Training in turbulent times

The year 2008 surprised everyone with high impact global economic downturn. The organizations that were witnessing a growth of 50 – 100% year-on-year suddenly started experiencing a road block. Not only the business available in abundance earlier shrinked; but the employees too started feeling jittery with the current situation.

This resulted in huge attrition, lay-offs and cost cutting leaving very little for the organization to do for the development of its employees. All the training methodologies suddenly started looking like jewels which are good to look at but very difficult to buy.

All of us in the field of training must have experienced a situation like this at our rrspective organizations and businesses. So, what do we do? Do we wait for the situation to improve or look for avenues to address this challenge at our end?

I decided to go by the latter. In the process I came across a very intresting, easily deployable and cost effective solution called e-learning. Like many of us I too had a tremendous mental block of choosing e-learning over classroom training. It took the vendor almost 2 months of effort before I finally gave in. I must admit, i wasn't very confident of my decision but as an employee i had a few targets which were to be achieved and the current market scenario was not making it happen in the traditional way.

So, here I was, taking my organization on a new path. A path which we had not walked before. A path which was still unexplored in the coutry to that extent. But most certainly a path which showed a lot of promise. A path which was the answer to upgrading your workforce in the current economic situation.

Now, 3 months down the line, when I look back I feel really proud of myself for going the e-learning way. This transition not only saved a lot of cot that my organization was incurring on training but also gave a different dimension to the training methodologies in the organization. The employees in my organizations at various levels have actually come up to me and appreciated this method of learning.

Well, I do agree that it is too early to form an opinion about e-larning as a training tool but the experience so far has been nothing less than wonderful.

I will keep sharing my experiences and challenges through my space as often as I can and would appreciate your thoughts and questions also.





Important Insight: There are many players who offer e-learning in the market today as everyone wants to ride this wave of change. But be very careful while choosing your training partner. Here are a few things that you must consider:

1. What are the various training libraries that they offer?

2. Do they have training courses to offer to all employees working in different roles in your organization

3. Is the course content approved by industry experts

4. Do you get any certification post the course completion?

5. What are the other value adds that they offer?


With these tips I sign-off for now. Will be back with more training insights till then keep reading.



Good Luck!