Training Industry Quarterly - Summer 2008 - (Page 31)

ings from a product catalog, and training managers evaluate themselves based on how popular or well-attended those courses are. Although “generic” courses have their place in the marketplace, it is harder to retroactively fit them into the client’s specific business needs than to proactively align a course with those needs in the first place. Three main benefits of Strategic Alignment emerged from dozens of participant comments (see Table 5). In short, Strategic Alignment sets up the training organization for success in delivering impactful training. Table 5: Benefits of Strategic Alignment Credibility Training organizations can get more executive support, buy-in and respect when they create timely, relevant training that supports key business initiatives. This alone can differentiate the training organization among other providers that are not good at aligning themselves strategically with their clients. Strategic Alignment can help internal corporate training departments keep more training in-house and external training providers compete better with both internal departments and other suppliers. In addition to Strategic Alignment, Customer Commitment is another business-focused area that training professionals consider critical to running a successful training organization. In fact, Customer Commitment can be viewed as the natural, tactical extension of a business partnership that begins with Strategic Alignment. Study participants reported that the three hallmarks of Customer Commitment are having the integrity to honestly assess whether one can perform the work required, the dependably performing flexibly meeting client expectations, and providing the client with good customer service and follow-up to ensure that client needs are met. In Summary When planning improvements to put a training organization on the path to generating business impact, ensure that there are sound policies and practices for not only Content Development and Delivery, but also the two “bookends” of business training – Strategic Alignment and Customer Commitment. By establishing and maintaining trusting business partnerships, training organizations can customize training to business needs, report on well-aligned business outcomes and generate the results that their clients increasingly demand. Tracy Hollister is general manager of market intelligence for Training Industry, Inc. You can email Tracy at thollister@trainingindustry.com. About the study Training Industry, Inc. conducted an online survey of 429 training industry professionals in April 2008. To ensure that the “focus list” of high priority areas would apply to internal corporate training departments, the analysis was limited to the 175 professionals who worked for a corporate training department (89%) or purchased services for or otherwise supported a corporate training department (11%). Training suppliers and consultants were excluded. Those working in or supporting corporate training departments have the broadest perspective on what is important and what is most needed to improve from their work with both internal clients in their companies and with external suppliers. This group was well-represented among companies of different sizes: 29% were from companies with10,000+ employees or more; 36% from companies with 1,001-10,000 employees; and 26% and 10% from companies with 101-1,000 or 100 or fewer employees, respectively. 31 Relevance As many participants pointed out plainly, if training is not strategically aligned, it is a waste of time and money. Strategic alignment ensures that the training employees or customers receive fits with both their learning needs and the learning needs of the organization. To the buyer or client of the training, this approach provides the “biggest bang for the training buck.” Training Effectiveness With strategically-aligned training design, leaders can evaluate courses by whether or not they meet specific business objectives. This helps meet the rising client expectation that training organizations demonstrate the value of their training and gives training organizations specific measures to use in fulfilling their own desire for improved measurement and analytics capabilities. If the training organization can prove positive results with value-based metrics, they are in a better position to generate more repeat and new business. Training Industry Quarterly, Summer 2008 / A Training Industry, Inc. ezine / www.trainingindustry.com/TIQ http://www.trainingindustry.com/TIQ

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Training Industry Quarterly - Summer 2008

Training Industry Quarterly - Summer 2008 At the Editor’s Desk Contents Ezine Email Winning Organizations Through People Before You Buy… Learning Technologies Games & Simulations: Playing to Learn Designing Learning Simulations: Strategies for Leveraging Failure Business Impact 101: The Value of Learning Strategic Alignment: Transforming the Business of Training Meet David DeFilippo Meet Krys Moskal Meet Vince Eugenio Dealing with Death: Learning’s Most Sensitive Lessons Closing Arguments

Training Industry Quarterly - Summer 2008

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