Recession beating tips for trainers

Times have changed. In 1992, the UK was emerging from a recession that had lasted nearly two years. Back then, when cost cutting initiatives were made in any organisation, it was inevitably training or marketing that felt the impact of the finance director’s red pen.

In the intervening years, organisations of all sizes have come to appreciate that Learning & Development can enhance productivity, increase profits, improve motivation and engagement and lead to increased customer satisfaction. While the reputation of training in many organisations has improved radically, there’s no room for complacency. Learning & Development may no longer be the first casualty when an organisation looks to review its cost base but there’s still a business case to be made to justify its value in difficult times.

The case for learning in a downturn

Figures released by the CIPD indicate that the recession is set to take a bigger toll on jobs. Those who remain in organisations will need to be highly skilled - and motivated - if they are to fulfil the corporate goals.

Maintaining an investment in Learning & Development also sends an important signal to employees that they’re valued. As such, it can help to reinvigorate enthusiasm and motivation. If training spend is cut, it sends a different kind of signal - one that rings alarm bells about the prosperity and stability of the organisation and potentially has a knock-on, negative impact on morale and engagement.

An argument sometimes used against Learning & Development is that expensively-trained employees may simply jump ship to a rival. As David Pardey of the Institute of Leadership and Management says: “Don’t worry about the people you train who leave, worry about those you don’t train who stay.”

A key reason for maintaining your learning investment in difficult times is that it puts the organisation in a strong position to take advantage of market opportunities. Those who invest in training will perform better in the downturn and they’re more likely to be able respond quickly when global economic conditions improve. They’ll also be better placed to capitalise on any opportunities brought about by failed competitors.

When the upturn comes, your clients who have cut Learning & Development initiatives will potentially start at a much lower point than their competitors who have continued to develop their staff.

Looking long-term, maintaining the learning investment now is a cheaper option than recruiting, inducting and on-boarding new staff in the future.

Top training tips to beat the recession

1. Be strategic. What are your customers’ objectives now? Do your services - or your emphasis and focus - need to change in light of this? An economic downturn will often result in a change of organisational priorities, so you may need to realign your learning to ensure it links to their corporate objectives.

2. Help your clients to conduct a learning needs analysis and identify what skills gaps exist. What do they need from their people to survive the downturn? Do they need different skills? Do they need to focus more on the core benefits of the organisation? Do their business practices need to change? There may be a new requirement for a different type of training or you may need to put more emphasis into key areas such as coaching, leadership, sales, customer service or internal communication.

3. Be pragmatic. Clients are more than likely looking to deliver more of their learning in-house? What options do you have for helping them? Can you modify classroom-based training programmes into blended learning sessions (which combine e-learning or online learning resources)? Cost effectiveness has always been important factors but now, more than ever, you’ll need to show that you can deliver value. A flexible trainer who works with what they have will be better placed to develop the client relationship in an up-turn.

4. Use technology to differentiate yourself. Some simple applications of online learning and streaming video will help show that you can add value and make you stand out from the competition. Employees can use these resources at their own time and pace and they can revisit key modules, to top up their skills and pick up on key refresher points, as and when needed.

5. Prove your point. Can you demonstrate the benefits of your Learning & Development programmes? What impact do they have on individual and organisational performance? Monitor all training and gather empirical evidence on the business benefits gained in order to illustrate the ongoing value of your work.

6. Make sure the skills are getting used. Remember, the success of any Learning & Development initiatives will ultimately depend on how the skills learned are deployed and how people are managed. People who don’t use their skills can lose their skills. Your challenge is to get that feedback from leadership and line management to ensure that those who have been trained are then given the chance to put their new skills into practice. Only then will your clients gain full value from maintaining their learning investment.

Martin Addison is managing director of Video Arts.