Nine Factors that Create an Effective Employee Training and Development Programme
Author: Eric Thompson
Eric Thompson discusses the factors that need to be present to create a successful long term training & development programme for your employees and deliver competitive advantage for the organisation.
When an organisation creates an environment where it supports the long term development of its employees, it can produce many benefits both for the individual and for the organisation. The purpose is of course to gain competitive advantage for the organisation through 
improving individual effectiveness. If you would like to understand more about the benefits that can be achieved you can read the article "The Value of the Employee Development Programme" or look at the "Employee Development Programme" case study.
However, what makes an employee training and development programme successful? In this article I will examine those factors that need to be present if employee and employer alike are to get the most value out of such a programme. Experience tells us that there are a number of issues that are critical in designing an employee training and development programme including scope, process, responsibilities and progress. I will consider these in turn.
Scope
Who is the programme for? Why are they being developed? What is the timeframe of engagement?
"Decisions to invest in individual capability should carry the same sort of level of scrutiny as similar investments in facilities or equipment.”
The choice of who such a programme is focussed on has to lie with the organisation. The development is for the individual, but the context is to equip them to meet the future needs of the organisation. It is undeniably true that every employee will be capable of being developed to some extent and there is no reason to exclude anyone on the grounds that development is not possible. On the other hand organisations don't have infinite resources, and they have to make choices as to where any investment is going to be most effective. Decisions to invest in individual capability should carry the same sort of level of scrutiny as similar investments in facilities or equipment. The investment must ultimately be made where the returns are greatest.
For individual organisations the challenge may be different. It may lie in taking school leavers to the point where they become useful employees. It could be to develop a core of technical capability. It may be to identify and nurture the leaders of tomorrow. It could be all of these things and more. Each organisation will need to decide where its priorities lie.
The purpose of an employee training and development programme is to enhance the capability of the individual so that they will be capable of sustaining more demanding roles in the future. A significant enhancement in capability can take several years to achieve, so any meaningful development programme must stretch over that sort of time frame at least. On the other hand no one can realistically focus on objectives that might be ten or twenty years down the track and systematically develop themselves with those in mind. A successful programme must focus on objectives that are tangible and achievable and lie not more than a few years over the horizon. If it is appropriate, once that initial target has been achieved, the individual may engage in a further programme with a new stretching target.
As an example of this process you can imagine a young person who has completed a certain level of education setting out on a professional development programme that will establish their credentials as a full professional in their own right. Once they have achieved that, their development might then focus on their ability to lead other professionals, and perhaps after that has been achieved, they may then focus on the sort of development that would allow them to lead a whole organisation. The further objective is only committed to when the individual has achieved the previous one, and both they and the organisation are convinced that further development would be beneficial.
Implicit in this description is the assumption that a clear target is set at each stage. An employee training and development programme is designed to develop the individual with a specific aim in mind. Only when the direction is sensible for both the individual and the organisation is such a programme worthwhile.
Process
What is the target? How will it be achieved?
There needs to be a clear process through which the development will occur. While there is room in an employee training and development programme for spontaneity and seizing the opportunity, there has to be an overall structure that suggests what the outcomes should be, how they should be addressed and over what timescale. Without that structure nothing will happen, but remember it's the outcomes that matter not the process.
The target that we alluded to briefly in the previous section needs to be fleshed out. We need to describe in detail the sort of outcomes that we would expect people who are appointed to the intended roles to be capable of delivering. That's interesting, because it supposes that we know what it is that we want! Putting that thought to one side, we need to acknowledge that it's not a trivial task. I know, because I've been part of such a process. None the less, many organisations have developed their own description of the target that they want to achieve, and developed their own programme to deliver it.
"…it's the outcomes that matter not the process.” There is however another option and that is to use as a target a standard that has been developed in the public domain. As an example, a programme that is focussed on turning those school leavers into useful employees might adopt as it target an occupational standard such as an NVQ. Similarly, aspiring professionals might be developed to a standard set by a professional institution. The advantage of using an external standard as a target is that if you then couple the standard with an external verification process you have an independent means of assessing whether or not your individuals have achieved their target and will be competent at the level that you want them to operate. In addition, because it is open to public scrutiny, you can be pretty sure that all the things that matter will be in the standard. You won't miss something vital because you didn't think of it.
There are many ways to achieve a standard and your process needs to be as flexible as possible to allow development to occur where and when it can. The only thing that matters is that the individuals should be able to achieve the outcomes that you have specified. How they get to that point is much less important. Development can take place in many ways and a good programme will offer a number of development styles. There may be a place for some elements of training, there will certainly be room for learning through experience, coaching may be appropriate and access to experienced role models in the form of mentors may enable the individuals to gain greater insight and test what is really required with someone who is already performing the role.
Being flexible shouldn't be taken to mean no structure at all. In a programme such as this it is sensible for the participants to have access to resource that helps them to achieve what is required with the minimum fuss. The organisation may well have preferred training courses that cover certain issues in a way which helps. The organisation may well be aware of ways in which individuals can gain specific bits of experience. The organisation may well have people who are good at coaching others. All of theses things need to be packaged and made available to the participating individuals so that their time is spent on the real development issues and not on working out how they can make it happen.
Whatever the process, it needs to be formalised. Everyone in the organisation needs to understand that the process must take place. Employee development is the sort of task that may always get postponed because there is a greater apparent short term need. To ensure that development occurs, the process must be legitimised.
Responsibilities
Who will make it happen?
"Encouraging the individual to take as much responsibility as possible for their own development is surely an essential part of the development process...” Part of the process of legitimisation is to make the responsibilities clear. Since long term development may potentially cut across short term delivery aspirations, responsibilities have to be defined to ensure that the development happens.
There are three specific areas where things need to be thought through.
The first is the overall ownership of the programme. Someone has to decide who will benefit from such a programme, own the content of the programme and the process for discharging it, and make sure that the whole thing is delivered on behalf of the organisation.
The second is to define specific roles that facilitate the processes. Coaching, mentoring, training and the rest may all be useful parts of the process, but who will carry them out? The roles need to be defined and the individuals who will discharge them briefed as to how and when they should contribute. Don't forget to make their contribution legitimate by making their participation part of their own targets.
The third is to define the responsibilities of the individual under development. Encouraging the individual to take as much responsibility as possible for their own development is surely an essential part of the development process, and it is clearly in the individual's interests to make the most of the situation. Their responsibilities need to be defined to encourage the right response.
Progress
How do we know that it is happening?
The individual needs to be able to tell whether or not they are making the required progress. They need to be able to judge whether or not 
they are on target to complete it in the available time. To do that the target needs to be described in a way in which it is possible to estimate the progress made. By defining contributory outcomes as milestones individuals can judge whether or not they are getting there.
The danger with any long term process is that because there seems to be plenty of time at the beginning things get left until is too late. In many organisations, experience of particular issues may not be available all of the time. Some things happen rarely. It is important then to grasp opportunities when they are due to arise and plan to make sure that the appropriate phase of development will take place. It is in everyone's interests to keep track of progress through the process and to highlight what still needs to be done, so that there can then be sensible discussion about how any gaps can be closed.
Where a verifiable standard is used it is much easier to track progress because specific outcomes can be ticked off as they are achieved and evidence to support that noted. If external verification of competence is part of the process then of course that process is likely to be more visible and more rigorous. External validation of individual competence can be of great value to the organisation because they then have an audit trail against an externally set standard which can be used to justify the appointment of any individual to a specific position. As aspects of regulation and litigation increasingly impinge on organisations, being able to prove that individuals are competent becomes increasingly important."The whole thing is… hugely cost effective.”
It is sensible to plan some sort of review of progress in any employee training and development programme on an annual basis. For the individual, apart from providing encouragement and ensuring that general progress is being made, there is then an opportunity to incorporate any specific development requirement into the short term plan to make sure that it is discharged. For the organisation there is an opportunity to ensure that all individuals are making progress and that the overall process is working.
An Effective Employee Training and Development Programme
In this discussion we have identified a number of elements that need to be present to make such a development programme effective. We can summarise now with nine key points on which you can take action.
• Identify those groups of employees for which there will be a significant return on the organisation's investment in their development and focus your process on them.
• Set a specific target (or standard) that describes the outcomes that you expect each group of individuals who has completed the programme to be able to achieve.
• Identify the target in a way that makes it possible to validate progress.
• Focus development over a finite number of years.
• Clearly articulate the process but allow flexibility in approach.
• Provide support resource (both human and written) that points the individuals in the right direction.
• Define clear responsibilities.
• Make sure that each individual can assess progress towards their target.
• Make sure that the organisation reviews progress annually.
By taking these steps it is possible to create an effective employee training and development programme which will help to develop individuals who will then be able to fill key roles for the organisation in the future and will help the organisation to develop competitive advantage.
The best bit I have kept till last. A programme such as this requires little time away from the job. The process actually requires naturally occurring work opportunities on which to learn and practice the new skills. The support resources required are almost all internal to the organisation. The whole thing is based on self help and is hugely cost effective. If you are going to invest in the future prosperity of your organisation, this is the way to do it.
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