Training Done Right: A Path to Profitability

By Daniel Bobinski

Does your organization consider training to be an expense? Maybe training is seen as a necessary evil that pulls people away from getting real work done. If so, you’re not alone. But if this is the case, your company may be missing out on a powerful profit center.

Let me be clear. If an organization simply goes through the motions in order to check the training box, it’s absolutely true training can be an expensive waste of time. However, when training has a specific purpose and is conducted well, it can be a remarkable way to improve your bottom line. The key that makes the difference? Training must address specific issues and be done right. 

Let me share a story to illustrate this. Several years ago, I was hired by a large manufacturing company where, for years, leadership had dismissed training as unimportant. Their philosophy was essentially “sink or swim.” They would throw new employees into the job and replace those who couldn’t figure things out fast enough for the manager’s liking.

After the company had a change in senior leadership, they initially gave minimal attention to training. After all, production numbers looked good on paper, so why fix what isn’t broken?

Then came the wake-up call. The newly hired HR director conducted an analysis and discovered something alarming. Several costly accidents had occurred over the previous year, each costing hundreds of thousands of dollars. One accident cost the company in excess of half a million dollars. The glaring truth? Each accident was directly attributed to inadequate training. 

Suddenly, training became a top priority.

When I was called in to serve as a workplace learning strategist, my first step was to conduct a thorough analysis of existing training. Think of when you visit a doctor. No clear-thinking doctor prescribes any treatment without first conducting a proper diagnosis. 

During that time, I discovered that beyond the expensive accidents, poor training was also the reason for excessive turnover as well as the reason there was so much overtime. I also learned that the “training-is-a-waste-of-time” mindset had infected the entire organizational culture.

After my analysis, I requested a meeting with all the managers to review training fundamentals and secure their buy-in. The new senior executives started the meeting by openly acknowledging the past training problems. They then pledged full support to invest in good training and that purposeful training was now a priority. 

The managers needed to hear that. It was a crucial commitment from the top that signaled a cultural shift the company needed.  

During this process, we discovered a middle manager with a genuine passion for training. Leadership appointed him as the internal champion for the initiative. That was another critical factor in their success. Any employee who understands both the organization’s operations and the importance of proper training can be a powerful force helping the organization achieve its mission. The company created a new position for this training champion. 

Working together, this person and I built a comprehensive training system from the ground up. We analyzed jobs and created detailed duty-and-task lists. We implemented a skills validation system. We identified subject matter experts in each department who had teaching aptitude and trained them in proper instructional techniques. 

We also developed online learning modules that standardized fundamental knowledge for basic positions. Those modules ensured everyone got trained the same way, plus they saved subject matter experts a lot of time. 

Here’s the remarkable thing. The skills validation system and improved training techniques reduced training time by over 20 percent in most positions. In some positions, training time was cut by 50 percent. 

The online learning modules eliminated hundreds of man-hours previously spent teaching basic knowledge. At the same time, those modules gave trainees a better understanding of how their work contributed to the company’s broader mission.

The ripple effects of this effort were both substantial and measurable. There were fewer mistakes, reduced waste, fewer accidents, shorter training periods, increased employee proficiency, better retention and, yes, higher profits. 

It seems unbelievable, but the company realized a financial return on their training investment in less than 12 months. What had been viewed as a cost center turned into a profit center. Plus, the managers loved it because employees who went through the new training achieved higher proficiency levels than their predecessors.

The Benefits of an Annual Checkup

Even if your organization’s training programs are adequate, I recommend an annual checkup to prevent gradual deterioration. Here’s a diagnostic checklist to consider:

• Do executives genuinely value training and communicate that value?
• Do front-line supervisors and managers reinforce the importance of training?
• Do those assigned to conduct on-the-job training approach it with enthusiasm and commitment?
• Have your trainers been taught effective instructional techniques?
• Are duties and tasks clearly defined for each position?
• Do you have systems for tracking training completion and prompting those who fall behind?
• Does training connect to measurable performance outcomes?

I also strongly advocate leveraging well-designed online learning to augment traditional training approaches. When properly developed, online training can standardize fundamental knowledge and save considerable time. The qualifier “properly developed” is crucial here. Online learning works best when it’s highly interactive, engaging, and directly applicable to job responsibilities. 

In other words, stay away from cheaply produced online learning. Generic, passive content masquerading as training delivers minimal value and is typically a waste of time and money.

Training is not something to take lightly. In today’s fast-changing business environment, learning must keep pace. This isn’t optional. Organizations that learn faster than their competition have people who adapt more quickly to market changes. They also retain top talent better and outperform competitors. 

Botton line, when training is conducted well, managed well, and supported throughout the organization, it becomes one of your most powerful competitive advantages and profit generators. The key question isn’t whether you can afford proper training, it’s whether you can afford to go without it.

Daniel Bobinski, Th.D. is the author of the best-selling book “Creating Passion-Driven Teams” and the owner of Workplace Excellence. Also a certified behavioral analyst, Daniel consults and conducts training on workplace effectiveness and leadership development. He can be reached at danielbobinski@protonmail.com or eqfactor.net.