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How to maximise your investment in IT training

By Michael Graham, managing director at Pitman Training

With a million IT positions remaining vacant in Europe (IDC), it doesn't surprise me to hear that these vacancies are not being filled as Europe continues to suffer from an IT skills crisis.

Over the past three years IT directors have had to deal with massive budget cuts. This has meant that their teams are not getting the training that they need to develop their career in IT. Positions remain vacant because recruiters simply employ an IT professional with the required skills already in place.

Firms need to put IT training at the top of their agenda. It is perceived that retraining IT staff in new technologies is slow and costly. But training existing staff is a safe bet. They can pick up new skills easily and fill vacancies from within the company quickly.

Where there has been a training requirement, some companies are ‘panic' training and sending teams of people to help the company meet an immediate need. In such cases web based learning methods are often employed. Probably because there is a perception that it is quick and easy to implement and can be undertaken anytime, anyplace, anywhere. The latest findings from IT Skills Research show that around 11 per cent of organisations are deploying e-learning.

Before a company implements a training programme, I would advise them to take a step back and undertake a needs analysis to examine the company/individual requirements to ensure that they are maximising their investment.

Training is after all a unique requirement, so it doesn't make sense for firms to simply put their teams on courses and expect that they will all benefit. A couple of years ago a major US company trained 4,500 of its staff and feedback from the participants revealed that only 50 felt that they had benefited from the programme.

This low return of investment can be avoided by undertaking a needs analysis prior to the implementation of a training programme. A needs analysis will involve identifying what systems an individual uses to undertake his job. It will examine how he uses the software and how long it takes to complete the task. The analysis will also look at the additional tools that the individual needs to help him in his role.

In addition to assessing skill levels, it is also important to check that the candidate is committed and ready to be trained so that you are spending your budget on those who want to learn. Reputable training providers can help to address this through the use of psychological and skills based tests to identify current ability and willingness to embrace the training programme.

It is also important to consider the training techniques that will be used. As already mentioned, e-learning tends to be favoured. But I recommend a ‘blended learning' approach. Many people think that the term ‘blended learning' refers to some complicated new approach to e-learning. But essentially it is no more than creating a learning solution that incorporates both online and face-to-face elements and using a mix of formats, media and experiences so that the best (i.e. most appropriate) approach can be used for each part of the learning solution. Hence the expressions the "magic is in the mix" or "the beauty is in the blend" are often used to sum up this term.

I also recommend a self-paced style of learning where an individual is not under pressure to keep up with the trainer or the class. Candidates get the most out of this approach as they can only move to the next stage once they have successfully completed the current task.

Conclusion

The UK's lack of commitment to training must be addressed immediately. Not only is it leaving a trail of empty IT positions but it is also costing companies financially – nine out of ten companies suffer computer skills gaps (BCS). This shortfall can be addressed by exploring new ways of delivering learning that are more flexible, cost-effective and, most importantly, aligned to demonstrable performance improvements. Adopting a blended approach is a start, but the issue of staff motivation must also be addressed.

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© 2005 Pitman Training. Reproduced with permission. Any opinions or views contained in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Training Reference.

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