Will Kenny
Independent Training Consultants:
"Think Pieces"
(free articles)
Best Training Practices
Will Kenny
3927 York Ave N
Robbinsdale, MN 55422
612-978-3050
The Entitlement Perception
if your training function did not already exist, would your clients create it?
(reprinted from The Training Tipsheet)
These days, as we listen to the vigorous debate about the national budget, we seem to hear an awful lot about "entitlement." In terms of this particular debate, it refers to programs like Medicare and Social Security.
And "entitlement" comes out as something of a dirty word in this debate. It has moved beyond its original technical definition to connote a solution that no reasonable person would devise. It suggests programs that are run the way they are run because that's how they have always been run. It implies that the people who use these programs will not listen to the least suggestion that there might be other ways to do things.
Sound familiar?
Oh, maybe you do not think this being said about your training function. But in many, many organizations, other parts of the company view the training department rather as an entitlement, in the sense just described.
How many departments use training services because they believe they have to, rather than because they value those services? How many are just doing what has always been done?
How many managers in other areas of the company see little prospect for change in how the training function works, little acceptance of suggestions from non-training staff?
Ask yourself these questions about your training function are:
- If you didn't exist, would they create you? and
- If they did, would training look like you do now?
Now, mind you, I'm not saying those perceptions are right. But they are important. Whether or not these beliefs and attitudes among other departments are appropriate and accurate, they influence your ability to contribute to the success of the company.
In those other departments, they ask themselves, "Is training the logical response to a business need in our company?"
Tough question. But if you can help them answer that question with a resounding "Yes!", whatever it takes, you can count on a more successful future for both your training function and your company.
© 2011 Best Training Practices -- Will Kenny
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