Great leaders start with great training. Activate Group’s customized leadership training uses proven and established processes and principles that bring consistent success for leaders and budding leaders. Our methodology for leader training is superior and scientific.
In our many years of facilitating leadership training, we have identified 4 key factors that mean the difference between successful and unsuccessful corporate training initiatives:
1) Systems, processes and culture
2) Results mindset
3) Trainability
4) Commitment
Training Success Factor 1: Systems, Processes and Culture
CEOs and leadership teams come in all different sizes, shapes, styles and backgrounds, all of which influence:
- Behavior
- Hiring practices
- Motivation
- Degrees of accountability
- Focus levels
- Cultural strengths
Simply put, people directly influence the success or failure of corporate training initiatives.
The key is to understand that corporate training means change, and change begins within the company. As your business consultant / corporate trainer, we:
- Provide processes, systems, knowledge and/or tools that can facilitate change.
- Provide a framework for how your people operate in the new culture.
- Help leadership identify thought processes preventing progress.
It is the senior leadership’s responsibility to show their organization that they are committed to making changes to their own thought processes to drive results—even if that change is not comfortable!
If you have an open mind and are committed to change, then your people will step up.
Training Success Factor 2: Results Mindset
There must be a results mindset for corporate and sales training to succeed. While this seems obvious, it is common to find training programs that are done simply for the sake of training. Many organizations have not thought through the “why” of training, the desired short- and long-term outcomes, and how this will all affect the top and bottom line.
All corporate training should positively impact your bottom line. Management must carefully determine the proper allocation of budget to training and prioritize training to target the initiatives that will significantly:
- Reduces turnover
- Improves productivity
- Increases quality
- Reduces the staff required
- Increases customer retention
- Leads to more sales
Training Success Factor 3: Trainability
This is the most important factor in successful training outcomes because some employees just cannot be trained for a specific role. Would you send an accountant to medical school? Of course not! Accountants naturally possess much different talents than doctors. Talents cannot be taught in a training class. We can teach people skills and knowledge, but if they lack the core talents for a role, they will still underperform in that role. No amount of training will solve the problem of hiring the wrong people for the wrong roles.
Using proven assessment tools, we determine if:
- The right people are in the right roles to begin with
- Planned promotions are the right move
- You are providing training to the right people
The “hope and pray” training method never improves team performance.
Training Success Factor 4: Commitment
Just because an organization made a decision to pursue sales and leadership training does not mean they are committed to that decision. Companies use outside trainers to gain access to better methods and deeper training knowledge. There is a belief that the current internal system is inadequate. So while the team may initially embrace the idea of change, they may resist it when they discover the new ideas conflict with their traditional belief systems.
In the end, management frequently underestimates the challenges and timeframes associated with permanent and consistent change.
Most corporate training initiatives take a minimum of 9 to 12 months, and most leadership teams are not patient enough to wait for the big results. They fail to recognize the value of the programs and stop too early because they lack full commitment.
Great leaders look for trainers who will:
- Help the organization properly evaluate and understand the impact of their systems, processes and culture.
- Define the desired results.
- Structure a program with accurate metrics.
- Focus on training the right people.
- Commit to seeing their programs through to the end.
Ready to take the next step in your leadership training initiatives? Contact us today!
