TRAINING TO TRANSFORM
People seek growth. They want the experience of progressing toward "bigger and better" things. Completing coursework and training is frequently seen as evidence of being on the right path … or at least on a path.That makes good sense; training gives access to new abilities, sharper skills, refined methods, and hopefully more value as an employee, a co-worker, a job candidate, etc. And good training can promise even more.
When an employer invests in training for an employee, it is usually considered by the employee to be a reflection of how much he/she is valued by the organization.
Hypothetical internal dialogue: "They’re telling me to do [fill in a type of training here] training. They expect me to [fill in a suspected job/role/task] in the future."
Although it may not be the intention behind the training, the employee’s subjective perspective of the training may have as much impact on the organization as the training itself. Mind you, opinions usually have little to do with the actual content of the course(s).
Assigning Training Initiatives is a Challenge
Deciding who to train and how to do it is hard enough. Worrying about how the employee may perceive the training only adds to the challenge.
Further compounding the challenge may be that most training programs are procedural. Many managers still believe that if employees are not at their desks or on the shop floor, they’re not working. So, conventional wisdom insists that training be swift and singularly focused in order to be effective. Corporate training, therefore, has been centered on new skills for higher-productivity. This is consistent with an archaic, Frederick Taylor-style school of Scientific Management. Unfortunately, this traditional view of corporate training doesn’t allow much room for the transformation of the individual.
Transformational Training
In large part, transformation has been the paradigm of higher education (and, of course, life experiences). Higher education opens people up to more than tactics, skills and vocations; at its best, schooling aims to produce thinking individuals (whatever that might mean).
To illustrate: Imagine a recent college graduate saying, "I got my bachelor’s degree and now I’m trained." Instead, people say, "I’m educated."
Although what being educated means is vague and highly debatable, it implies a transformation from one state of being to another – a crossover. In some respects, education and training have been at odds; one side is transformational while the other is more tactical and skill-based.
I see this as restrictive and lacking of imagination. I believe corporate training can allow for transformation. Actually, I believe today it has to. As the marketplace and economy changes, people are expected to be entrepreneurial, accountable, and self-managed. That requires transformational education. And most importantly, that's the kind of growth that everyone seeks. This provides a unique opportunity for the training world.
