Training Management Lets Companies Turn Coal Into Gold

Anyone who has spoken to a hiring manager might have heard the common remark that it is very difficult to find good people. Lack of good skilled people is not the reason for this situation. Even though there are plenty of highly skilled and qualified people, they are not available in the job market just for the simple reason that they are happy doing their jobs in their respective organizations. A good reason for this is that they were brought to the level of performing at higher levels through competent business and management coaching, even though they weren’t at this level from the beginning of their career.

Yes, CEOs are generally well educated with Ivy League graduate degrees and MBAs. But the layers of managers below them had far less prestigious educations and worked their way up into top management. Despite what some claim, starting at the bottom never guaranteed that you would stay there. On the job training, now more often called training management, helps companies maximize the effectiveness of their employees in ways that ensure that companies are making the most of their human resources.

Employees want to know that they are important to their companies. Investing in an employee validates their contribution. The various forms of training management let them know that their company is willing to help them become more successful. This results in employees feeling a greater stake in their company and being less enthusiastic to work elsewhere.

One more dirty secret is that training management leaves a company whose employees don’t know exactly what they’re worth. Unlike the Harvard MBA, they don’t have a piece of paper that suddenly makes them much more expensive to hire. At the same time, they are often just as motivated, or more so, after taking on the job training (while being paid!) than someone slugging through academia. This is one many reasons companies are eager for training management nowadays.

Just as important to a company as training management is another function: change management. Would that the market never moved, that once we designed a product, we could keep selling it forever! However pleasant that thought might be, the reality is that change is a constant in this world, and even products as venerable as Coca-Cola get redesigned from time to time – to say nothing of the blitz ad campaigns! A company must be able to keep its workforce fresh and filled with vitality through continuous management.

Although a piece of paper from Harvard never changes, continuous changes are a fact of life for corporations across the world. With the right training and change management, companies can keep on top, turning weak employees into strong ones, and allowing someone with out-dated qualifications into fresh and exciting new areas. And that’s something even Harvard is struggling with now.

There are not many skilled people available in the job market because they are happy where they are. A major reason for this is that they did not necessarily start out as highly skilled and qualified as they have become, but were elevated to that level through constant and competent business and management coaching. When workers see that a company invests in them, through conferences, seminars, and other forms of training management, they see that they are working for a company that cares about them. Through effective change management, a company is able to keep its workforce very new and motivated all the time.

- George Purdy