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The Birth Of Corporate Training

Imagine you start a business. You sit on the street and solve a Rubik’s Cube in under 20 seconds. Passersby stop to watch, they’re amazed, then they give you money. In the first month you do well for yourself, but you want your business to grow. So you hire your friend, Ruby, to sit on the adjacent street and do the same thing. She arrives on her first day and you tell her what she needs to do. But she can’t do it. So you show her how to solve a Rubik’s Cube in 20 seconds and give her some practice exercises to help her along. You just trained Ruby! You’re the trainer, and she’s the learner.

Ruby goes away and practices for a month. When she comes back a month later, she sits on the street and makes great money solving the puzzle in 20 seconds or less. People are amazed by her skills! Then one day Ruby can’t do it anymore, and she won’t tell you why. You decide to go to her street and watch her perform. You want to know what’s causing the problem.

You first look to see what’s going on around Ruby – in her external environment:

Is it windy and cold (uncomfortable environment)?
Do passersby knock the cube out of her hand (hostile environment)?
Is she under performing because I’m here (leadership issue)?
Does she have a cube (incorrect tools and resources)?
Is it the right cube (incorrect tools and resources)?
Is the cube broken (incorrect tools and resources)?

Then you focus on Ruby’s personal/internal environment:

Are her fingers injured (physical limitation)?
Does she look tired (physical limitation)?
Has she stopped trying (lack of motivation)?
Did she forget what she needs to do (knowledge gap)?
Did she forget how to do it (skills gap)?

From this example, what can we learn about corporate training?

Environmental factors can have a significant impact on performance. Don’t ignore them! If they can’t be changed, attempt to train around them.

You won’t know what the problem is without sufficient analysis and observation. If you didn’t go to Ruby’s street and watch her perform, you wouldn’t know the cause of the problem.

People need training when they have a skill or knowledge gap; when they don’t know what to do, how to do it, or haven’t had sufficient practice.

What came first – the business or the learner? The business. Without it, there would be no learner. In other words, all training is dependent on the needs of the business. Make peace with that fact.

Learners are important to the business. Without Ruby, your business isn’t as successful, so it’s worth training Ruby and giving her everything she needs to thrive.