I was returning an urgent call, the other day, by a client, wanted some explanation about the cost of a project. The project he had recently launched, related to the development of a social marketing solution for his company. The contractor has given him a fair price, but he thought he could lower the price even more (crisis times, you see)!
The thing he insisted the most and he was unable to accept was the training cost! He insisted that the specific training was not at all necessary since all of his associates (and owners of the project) were knowledgeable on the social networks and of the marketing involved. For this reason, he thought that he could skip that particular activity (and the ensuing cost, of course).
That’s why he communicate with me (no, it wasn’t a project I was involved in)! He said how much he appreciated my opinion (we had cooperated before, in the context of a different project), and ask me if I could help him (no charge of course)! I explained to him, that training was a core component of the solution his contractor offered him, and, my advice to him, was that he shouldn’t skip it without proper thought!
For me (say it a professional bias if you like it), training is a core function in every project either concerns knowledge transfer, product/service development or anything else. I have witnessed too many times, over and over again, CEOs to cut down the training costs, for budget reduction reasons. Soon they found out that their projects due to this reduction yielded only the minimal results and cost them multiple times more of the estimated cost.
If you want to have a successful project you should design carefully the training scheme and the knowledge transfer towards the people they finally would be the operators of the project. You should prepare the owners of the projects (the people finally will operate or/and interact with the outputs of the project) to be promptly ready and autonomous (without outside help), to operate effectively on the results produced and, ultimately, provide the estimated results!
Without proper and in-depth training at the involved systems, procedures, client support, quality assistance, research and development, business development, marketing functions and to all the other minor and major functions involved at the launching of a new product or service, the investment is futile.
This is something that many clever CEOs have started realize today and require faster training procedures, no matter the cost!
You cannot appreciate too much the training. Is a factor of multiplication of the all other function you have invested on and if properly done, a sure ROI (Return on Investment).
Think about it! There is no substitute today in business for good training and, usually, there is no such thing, as enough training or practice! It is a valuable asset for your business, your employees and for the future of your enterprise!
What do you think? Send me your thoughts!
