Driving down the cost of training

Staff motivation during difficult times is more important than ever – you need to keep your costs down and increase productivity – not an easy challenge.

Although the benefits of staff training for improved motivation and increased productivity are undeniable, when you need to cut costs it’s usually the marketing and training budgets that get hit first. Patricia Peter, head of corporate governance and employment at the Institute of Directors, said: " If you want to survive, then you have to keep your best people."*

That's the start of a press Press Release that you can view on the Complete Trainer Site. I won't paste a press release into this blog verbatim, but I will quote from it. The article talks about using non-trainers for delivery. And when challenged on this myself I said: "I’m a performer, not a trainer, but I can facilitate. I know where my strengths lie. It’s important to choose the right person for the right job, define your objectives and set desired outcomes and – of course – to use the right materials and tools."

I have to say that I have seen trainers who don't step up to the plate, and non-trainers who do - which brings me back to my poll (see right hand side) - do trainers need to be qualified?

I do know that our downloadable training material side of the business is growing. I'd love to be a fly on the wall and see how our materials are being used and see if companies really are using their own managers and execs as well as in-house trainers.


* Personnel Today “Human resources input is key to managing recession risk” January 2008