by Jamie Hasty, SESCO Management Consultants

When considering all the aspects of neglected management, most often organizations identify development planning as an area of important need. Development planning truly aids your employees in shaping not only the future of their careers, but also the future of the organization. For a variety of reasons, the valuable activity of employee training and development often goes ignored or becomes an afterthought by management. With this comes the ultimate price: the loss of top talent or future hopefuls.

We often hear from management that not enough time was spent on the development of direct reports or others in a managerial role. In retrospect, management regrets the lack of engagement in the training in development piece as well as consistency and thoroughness via mentorship and/or coaching. Further identified is the benefit that upper management gains from mentorship and professional growth from others in middle level managerial positions.

These general observations and notations were also confirmed in Harvard Business Review. The Review identified a study based on analysis of international databases of over 1,200 high achievers and concluded that many of the high-performing employees are not receiving the career development support they desire. The study stated:

“Dissatisfaction with some employee-development efforts appears to fuel many early exits. We asked young managers what their employers do to help them grow in their jobs and what they’d like their employers to do, and found some large gaps. Workers reported that companies generally satisfy their needs for on-the-job development and that they value these opportunities, which include high-visibility positions and significant increases in responsibility. But they’re not getting much in the way of formal development, such as training, mentoring and coaching—things they also value highly.”

Why is employee training and development a chronic problem in many organizations and why should it not be? Based on SESCO’s 72-year human resource experience, the following reasons explain why training and development planning often goes ignored and how that can be a costly mistake for an employer of any size. Consider:

Why is training and development planning put on the back-burner?

1.  Organizations and management tend to focus most on the present. Organizations or management often serve in frenetic state of change, realignment of goals/priorities and trying to do more with less. In this environment, management naturally tends to focused on the essential day-to-day operations and less interest in longer-term activities perceived as having less return on investment such as training and development.
2. The training and development exercises are done but rarely acted upon. We often see many corporate management individuals spend a significant amount of time trying to label certain employees or place them into nondescript or confusing matrices. For example, XYZ organization creates a training matrix with labels such as Super Shining Star, Diamond In The Rough, Underdog, so on and so forth. The challenge with such matrices is that often management is merely concerned with completing the exercise that employees can be misplaced or left out of the mix because they simply do not fit within the overly convoluted label or box.
3. There is most certain a benefit in utilizing a training and development matrix so long as it is usable and understandable to all involved in the process. Management should accurately identify the categories and label appropriately, explaining why and how the individual has been placed. Further, the matrix should then be integrated into the human resource training and development program, which should allow for measurable growth and development of the employee.
4. Management simply states there is no time for training and development. This is and will continue to be the worst excuse of all. There will always be time for important activities for growth and development if that time is prioritized by management. As a valuable function of management, carve out the time and integrate the training and development opportunities into daily function. Keep in mind that training and development should be done incrementally to allow for on the job application of the new skill sets.

Why does training and development planning make good business sense?

1. Employees, particularly those of the millennial generation, want to see management take a genuine interest in their future and career. It is important to note the emphasis “genuine.” Training and development planning should involve a manager taking a personal interest in the actually employee needs or career path both inside and outside the organization. The program should never be simply a human resource-driven mandate, but a collaborative effort between the manager and human resources to create proper growth and development of employees.
2. A solid training and development program builds loyalty and commitment, not only to the organization but also to the manager. In turn, that same loyalty and commitment increases productivity and employee engagement/satisfaction. Referring back to the point noted above, taking a genuine interest in the employee builds loyalty. Loyal employees are more engaged. Engaged employees are more productive.
3. Engaged and talented employees naturally aspire to advance within the organization and appreciate meaningful support in the process.

As the Harvard Business Review study showed, capable and ambitious employees strongly desire training, mentoring and coaching. They want to gain valuable career skills sets to further move up in the organization. They look to become more versatile and valuable to an organization, which aids in retention rates and return on investment. Years ago the emerging trend for organizations was to assist employees with their education with tuition reimbursement or assistance. We regularly see where this type of investment in the employee’s education (or skill set) provides valuable support, as well as fosters that loyalty and commitment. On the contrary, if there is no incentive provided by management or the organization for employee education or training and development, employees will go elsewhere to find such resources.

In summary, training and development planning doesn’t have to be elaborate or costly. At the core of every program is good management taking the person-to-person time to understand employee needs and desires, recognizing skills and training needs and collaborating with the employee and human resources to fill any existing gaps. If training and development is executed well, the payoff for the organization can be substantial in terms of long-term loyalty, retention, engagement and productivity. If there is a training and development void, organizations substantially risk valuable employee assets and long-term talent.

Jamie Hasty is the vice president of SESCO Management Consultants. Under an arrangement with ASA, SESCO provides results-oriented human resource consulting services to ASA members. SESCO provides a special “retainer” relationship that provides a free “hotline” to ASA members to discuss day-to-day employment issues such as policy development, employee challenges such as disciplinary actions, terminations, or workers’ compensation issues, compliance to federal and state employment regulations, and many other management and human resource matters. Hasty can be reached at (423) 764-4127 or jamie@sescomgt.com. SESCO offers a variety of online and classroom training for employees and managers, customized to meet your organization need and budget. Contact a SESCO consultant to explore training and development opportunities for your organization.