Alignment Accuracy

"More is better" is a reliable rule of thumb when it comes to potato chips, but not necessarily so when it comes to training. Training is a good thing, but more training is not necessarily better, says Riaz Khadem, coauthor of "Total Alignment: Aligning Vision, Strategy, and Execution for Organizational Success." What's missing from many corporate training programs, he stresses, is alignment.

Training budgets are tight and shouldn't be wasted on training that isn't aligned with unique contribution to the bottom line, Khadem argues. Effective training begins with clarifying accountability and identifying the specific skills needed by each person, and ends with insuring high competency in those skills and correlation with results.

Here's how he says you can do it:
• Identify each person's unique accountability. Exactly what each person is accountable for should be clear. Khadem says to ask, for example, who is accountable for sales—the salesperson or the sales manager? It should be the salesperson. "The manager of sales should be accountable for such results as a percentage of salespeople over quota," he explains. "'Total Alignment' introduces a methodology for defining unique and non-overlapping accountability that is aligned with the organization’s vision and strategy."
• Identify the skills that match each person's accountability. The aligned skills for the salesperson could include prospecting, qualifying, presenting, and closing. But for the sales manager, he suggests, different skills are needed such as training, motivating, accompanying, and strategizing. "While the sales manager has interest in increasing sales," says Khadem, "his main focus is not sales, but supporting the salespeople so they sell."
• Design and deliver training to increase competency in identified skills. Once the core skills are identified, an effective process is required to increase competency. A simple evaluation tool can be used to assess competency on a scale of one to four, he says. "Once the existing level is determined, each person develops a plan for increasing competency in consultation with his or her boss," Khadem points out. "The plan could include receiving specific training available within the organization or from an external source."
• Practice of the skill should be an integral part of training. Remember the old adage: Practice makes perfect. “The practice component of the training is so important that training programs should not end without practice, reflection, and more training," he notes. "Since the skills are aligned with accountability for results, reflection should include correlating skills improvement with results, and enhancing the training program to improve results."

source: inside learning newsletter