Gaining valuable knowledge costs money. If you neglect the stage of planning and choosing the right training company, then the apparent savings will turn out to be unnecessary expenses. There are no shortcuts here. Do you expect fantastic results? Consider training as a long-term investment. Let’s analyze the direct and indirect benefits of participating in good training.
Right investments or sunk costs
Let’s start with the obvious: marketing and promotion of the event, communication with participants, room rental, catering, preparation of training materials, possible license fees, trainer’s remuneration. Is any of these elements the most important? From the organizer’s point of view, everyone plays their role. It is a single puzzle that must fit perfectly with other pieces to create a complete picture.
- And what does it look like from the perspective of the training participant? What do you expect?
- A convenient location and meeting place that affects the comfortable course of the meeting? It’s clear.
- Carefully crafted training materials? This is also important. Especially since the materials exist today in a convenient electronic version.
- A trainer who will skillfully guide you through a demanding training program? You have no doubts here, right?
- A price that will allow you to purchase the training? What should be the price? Is it attractive and competitive on the market? Or maybe it’s not the price, but the training should be competitive and unmatched on the market. The price will only be a derivative of it. After all, very good things are worth their price, right?
Training not only can, but should be worth more than its price in the long run. Why? Because – and it is worth repeating this on every occasion – that the cost of training is a long-term investment. In a situation where the training does not meet expectations, its cost … Grows. This is how it grows and only generates losses. Why?
Let’s calculate what alternative expenses the organization incurs when sending employees to poor training, the advantage of which is a seemingly low price. First things first:
- training costs,
- costs of employees’ absence from work,
- poorly applied knowledge and the time needed later to supplement it.
As a result, employees will be accompanied by justified frustration at best, and measurable losses in the company at worst. As a result, a hasty decision will lead to the need to purchase training again from a training company that provides a guarantee of quality. A double waste of time and money. A bitter lesson about apparent savings, lost opportunities and potential benefits that will not materialize.
Priceless as an experienced coach
How do you imagine the competence of a trainer? What do you expect from him? Experience in conducting training? Communication skills and skills in transferring knowledge? Credibility, so that he knows the discussed issues both from the theoretical point of view, but above all understands their practical application? We will agree here, right?
The role of the trainer does not only come down to passing on knowledge, but also skillfully explaining it and showing how to apply it in practice. This is what exercises, discussion and answering questions or dispelling doubts are for. A dream coach is a person with experience who understands your perspective. She knows the specifics of the issues discussed, because it is her daily bread.
If you are a careful observer and pay attention to the way the trainer works, you will learn a lot about conducting training, communication in practice and the method of interaction with the group. An experienced trainer will be a great guide in this regard. This knowledge will be useful not only at work.
The price of the training is not what you actually pay for
Why are you taking this training? Is it the decision of the HR department that referred you to the training with the team? Practical reason – do you just need new competences? Do you want a certificate confirming your knowledge? Do you want to get promoted or train to change jobs?
The value of the training is not the certificate itself, but the ability to actually use the acquired knowledge at work. You can measure the effectiveness of the training by seeing whether you introduce daily improvements, how you solve problems or introduce systemic changes.
Good training expands the scope of your field of perception and the vocabulary you use. Real-life examples of business cases give the theory a practical dimension that you can relate to yourself. Thanks to this, you see and understand more: you follow trends, notice changes, skillfully name and identify problems. In this way, your knowledge and that of other training participants will translate into the effectiveness of the entire organization.