Just about any time an issue arises in the workplace, the first thing managers ask HR for is more training. Sales teams not reaching their goals? Let's add some training modules. Call center employees not efficiently embracing the new software platform? Perhaps they need some extra training. But as learning and development author and consultant Bill Cushard explains this week on Cornerstone OnDemand's Human Capitalist blog, job performance is often at the root of the problem. Says Cushard: "Training is often -- and mistakenly -- assumed to be the silver bullet that can solve performance issues, and training managers are usually the ones charged with delivering the solution."
But, Cushard points out, training sometimes isn't the answer, and training managers can do their employers a valuable service by taking a step back and assessing whether it's training, or some other approach, that will solve the problem at hand.
According to Thomas Gilbert's Behavioral Engineer Model, Cushard adds, five key factors in addition to training (or knowledge) weigh into overall job performance:
- Data
- Instruments
- Incentives
- Capacity
- Motives
So it's not always necessarily the case that employees don't know how to do the task at hand, sometimes they just don't know what's expected of them, or they're not motivated to do it, or they aren't given the tools to properly execute the job.
Rather than training, sometimes it's a matter of providing resources more readily or adjusting IT to meet the practical needs of employees that will do the trick. By assessing the true nature of the problem, and the elements that will fix it, training managers can provide their companies with a whole new level of service.
