The consultant quandry

Scott Jamieson

As companies evolve, sales and leadership training quickly become essential for growth and development. Soon, comprehensive training programs come together in a congruent format that begins to take on the appearance of a university curriculum. Advanced training and development programs can take all essential elements of a successful business and weave them together to educate teammates.

One question that often quickly comes up is whether or not to use outside consultants for a training program. Consider these factors when making your decision.
 

1. Do we have the expertise to do the training?

Early on, much of the training a company needs to accomplish can be provided by ownership and key managers that have helped build the company. The basic training needed in the early stages of a company can be effectively delivered by those within the company.

Processes and procedures that are developed by company owners are often best trained by those same people. Although technical expertise may exist in the early stages of a company’s growth, it is important to also keep in mind the training expertise of those conducting the training.

Many of us have met people who have great expertise and knowledge but are not able to effectively transfer that knowledge to others. Sometimes knowledge is seen as power and not readily shared, which makes it important to document and assess what needs to be trained within a company.

If the technical expertise is within the company but there is a gap in training skills, getting outside help can be of benefit.

Adult learning models for training are increasingly popular and effective. Arming your technical experts with “how to train” expertise can go a long way to increase the effectiveness of training.

If your assessment determines that the expertise does not exist within your company it may be beneficial to seek outside help. This could take the direction of bringing someone in to conduct the training or by sending a teammate to gain the expertise.
 

2. What is our training budget?

This can be a difficult question to answer if you’ve never had a training budget. The place to begin is by simply making it a line in your budget by acknowledging that planning and paying for training is important for the company.

By making training a budget item, you begin the process of consciously thinking about training as the company investment it should be. Like other budget items, you can track spending throughout the year and from year to year. Deriving a return on investment with your training is always tricky because the benefits are rarely realized at the same time that you incur the expense.

The key is to track your training expenses from year to year so you have a good handle on your investment year over year. Find measurements to track that can give you an insight on actual results from the training – sales closing rates, safety performance, employee retention, etc.

Capture all training expenses including the time (and associated dollars) your teammates are spending in training sessions. Tracking your internal training investments can also help you answer the question if you should hire from the outside to conduct training.

From a pure budget standpoint, you may find an outside provider can deliver training not only more effectively but also more cost efficiently. Knowing your numbers will help you decide from a cost perspective what makes sense.
 

3. Is it time for a new perspective?

Sometimes expertise and training ability resides in the company but teammates have grown a bit numb and need a new perspective.

Unless a company has the means to employ a full-time trainer whose job is to constantly look for new perspectives and training process, it may make sense to bring someone in from the outside from time to time. A new trainer can bring new life to the same messages and processes.

Just having an outsider come in with a slightly different approach and perspective can reach people who have previously shut down and turned off their listening skills.

It is critical to make sure that the message the trainers convey is congruent with and helpful towards the training objectives set out by company leadership. Trainers should also be thoroughly interviewed and observed training before letting them affect the culture of your company.

Training is one of the most powerful things you can do in your company and when bringing in outside trainers you are effectively putting the culture of your company in their hands. Make sure it is the message you want.

All trainers have a unique style and you will find some teammates will connect with that style and some will not. The important thing is that the trainer’s style is congruent with the culture you want to create. You want a trainer’s style to connect with the majority of your team.

Even though the content may be spot on, there are times you will want a different training style in front of your people. Ask your team, gain its insight and feedback and make adjustments.

Some of the best training is when adjustments are made along the way based on feedback from those being trained. Don’t be afraid to listen to your team. Be proactive and ask them to give constructive feedback so adjustments can be made to make the training as effective as possible.

Most importantly, check in regularly with those being trained. They know best on how effective their training is going. Use their feedback to adjust. When you begin using words like “education” and “development,” you know you are heading in the right direction in preparing your teammates to do their best.

The author is vice president of Bartlett Tree Experts in Stamford, Conn.

Hire Power is a monthly column designed to help you recruit, hire and retain the best talent for your company. We’ve got a rotating panel of columnists ready to give you practical, tactical advice on solving your labor problems. Email Chuck Bowen at cbowen@gie.net with topic ideas.