What Are Today’s Top Training Priorities? Insights from Industry Leaders
by Carl Eidson, Ph.D.
In the past few months, I have had the privilege of attending two of our industry’s leading professional conferences: American Society for Training & Development (ASTD) and the Society for Pharmaceutical and Biotech Trainers (SPBT).
I call this a privilege because it gave me the opportunity to meet and greet over 150 industry leaders, including VPs of organizational development, training directors, senior facilitators, and a wide range of industry consultants. I had in-depth conversations with at least 50 of these industry leaders regarding the business challenges their companies are facing. I left these two conferences with a great deal of fresh, up-to-the-minute information on the rapidly changing market conditions, recent competitive threats, latest economic challenges, and additional skills needed to succeed in the new economy that seems to be emerging following the recession.
The most interesting take-aways I gathered from these conversations were comments that revealed a lot about the new kinds of customers salespeople are trying to access and the new business climate in which leaders are trying to inspire higher levels of performance. A representative sample of these comments are shared below, most of them in response to my question, “What is your top training and development priority between now and the end of the year?”
- “Given the new economic pressures, tighter client budgets, and additional layers and levels of approval needed for signature, our sales training needs to prepare salespeople to add value at the customer interface, differentiate beyond our product features, and sell customized solutions that include a mix of offerings and services rather than individual products. This new kind of customer and more challenging sales environment requires a new set of skills in our salesforce, and we are not quite sure what that will look like.”
- “Due to budget cuts, and higher expectations on the part of shareholders, my boss and the executive team are demanding measurable results and specific business impact from all of our leadership development initiatives. It is not enough to merely offer high-quality training courses; we must strategically rethink what courses we offer to be sure we have the right curriculum over different levels of leadership, to be sure we are preparing leaders to execute our company’s strategy—and in a way that is consistent with our values.”
- “Because our revenue has declined and customers are more cautious with their spending, we need more help from our sales support staff and subject matter experts to develop skills with building trust with customers, uncovering their underlying business issues, and overcoming objections with the right kind of technical information directly linked with their concerns and sources of pain. So I guess what I am saying is that I need sales training for people who don’t consider themselves salespeople. How can we do that with our engineers, scientists, and top experts in our company? They would certainly reject the notion of sending them to traditional sales training since their professional education prepared them to make technical decisions, not influence customers.”
- “My problem is that managers are too busy to coach around the skills that their direct reports are learning during training. In some cases, they are too busy to attend the training, and therefore aren’t even familiar with what is covered in training. How can we find a cost-effective way to engage managers in supporting training, and encouraging their people to apply skills on the job?”
- “Our budget is temporarily frozen due to an upcoming merger. What are some no-cost or low-cost ways we can provide on-the-job learning experiences for our leaders?”
- “For the past 18 months, we have been able to do very little training due to budget cuts. Now that things are starting to turn around, we have more than a year of overdue training requests. What do you recommend for prioritizing training needs since we can’t take all of this on at the same time?”
How would you answer the question, “What are your top training and development priorities between now and the end of the year?” How is your situation the same as or different from the comments I heard at recent conferences? We want to hear from you.
Comments (7) •
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10:57 AM
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Hi Carl -
Good, useful information! Glad you had a good experience at the conferences.
What I’m seeing is interest in skills for virtual teams, managing and working in a matrix, and global management (the previous two plus cross-cultural versatility and effectiveness), and lots of interest in on-line delivery.
Be well!
-Kalen Hammann
10:23 PM
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The priority set for the next quarter in our organisation is to focus more on technical training with respect to forthcoming business opportunities. We find it so appropriate that technical skills are more important than that of soft skills. However improving soft skills is individuals’ priority and will find their ways to improve upon them for their job sustenance. But what is more important is how to carry out the job technically correct. Technical knowledge here means subject knowledge with proper application of tools like systems, software, policies, procedures etc. without missing the deadlines.
-Rajan
1:07 PM
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Rajan,
Thank you for reminding me of the critical importance of technical competence. I agree that if an individual is deficient in use of systems, software, or procedures, there is little hope for being a strong performer.
I would like to add that when technically competent individuals also become proficient in soft skills, their work performance improves. This carries a tangible business value beyond personal fulfillment. One of our recent studies showed that 92% of technically competent employees report increases in work productivity when they also learn to be versatile in their approach to communication with others. For example, the flexibility one uses in their interactions with others increases productivity since less time is wasted resolving conflicts or unraveling misunderstandings.
While I believe in the power of soft skills, I strongly agree with you that soft skills alone will not take an employee or a company where they need to go. It takes a balance of technical and soft skills to skillfully steer around unexpected obstacles.
-Carl Eidson
10:23 AM
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Kalen,
Thank you for sharing what you are hearing in the marketplace regarding the top priorities for training & development for the 2nd half of this calendar year.
I can confirm that clients are asking for help with virtual learning. Another hot-button issue you mentioned is cross-cultural communication skills. Most recently, the specific needs in this area have been global negotiation skills, useful in creating win/win outcomes when negotiating with customers, suppliers, and cross-functional colleagues from other cultures.
-Carl Eidson
6:09 PM
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Values-based training for leaders is definitely a high priority. The definition of “ethical leadership” is evolving at the same time that the pace of change and complexity of work are increasing. Customers are seeking out ethical companies (the ones that are acting responsibly, not just pretending to act responsibly by creating jobs with responsible-sounding titles or products with catchy “green” names). Company leaders will need to take a leap into previously uncharted territory in order to keep up, and when they leap we need for them to also be grounded in the values and principles that the company stands for.
These challenges will place a huge burden on companies in the coming year, and will need to be a theme in leadership development programs.
I am also seeing an increase in the need for cross-cultural communication and conflict resolution. Thanks for sharing your observations from the conferences.
-Linda Fisher Thornton
2:25 PM
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Linda, I’m so glad you brought up the important topic of Ethical Leadership. I agree that all around us there are examples of a lack of ethics in leadership. Some might point to precipitating causes such as shareholder pressure for short term gains, loss of revenue due to the economic downturn, or added pressure and responsibilities that leaders are under due to downsizing. I also agree that the longer this trend goes unchecked, the more organizations are going to need assistance with developing leaders who demonstrate solid business ethics. When leaders are driven by unchanging values such as integrity, compassion, and resilience, and they document their leadership purpose, it is much easier to navigate treacherous waters when there is an ethical compass guiding them. In the course Leading From Within, we talk about the need for both Form and Essence in Leadership. Form refers to the external behaviors required for solid management practices. Essence refers to the core values that drive a leader’s purpose. An outcome of the course is an individualized Leadership Purpose statement that serves as a future road map. I personally completed this course about 6 years ago and still have my Leadership Purpose statement on the wall in my office. On days when it seems the winds of change might be trying to blow me off course, I use my Leadership Purpose and its underlying values to help me make decisions consistent with my own values and the values of my company.
-Carl Eidson
3:44 PM
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Linda, I couldn’t agree more with your comment about Ethical Leadership. I find it interesting that most organizations focus on Leadership Competencies, particularly in their leadership assessments, yet ignore Leadership Values/Character.
Because we believe so strongly in the importance of integrating Leadership Competencies and Character, our standard approach to leadership 360 feedback is to include behaviors to measure Character as well as Competencies. We have found that there are three core dimensions to Leadership Character, what we call: Personal Values, Social Values, and Organizational Values. We sometimes customize this content using wording from client corporate values. See the Leader Navigator within the Leadership Effectiveness tab on our website.
-Michael Leimbach