Thursday, June 28, 2012

Training & Development for a Competitive Advantage

     
     Often, training is viewed as optional and peripheral to core business functions. Yes, it's true that your organization may be able to survive without it, but the goal of any organization is to survive and prosper (Beach, 2006). Organizations need to continually innovate in order to carve out and maintain a competitive advantage. Financial and physical capital are tangible and usually visible to anyone who might be interested in knowing what resources your organization has. Today, businesses are concerned with leveraging human and intellectual capital to gain a competitive advantage (Noe, 2010). Training in and of itself may not be the answer, but Learning and Development as an organizational initiative can improve business outcomes. Experts agree that training is only effective when it's aligned to true business needs, so training professionals should always work collaboratively to identify them (Noe, 2010, Stolovitch & Keeps, 2004). When this happens, employee learning is strategic, new skills are transferred to the work environment, and organizational benefits are apparent in improved performance as well as time and money saved. When learning and development is a priority, the organization also makes gains by capturing and sharing knowledge so that it doesn't leave the organization when people do.      
     According to the American Society for Training & Development, U.S. organizations continue to invest in learning and development (Paradise, 2008), and rightly so. A recent study by the same organization involved 500 publicly traded companies. Of those, the companies investing the most in training and development realized a shareholder return that was 46 percent higher than the market average (Noe, 2011).  Table 1 includes some interesting facts and figures on the status of the training industry today (Kranz, 2008; Noe, 2011; Paradise, 2008). Is your organization committed to learning and development?


Table 1

References

Beach, R.B. (2006). Leadership and the art of change: A practical guide to organizational transformation,     Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications

Kranz, G. (2008) E-learning hits its stride. Workforce Management Online.  Retrieved June 28, 2012, from http://static-71-166-250-129.washdc.east.verizon.net/eLibrary/ARCHIVES/GENERAL/GENREF/W080200K.pdf

Noe, R. A. (2010). Employee training and development (5th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw Hill
 
Paradise, A. (2008). State of the Industry Report.  Alexandria, VA: American Society for Training and Development

Stolovitch, H. D., & Keeps, E. J. (2004). Training ain’t performance. Alexandria, VA: ASTD Press
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7 comments:

  1. UnknownJuly 1, 2012 at 9:30 AM

    Pamela -
    Oh my goodness – are you a professional actress? You should hire yourself out for voice over work.

    Thanks for the training stats.

    I like how you cite that it is the responsibility of the company to identify their needs. You create some tension in your listener – at the top kind of asking them - don’t you want to thrive - and then putting a question at the end. This sets up some conflict and drama. A few listeners may be put off but I think most will be engaged.

    Then with the stats – I am completely sold.

    Thanks for the audio file.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Pamela TaylorJuly 1, 2012 at 5:01 PM

    Thanks for the feedback. I've actually thought about trying to get some voice over work. If you have any suggestions about how to get into that kind of work, please let me know.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. RachJuly 1, 2012 at 7:07 PM

      I also agree with Dr. Kwinn; infliction is important when you are engaging and influencing your client.

      We have the same interest in doing voice over work! Have you thought about freelance work? It doesn't pay that much, but it's a start. And, you can also try volunteer work, which might put your foot in the door. When I have some time during the week, I'll look for the link (have it saved) to a non-profit org. who seeks voice over work on a volunteer basis.

      Hope this helps....good luck!
      ~Rach~

      Delete
    2. Pamela TaylorJuly 11, 2012 at 10:54 AM

      Rach,

      Thanks for your comments. Yes, I would definitely appreaciate you sharing the link.

      Delete
  3. UnknownJuly 1, 2012 at 5:27 PM

    Excellent post Pamela! I agree with Dr. Kwinn, you have a very engaging voice that helps to keep my interest. You made great points and used stats in a very convincing manner.

    ReplyDelete
  4. RachJuly 1, 2012 at 6:44 PM

    Your elevator speech specifically pointed out two important
    concepts out training, which are:
    1. Innovation
    2. Competitive advantage

    These two concepts intertwine because an organization needs to be innovative in their approach. That in return will help them, as you stated, maintain (Taylor, 2012), and/or gain a competive advantage.

    There are several organizations who utilize Adobe Captivate to enhance their training material. In my opinion, this is one way in which an organization is being innovative, and at the same time helps them gain a competive advantage over other competitors. Check out the success story of Bryan Cave LLP at http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/showcase/index.cfm?event=casestudydetail&casestudyid=529509&loc=en_us


    BTW: You did an outstanding job!


    Reference:

    Taylor, P. (2012, June 28). Training & Development for a Competitive Advantage. [Blog message]. Retrieved from http://learningpowerpad.blogspot.com/2012/06/training-development-for-competitive.html#comment-form

    ReplyDelete

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