Align training with business objectives

Posted by Charlie Duff in Managing people on Tue, 03/08/2010 - 09:08

Kick-starting our training and HR focus for August, Donald Taylor reflects on the changes in training affecting L&D - does training need to get more professional? 

 
 
For a long time – possibly for too long – training was something that took place in the background of daily operations. It was something organisations felt obliged to do. That is, they felt obliged until things got bad and then, like other costs (such as marketing and buildings maintenance) training spending was slashed until times got better.
 

But in the recently finished recession, things changed. Yes, some training teams have been badly hit, but overall, we missed the slash-and burn response of previous recessions. The reason is that people now know that skills matter. In many cases, organisations have taken across-the-board pay cuts or gone on short working weeks until times get better. The explicit reason: when the recession ends, the company must have the skills to expand production. What a contrast to the downturns of the 1970s and '80s.

To read the rest of the article you'll need to log in below

If you've forgotten your details click here for a reminder

If you haven't got an account, it's free and only takes a minute to set one up,
click here to register

Create your free account

  • Access all articles in full
  • View multimedia
  • Receive email bulletins
  • Private messaging
Register now

Login

Forgotten your password?

Editor's Welcome

 

Hello! And welcome back as we enter 2012, with a busy year ahead of us all. With talk of double-dip recessions, a possible partial or even full break-up of the Eurozone and unemployment rates set to hit nearly 9%, topics such as organisational streamlining, staff resilience and talent management are likely to be on many an HR professional's lips over the next 12 months.
 
But to lighten the gloom here in the UK, we also have the Queen's Diamond Jubilee and its attendant public holidays to look forward to at the start of June. Followed by two weeks of Olympic Games from 27 July to 12 August and the Paralympics from 29 August to 9 September, each generating their own excitement, but also issues to work through for hard-pressed HR departments trying to sort out the multifarious staffing issues in advance.
 
So with an interesting but challenging year to come, HRZone promises to be with you, supporting you all the way and providing our usual insightful blend of news, analysis, community blogs and expert comment to help you sort the wheat from the chaff. As ever, we love to hear from you too so feel free to either post your words of wisdom to our blog section yourself or, in the case of longer, more in-depth ‘expert voice’ articles, drop me a line with any ideas to cath.everett@siftmedia.co.uk.....
 
Cath Everett
HRZone Editor 
 
 
Here's our pick of some of the latest hot topics on the site:
 

HR Yearbook 2011

HR Heath and wellbeing

Related articles

Related Whitepapers

Attached Images

tie new job recruit