Getting More From Training
Effective managers ensure that their direct reports get the most out of training opportunities. Unfortunately, many managers take a hands-off approach to learning and development. Consequently, they miss the opportunity to use what their direct reports have learned.
These missed opportunities result in feelings of disengagement (“my manager doesn’t care about my career growth”), poor attitudes towards training (“it’s a waste of time”), and developmental roadblocks (“we keep repeating the same mistakes over and over”).
The good news is that it doesn’t take a lot of time or effort to do much better. In fact, most of the work can be done as part of your normal weekly or biweekly one-on-one check-ins. By following the checklist below, managers can do a better job of understanding what their direct reports are learning, applying the new skills, and helping their employees become more effective.
The Manager’s Checklist for Training
1. Know who is attending what
A surprising number of managers fail to take advantage of their direct reports’ training because they don’t even know what development sessions their employees are attending. This is especially common in large organizations where individuals can sign up for training opportunities on their own, but it also can happen when employees seek out professional development by attending conferences, seminars, and other opportunities on their own.
Managers should take the initiative to ask their direct reports what learning opportunities they are taking in the next month. By looking ahead, managers can also plan for any time the employees are away, and they can ensure that each employee is on track for any annual professional development requirements.
2. Discuss training goals with your direct report
Managers should be having ongoing conversations with their employees about their career goals and development milestones. If you aren’t having these discussions, an easy way to start is by meeting with each employee to determine what skills they can develop next in order to be more successful in their role.
Ideally, managers and employees will work together to identify learning opportunities based on the employee’s development plan. However, managers can still discuss training goals with employees who are attending other opportunities.
At a minimum, managers and their direct reports should identify what skills or knowledge the direct reports can expect to get out of the training session. They should be able to describe how the new skills will contribute to the needs of both the organization and the employee’s career path. Finally, managers should work with their employees to select one or two opportunities to use the new skills shortly after the development session concludes.
3. Make an action plan together
If a new skill isn’t put to use, it will be lost. Managers can help make training stick by working with their direct reports to create an action plan after every development opportunity.
An action plan should identify a specific skill and a concrete opportunity to use that skill. The manager can help their direct report be successful by providing advice on the right opportunity, anticipating possible roadblocks and preparing to address those challenges, and even rehearsing the skill before attempting it in the real situation.
When direct reports know what is expected from their action plan, the manager can give them ownership of the creation process and simply review the action plan to make sure everyone is on the same page. By reviewing the action plan that an employee creates, the manager sends the message that the learning matters.
4. Provide accountability for the action plan
The best action plan is worthless if it remains a piece of paper. By following up on the action plan just like any important assignment, managers can ensure that their direct reports implement the new skills.
Providing accountability is particularly important for development goals because development tasks tend to get lost in the whirlwind of urgent responsibilities and deadlines. Development goals can also be more stressful than typical work because they require the employee to stretch their comfort zone. As a result, the manager has a vital role to play in maintaining focus on the learning assignment. Following up on the action plan and creating accountability for those commitments makes a huge difference in how likely employees are to actually execute the plan.
5. Identify the next steps
After the employee completes their action plan, the manager should schedule a conversation to plan what happens next. If the direct report was successful in using the skill, the focus on the conversation should be how to use the skill in the future. What are the next opportunities to use the skill? How can the employee leverage the skill in other areas? How can this skill contribute to the overall development plan for that employee?
Frequently, the action plan will reveal that there is more learning that needs to occur before the skill is mastered. The direct report may have encountered unexpected obstacles, or the skill wasn’t fluent enough to feel comfortable. This is a normal part of the learning process, but it can seem like an embarrassing failure from the employee’s perspective. That’s where the manager can help reframe the experience as part of a development journey.
When the employee does struggle with a skill in the action plan, the manager and employee should plan how to persevere. At a minimum, the employee needs to identify another opportunity to use the skill. The manager should help the employee recognize what went wrong so the employee can prepare more effectively for the next attempt. This may require additional support from the manager: extra practice, more feedback, or clearer expectations for what constitutes a good outcome. The important thing is for the manager to make sure that the new opportunity is setting up the direct report for success.
6. Cascade the learning
Frequently, there are other people on the team who would benefit from the training opportunity. Managers who let employees return to their cubicle after a session lose the chance to spread the impact of the new skills beyond the one or two people who attended.
Instead, managers should explicitly plan for employees to share what they learned with other team members. Sharing can occur in a variety of ways: as a presentation in team meetings, in a mentoring or peer learning partnership, as part of a small group discussion, or in projects designed to implement the new skills. Managers and direct reports should decide together what format makes the most sense and who on the team would benefit from participating. Then, the manager can assign the direct report to lead the appropriate session and to report back.