Do Not Let Managers Off the Learning Hook

Just because you have a centralized training function at your organization does not mean that you can let line managers off the “learning hook.”

What we have learned from hundreds of instructional design consulting projects is that the involvement of managers in the development of their team members is paramount to the success of any learning initiative.  When it comes to skill adoption and impact, manager participation makes all the difference.

What can happen when managers no longer feel invested in the training their employees receive?  Typically they:

• Have less input and impact at the outset to ensure that the behaviors and skills make sense.
• Do not have the prerequisite buy-in required regarding the business relevance of the initiative to drive and manage change.
• Are unaware of the context or content of the training making performance coaching, reinforcement and accountability difficult.

The outcome? Less chance that your training is relevant and actually applied on the job.