16 Sep To Invest or Not to Invest: That is the Question
To Invest or Not to Invest: That is the Question
Simon Wallace | 16th September 2014
To invest or not to invest, now that is the question often left without action in many organisations, especially where the question involves training and development!
Why do learning organisations invest in their people but many other organisations struggle to embrace the Human Resource function’s determination to gain, train and retain?
In my experience training and development requests are often rejected by the CEO / Board (Senior Management) because the business case for the investment is not clear and not because the organisation doesn’t want to invest.
To convince the Senior Management to invest in training and development the HR champion needs to answer their thinking, namely what impact will this investment have on the organisation’s:
- Strategy
- Profitability
- Sustainability
That means that HR must support their training and development requests with a business case that demonstrates an understanding of the organisation’s strategic direction; identifies those positions in the organisation’s structure that will make or break the realisation of this strategy and identifies the skill gaps that must be trained first to improve performance of this strategic workforce using effective Training Needs Analysis practice.
Requests must be set out within a robust communication strategy that confirms expectations (delivers business strategy); has a charter or index for measurement; organises (structures) the business for this change and sets out development interventions required to support this communication.
This fully costed, resourced communication plan for development will get more attention from your Senior Management and far more likely to get positive investment action as a result.
Innovation starts with you / your people.
Cut investment in people and you will always get what you always got!
How do you approach / respond to requests for training and development?
About the Author
Simon Wallace is founder of The Whole Thing Group and passionate about performance improvement. Creative entrepreneur and trusted advisor to some great companies that are achieving great things.
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