The training was a failure. All of that time, all of that effort, all of that money, just gone, just out the window and gone. What other explanation was there, after all, for drop after drop in the hard numbers from a talented sales team in the wake of a training and development session?
It could have happened at any business, but for the purposes of this story, it happened at a large technology company with headquarters in the Midwest. The top executives, frantic for answers, called a corporate training firm. “Our sales are down,” the executives said. “We need training.”
That technology company was part of a large percentage of businesses that continued to invest in corporate training, education and development during the last couple of years. Thousands and thousands of others turned away from training, unable or unwilling to spend more money during the recession.
But a panel of more than 30 industry experts and academic professionals agreed that it would have been far better for businesses to continue to spend on training during those tough times — to invest in their employees and to show the extent of that investment, to improve the business and keep it up to date, to be in a better position when the economy ultimately turns around — than to tighten the budget. The same rule applies now, too.
“Training is always important but even more so in times like this,” says Pat Galagan, executive editor, ASTD. “This is when you really have to come out of the gate running. It’s a big mistake to cut your training budget when times are tough because it leaves you unprepared for better times.”
