchmarking-...
- The CIPD L&D survey has some interesting figures at the back on how much organisations are spending on the training per individual
http://www.cipd.co.uk/hr-resources/survey-reports/learning-talent-d...
- A couple of weeks ago - there was a video which was Pick of the Day on the Community which was from Edward Tolley who wrote the book 'Running Training Like a Business' which is also useful which you can find here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxOlBXI7ySc
Lastly Tolley's book on the same topic can be found here
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Running-Training-Like-Business-Unmistakable...
This talks about how to deliver the best value for the business through charging back the business for L&D services.
Hope you find all of this useful...
Kind regards
Helen
Thanks Helen,
I'll certainly have a good look through the resources you have mentioned.
I'm starting pretty much from scratch with regards to L&D aspect of my HR role. It's just me in the team really, assisted by finance etc for some of the administration elements, but with regards to procedures and processes it currently lies with me to develop. I took over earlier this year and I'm not at all convinced our L&D procedures are effective for the organisation or indeed for the development of the staff.
I am therefore taking it slowly in forming a plan - I don't want to rush in with a shiny new policy only to find that it needs amending very soon after.
One aspect you have mentioned is the logic in running a course for only two/three individuals. That is one area that I have looked at, and made some movement on. As a County Wildlife Trust, I network closely with the neighbouring Trusts - so if I have a need to provide training for only a small number of staff I offer places to the other Trusts, who may well have staff who also require that training. This helps us to share costs of course.
I have also on occasion offered training places to small, local charities who would be unable to fund through their own resources. This works particularly well if I am able to utilise an in-house trainer.
Right, I'm off to check out those links!
Thanks,
Steve