The trend continues as Corporate America shuns consultants in favor of keeping work in house despite an already lean staff, which raises an important issue. As we struggle to do more with our current knowledge resources, how do we continue to support employee education with limited budgets?
The Expense of Human Capital
It's simple - self-taught employees. An autodidactic workforce. All it takes is for management to start viewing employee education as an investment in human capital resources rather than an expense.
Based on a two-year study, the American Society for Training and Development (ASTD) reports "companies that invest more heavily in training are more successful and profitable. Such companies are also more highly valued on Wall Street, and their market value is growing." (SOURCE: American Society for Training and Development). Yet, how do we justify significant budget increases for training after downsizing half a department and jettisoning consultants?
Just five years ago, we encouraged employees to return to college with Tuition Assistance Programs (TAPs), or we sent them to a respected business school for an expensive executive crash course on the flavor-of-the-month business trend. Those days are gone, and we need a better way to speed the uptake of knowledge among our remaining staff, while flying below the budget radar.
Bringing Education In House
I recently posed this very issue of employee education in lean times to my team. I found their views on the situation very interesting and reminiscent of the views of Charles D. Hayes, autodidactic and author of Self University: The Price of Tuition Is the Desire to Learn: Your Degree Is a Better Life, who said, "Answers to our most pressing problems are found in self-education and the willingness to use reason in reaching equitable solutions."
Building Your Own Autodidactic Team
My team felt much of what they needed to know for their ever-expanding roles could be self-taught through any number of low-cost avenues. Hence, our team would be autodidactic in the absence of formal corporate classroom training programs.
Continuing the discussion, we brainstormed steps we could take to begin executing our in-house autodidactic training program, including the following:
- Develop a Long-term Vision. There needs to be a tie between the long-term vision of the department and where employees should focus their education. This way, you are spending education dollars on a project likely to happen. Determine the vision, share the vision and ask what education each person needs to accomplish the vision.
- Solidify Management Support. Management support is critical to the success of your program. Management should lead by example, passing along articles, buying books to read as a department, and encouraging train-the-trainer sessions after seminars. This type of "executive knowledge sharing" has a tremendous impact on helping employees understand management's focus.
- Encourage Employees to Share Knowledge. Sharing knowledge is imperative to a successful autodidactic program. Encourage employees to discuss what they've learned and "prototype" with their new skills. Sharing allows everyone to learn from each other and also serves as a way to "test" employees' knowledge and ensure their self-education time is productive.
- Permit On-site Learning and Authorize Self-Studies. World-class companies like 3M give employees personal innovation time. Likewise, you need to determine a set time for employees to research educational topics and develop a personal curriculum. I devoted Friday afternoons for employees to read on the clock or experiment with what they've learned.
You can also give people concentrated time for self-study. This time could be a 3- to 5-day activity once per year rather than miscellaneous time throughout the week. What the company is really sponsoring here is time, not actual cash outlay for classes or seminars.
Permitting training during work hours underscores that the company is willing to invest in their employees' knowledge. If management wants to invest, it will encourage employees to invest even more in themselves. However, employees should expect to do most of their continuing education on their own time.
- Allow Book Purchases. Each employee should have the authority to purchase $200-$500 worth of books per year provided they plan to read them and/or use them as reference material. They should purchase the books when they want without prior approval and should expense them. They should know the books are the property of the company, but they are allowed to keep the books as long as they are employed.
- Support Attendance at Cyber Seminars and E-learning Courses. Encourage employees to attend one-hour cyber seminars and/or register for e-learning courses. Many times these educational opportunities are provided by vendors at no charge or a minimal cost. E-learning courses typically cost $500, which requires just a low-level approval. As long as the topic is quasi-objective, employees should be encouraged to participate.
- Ask Employees to Attend Industry Conferences. Many industries sponsor conferences such as the American Marketing Association. These conferences are usually free and quality learning experiences.
- Develop a Mentor Program. A mentoring program provides a tremendous experience for both new and tenured employees. The new employee profits from the shared knowledge, while the tenured employee can once again see their industry from a "new" perspective, leading to new ideas. The tenured employee can also introduce the new employee to a network of area professionals to gain an "outside" view.
Once you determined a vision, gained management's support, and set the parameters, it's time to execute your in-house autodidactic training program. You'll quickly get employees up to speed and keep them there.
Keeping an employee learning and engaged is one of the most important things a company can do. Employees will come to work every day with new ideas, a fresh perspective, and will approach things more creatively.