Walking into The Founders Inn for the Annual Institute of the Training Officers Consortium we were greeted by a vibrant and enthusiastic group of government employees dedicated to making an impact in their organizations. One of the presentations we were fortunate to attend described how the mission of training in government has changed in the last six months.
Recent budget battles and sequestration have hit training budgets hard, but the need to motivate employees and do more with less is greater than ever. This breakout session on cost-effective training investment decisions offered key insights into how agency training officers plan to navigate this new normal. A set of Government Accountability Office mandates handed down in September 2012 has now codified the need to identify and prioritize mission critical training so that the most important training needs are addressed first.
The presenter recommended a multi-step process, and we will share a few of the highlights. In addition to identifying the most critical training needs in your organization, training professionals need to determine whether they should centralize training content to meet the needs of the entire agency, or decentralize content to meet the needs of various divisions. The latter enhances the ability to deliver a customized product to the right individuals, which will maximize return on investment.
Should agencies develop content in-house or outsource to professional organizations? The latter can often be more cost effective and gives training officers more flexibility in choosing the provider with the most expertise in whatever they deem mission critical.
How should the content be delivered – in the classroom, online, or both? With travel budgets severely reduced online training has become more practical unless a live content provider is able to come to you – something Brookings Executive Education is capable of doing with our new BEE with YOU offering.
Finally, agencies need ways to track the costs of training and measure the benefits. Benefit measurement is often difficult, but with resources like the Kirkpatrick model or the BEE Impact assessments you can rest assured knowing that limited budgets are having maximum impact.
These are trying times, but we saw first-hand that there is a committed group of people at the ready to tackle these tough issues.
