Hello everyone
My organisation has recently expanded globally and now has some overseas offices, which are not large enough to warrant their own in-house full-time trainers. Instead, certain individuals at these locations will take on the responsibilities for training their local staff/new starters etc. It is not going to be possible to send trainers from the UK out to these offices to run training.
I am keen to standardise things as much as is possible, to try and make sure the opportunities for development that are offered do not vary depending on whether you work at Head Office or not!
I am starting to look at putting together structure/guidelines/plans for the training that will take place in these overseas offices and I was wondering if anyone else had recently worked on anything similar and would share any little pearls of wisdom?
The kind of thing I am thinking of is – how do you handle feedback and evaluation? How can I insure the standard of the material delivered is consistent? Should the trainer be monitored every so often? Should TNA be carried out locally or centrally?
I would be very interested in any hints or tips that anyone is willing to share!
Thanks very much
Lucy
Lucy Sleigh
5 Responses
globs of info
We do this as an outsourcer for a global client. Touching on the f/b and evaluation, we had this isssue. The problem was the local bases paid for the programmes, and asked for feedback, but the structure of the programme makes it unlikely trainers (short term hires) could give worthwhile responses. Also, if the learners know their performance is being shared with their home base, the relationshipo with the course changes, and the value can be diminishes. We “solved” it by asking a question or two on the end of course f/b that was specifically marked “this may be shared with your local base”. That naturally changed the nature of the answers, eg they could be used to “score points”. One multi I worked for concentrated on the nomination procvess and didn’t do the eval/feedback, as they chose people who were pre-assesed to benefit. In terms of a global delivery, I’d specify outcomes and quality measures etc., thenhelp them choose providers, and give HO support to develop their capacity. BUt there is a lot of tricky stuff here, not least the strategy for keeping it all in synch. Ask offgroup if you like.
Global strategy, local training
Lucy
One of our clients was in a very similar position. They decided what absolutely had to be done at the centre and scheduled this in ways to minimise expenditure and inconvenience. They developed distance and online materials where that was possible, though this took some time. They recruited local trainers for a region (these were very big regions) and brought them to the centre for two weeks to train them together, brief them on the materials that would need to be delivered locally, get their input (not just to give them ownership but also to improve the training designs so it would fit many situations), and to explore what local variations were appropriate (eg due to culture). They then rolled out an initial wave of training. Evaluation was exactly as it was at the centre. Ongoing needs analysis was done by the local trainers but with lots of distant support from the centre.
For the most part this worked extremely well. In my view this was because of the quality of the initial investment in their training and briefing. But one trainer failed to make the grade. This was spotted early as the evaluations were clearly not as positive as the others. Some additional support was pumped in, including a visit by an experienced trainer, but as this did not turn around the situation the person was let go and a new trainer appointed.
One final point: all the above are tactics. These logistical arrangements should enable a good L&D strategy to work in practice, but there is much more fundemental thinking to be done to create a strategy before you get to these practicalities. If you don’t have a proper strategy in place then trying to sort out the local arrangements first is unlikely to succeed.
Best of luck
Graham
Global Training Strategy
Hi Lucy
I have a Global strategy document I recently produced for our organisation which I would be more than happy to share with you. We are probably a bit further down the line than yourselves as we have grown to the extent where we are recruiting regional Training Managers. However having said that we have worked through the stage you are currently at, and I would be more than happy to share some of my experiences of Managing a Global function when there are no L&D professionals in country.
Please feel free to call me on 01793 815654.
Regards
Bridget
Establish clear principles
Lucy, rather than being too prescriptive about the detail of what training happens I suggest you concentrate everyone’s minds on at least following the same principles. A very simple framework for this is the 3 Box System see http://www.paulkearns.co.uk/downloading/FTLC%20Evolution%20Part%203%20attitude.pdf
This will also go a long way to sorting out the practical evaluation problems and enable you to get feedback/reporting in a common format.
Hope that helps.
Thanks!
Hello again
I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who contributed. I know have several more areas to consider.
Lucy