Learning a Living: How to Outsource Training
Anybody can find capital
to back good ideas, smart strategies can be imitated, and technology’s shrinking
shelf life places today’s upgrade immediately behind tomorrow’s advances.
Today, talent prevails as a company’s prime competitive advantage.
“The most important
corporate resource over the next 20 years will be talent—smart,
sophisticated business people who are technologically literate, globally
astute, and operationally agile,” reads a 1998 study by McKinsey & Co., a
management consulting firm that probed 6,000 managers and executives from 77 companies
about their workforces. Ten years later, McKinsey’s forecast emerges on track.
Not only does the
blistering pace of technology and a global marketplace increase demand for
talented workers, but aging baby boomers do also. As boomers move into their
late 50s and early 60s looking toward retirement, Lancaster County employers
will find themselves working harder to capture the knowledge walking out the
door and to recruit young workers for the same jobs.
Pennsylvania
Department of Labor & Industry’s Workforce 2012 Demographics reports the
years ahead will see insufficient numbers of people entering the workplace to accommodate
the demand for young, newly educated workers. The report also forecasts a 17
percent drop in the number of Pennsylvanians aged 35 to 44—resulting in
fewer bright employees from this prime working age group. Clearly, companies
need to protect their human capital. Keeping employees trained, educated, and
valued appears the best defense.
Do or Die
It sounds so
simple—“develop good people.” Doesn’t every company do that? Actually,
you’d be surprised. New companies find themselves in survival mode unable to
surface for air and consider training; others looking to cut corners view
training as an expense rather than an investment, and many more companies too
busy churning out product cry “no time.” Education, if any, is often
reactionary, fragmented, and ineffective as a result. Many have their people caught
fighting fires with no time for training to extinguish root problems. Employees’
work is inefficient, so they have to fight fires. And so the vicious cycle goes
and so goes the business.
What’s more is the
millennials are coming. This generation born between 1980 and 2000 is your future
workforce. Nearly as large as the boomer generation, this young posse carries
different attitudes toward work, loyalty, respect, and life in general.
Cam Marston, a
consultant specializing in educating executives about workplace expectations of
different generations, argues these aren’t negative trends, just different ones.
“Some of the demands made by today’s youth are creating positive benefits for
employees in every generation. Flexibility and respect for the individual, as
well as the organization, are good for everyone.”
Inevitably,
scenarios of experienced boomers reporting to green millennials or possibly four
generations working side-by-side will creep into your offices. Generational—and
cultural, for that matter—awareness training should pique the interest of
any savvy business looking to maintain workplace peace… and productivity.
“The key to your
organization’s future success is understanding how millennials view the world
and using that knowledge to motivate them in a way that works,” states Marston.
“The adjustments you
make to accommodate the changing attitudes of today’s youth will be returned to
you tenfold with decreased turnover, improved morale, and measurable business
results.”
No, training isn’t
just for the big guys with big budgets. To compete, companies should follow the
lead of Toyota, IBM, and other successful companies that invest in developing employees.
Regardless of size, businesses that want not to be left behind by the
competition should place priority on developing good people. Yes, it actually
is that simple.
Help on the Way
The landscape of
employee education and training is blooming with choices as workforce development
departments are popping up at regional colleges and universities like dandelions
in spring. It appears higher education institutions see a future in academic outreach
and strategic partnerships and are being challenged to do more for companies
and communities.
Drawing on a lesson
from marketers, these institutions have adopted a customer-driven approach to
creating curricula rather than the customary educational-driven model.
Schools are
increasingly more flexible and responsive; developing programs by asking
companies what training they require then tailoring programs to meet those
needs. Backed with expert faculty and research, these colleges and universities
are designed to deliver.
Lancaster and central
Pennsylvania in general are bursting with educational providers offering a
range of workforce training and working hard to provide relevant programs for
local businesses.
“We do market
research with area employers at least twice year,” said Barbara Randazzo,
director of admissions and marketing for Elizabethtown College’s Center for Continuing
Education and Distance Learning. “As technology and knowledge in their fields
change, we change our majors. Therefore, the businesses are getting the most
up-to-date knowledge for their investment.”
Shane Rottier,
program coordinator for Corporate University at Millersville University,
agrees. “We position ourselves as consultants and then develop programs around
those needs. It’s about getting to know the client and helping them to identify
areas that need improvement.”
Many institutions do
more than offer classes. They roll up their sleeves to help companies assess
needs, identify training priorities, and align education with business plans.
Some even become part of annual strategic planning. Companies should maximize these
services to ensure money isn’t wasted on ineffective training rooted in poor
planning, especially in light of a looming recession.
More companies are
recognizing this investment. “In the past, the first thing to go in poor
economic times was something that was considered secondary, which was training.
I think that has stopped quite a bit,” said Mike Gerfin, PhD, director of
workforce training and continuing education for Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology.
“We have so much invested in our workers. Companies are now a lot less apt to
cancel the training dollars as a result.”
In some cases,
institutions can apply for funding to underwrite costs. For example, Rottier
mentions Millersville is one of 33 WEDnetPA partners. WEDnetPA—Workforce
and Economic Development Network of Pennsylvania—is an alliance of
Pennsylvania’s 14 state universities, 14 community colleges, and other
educational providers. The network delivers the Commonwealth’s Guaranteed Free
Training (GFT) program, and educational partners serve as liaisons to access
GFT funds. This money can be used for a range of basic skills and IT training
such as Millersville’s leadership development, management development, performance
improvement, and process improvement programs.
Regional providers
acknowledge that basic skills training such as teamwork, leadership, writing, and
communications remain in demand. Managing organizational change, succession
planning, and generational awareness also prove popular. But technology remains
the biggie.
Gerfin points out
that “technology has changed so much that very few people are left out of this
adult training, whether you are employed or unemployed. Technology has not only
invented new jobs, but it has also reinvented traditional jobs.” Technology is
the common thread in current Lancaster training areas including construction, metals
and metal fabrication, automotive, food processing, agriculture, and health
care.
Stevens College has
partnered with county commissioners and the historical society on historic preservation
training and also works with community organizations to provide training for
probationers. Overall, the college offers credit and non-credit courses in 19
technical programs in addition to customize courses that result in
certification and accreditation where applicable. Stevens stresses hands-on
training in the form of lab work, getting out of the classroom, and instructors
as helpers and mentors.
Barbara Randazzo
also feels real world learning is essential. “Adult students want to be able to
use what they learn at work the next day. In our programs, that means we have
to be relevant. The people that teach in our continuing education department are
working people in the field they are teaching, so they bring real world examples
and knowledge.”
Elizabethtown offers
working adults accelerated degree programs in business administration,
accounting, information systems, corporate communication, and criminal justice.
Classes are conveniently held at multiple locations in Harrisburg at the Dixon
University Center, in Lancaster at Franklin & Marshall College, and on
E-town’s main campus.
All these schools
are at the ready to tailor training plans to suit your needs and budget. Mike
Gerfin reminds companies: “The key is to commit to always developing your people,
one of your biggest resources. It has to be a strategy to compete.”
College Prep
While educators are
prepared to partner and guide your training as much or as little as you like,
they can’t—and shouldn’t—do it all. Useful training begins with
homework.
First, leadership
must take time to assess gaps and weaknesses, gather input from employees, and
ensure that the company’s vision for the future is clear. Training decisions shouldn’t
just be pawned off on HR or department managers and don’t rely on education
providers to magically “get it.” Buy-in from senior management is critical.
Second, shop around.
Select an organization with a good reputation, some type of results measures, expertise
in your areas of need to provide sound training, and post-training evaluations.
Understand who can provide what and at what cost. Companies also want to make sure
their partnering institution provides flexible schedules. We consumers demand
choices with everything. Your workers want flexibility in when they learn,
where they learn, and how they learn. Classes during work hours, options for
after-hours and weekends, blended learning with face-to-face and online
instruction, and the ability to work on projects facing them at work are all
important considerations for effective training.
Third, know where
your training budget stands and don’t be discouraged with modest dollars.
Consult openly with institutions to fashion a plan within your means. There are
as many ways to tailor training programs as there are institutions to deliver
them. The question should not be can you afford to invest in training, but rather,
can you afford not to? Here are other considerations for spending education
dollars wisely:
• Establish
long-term partnerships. Zero in on one or two key learning
institutions to deliver long-range training plans. By limiting
vendors and making an ongoing commitment, the provider will get
to know your organization better and most likely will provide
extra services when treated as a strategic partner.
• Consider
grants. Pennsylvania businesses have access to a wealth of workforce
funding with potential to underwrite 25–75 percent of costs. Mentioned
earlier, WEDnetPA’s is an excellent resource. The state’s Department of
Community and Economic Development offers the Customized Job Training Program,
which grants funding for specialized job training to existing or newly hired employees.
Regional economic development councils often have access to training funds. If
sending workers to complete undergraduate or graduate degrees, consider
applying for scholarships.
• Be consistent. Don’t
piecemeal training with a little here and a little there. You may be saving dollars
on the front end, but you’re wasting money on the back end with fragmented learning
and ineffective results.
• Think bulk. Consider
on-site training that educates multiple employees and provides the efficiencies
of having staff remain in the office. Or collaborate with other business to share
costs with joint training.
• Be creative. Split
cost of training with employees, provide levels of reimbursement based on results,
or offer concessions during work time for those training on their own time.
Look at the cards in your hand and play them non-traditionally.
Let us pray
Are you familiar
with the Serenity Prayer? It’s the one that reminds us to accept the things we cannot
change, asks for courage to change the things we can, and the wisdom to know
the difference.
Wise up if you
haven’t already. There’s no changing that your competition has fair access to
your target audience and its dollars, or that they might be cheating off your winning
strategies, or that it’s nearly impossible to surmount the digital divide. The
differentiator in your control is your people. Educated, talented people have
better ideas, execute those ideas better, and even develop other people better.
An investment in
human capital is one of the surest ways to compete in a marketplace whose
boarders have all but disappeared, to survive the labor war, and to maintain workplace
productivity and peace. Ah, serenity now.
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