A Message from the Dean
The Business of Education and Training
Frequent readers of this message know that I often look to tie any investment in employee education and training back to how they support the overall business goals and objectives. If you are unable to articulate an ROI (and not always a strict financial measure) for the education and training activities that you are pursuing, you should not proceed with the initiative. A quick review of any number of high performing organizations will likely reveal a high degree of correlation between their stated employee development strategy and how it supports the overall business strategy — and ultimately the bottom line!
Following are five best practices that should be considered as you evaluate your education and training strategy to ensure that your organization is getting its return on investment!
1. Support from the top: The most important of all the best practices is to obtain the committed engagement of top management. This commitment of the senior leadership team sends a strong message that the program will be highly regarded, aligned with the corporate strategy and focused on the right business issues.
2. Alignment with business strategy: It’s critical to align any training objectives with your business strategy. Having the capability to develop custom course content, as well as adapting existing material to specific environments, is crucial to success.
3. Target all levels: All programs benefit significantly when there is a mixed audience representing different management levels and functional groups. Fostering the diversity of opinion and perspectives on a business is a healthy practice that not only bonds a group in a unique way, but is also a catalyst of innovation!
4. Stay the course: A successful corporate education program must be learning experiences that don’t end on Friday at 5:00. Apply a comprehensive and ongoing approach. People learn by doing, so the best development programs focus heavily on experiential learning built into the design of the program.
5. Integrate with talent management: Organizations must implement programs to assess leadership potential, identify successors, and place these individuals into the right development programs as part of any company’s regular business practices. It’s important to take a holistic view of all your education and training programs to ensure that you not only have enough of the right talent in the organization, but that you can leverage that talent at the right time, and in the right way.
As talent grows increasingly scarce in the years to come, I encourage you to think about your education and training initiatives and these five practices as you plan for the future.
Best regards,
Stephen P. Flavin
Associate Provost and Dean
Corporate and Professional Education
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Last modified: April 02, 2008 13:50:08