“After the training, my mindset seemed to change for a few weeks, but after a while, I returned to my old management style.” - This is a question we often receive from personnel and corporate planning staff at companies that have implemented managerial training. If the workplace does not change no matter how many times the training is repeated, people within the company will even begin to complain that managerial training is a waste of time.
However, the level of satisfaction with the training itself was high, and in most cases the evaluations in the questionnaire were not bad. It is tempting to blame the cause on the motivation and qualifications of the managers themselves, but when we actually look at training programs, we often find that they are structured in a way that makes it difficult to change behavior at the design stage. In this article, we will explain the reasons behind why managerial training is called a "waste of time," how it will affect management if left unattended, and what to do from the perspective of designing a training program.
Contents
- 1. What happens if you leave it alone?
- 2. Why doesn't it change even after training?
- 3. Countermeasure: Redesign from “what will happen after the training”
- 4. Don’t make it an issue of the manager’s individual qualifications.
- 5. Training design should not be completed by HR alone.
- Summary/Conclusion
- Recommended articles
- Author
1. What happens if you leave it alone?
If you continue to ignore ineffective management training, “just doing it”, what will happen will not be limited to the evaluation of the department in charge of training.
The management level itself is weakened, and the quality of management is directly linked to team performance and a decline in internal control functions. If 1on1 doesn't work, subordinates will tend to leave their jobs or lose engagement, and problems at the workplace will not be brought up to management as quickly as possible. Normally, managers are supposed to be the first ones to detect abnormalities occurring on-site, but that function is no longer working.
When these conditions accumulate in various parts of an organization, the corporate culture itself deteriorates, and an atmosphere in which following precedent is valued more than taking on challenges becomes widespread. In organizations where managers cannot confidently change their management style, subordinates tend to give up and think that things will not change anyway, leading to a decline in the number of improvement proposals and problem-raising from the workplace.
What is most serious is that the next generation of management candidates will be depleted without being nurtured. If employees move up the ranks without gaining the decision-making and management experience required for managerial positions, a few years later, the company may not be able to find anyone capable of managing the company. No matter how many times training is conducted, evaluations accumulate, and time passes with almost no actual training effect - this is the biggest reason why training is described as a “waste of time” even though it costs money and time.
Leaving a situation where the situation ends with "the training was good" may seem small individually, but in the medium to long term it is a problem that affects the sustainability of management itself.
2. Why doesn't it change even after training?
When we look at the training programs of companies that we actually consult with, we find that there are three common points that tend to stumble, regardless of industry or size. In both cases, it is a matter of the "design" surrounding the training rather than the content of the training itself.
2-1. Cause A: Training is completed in one shot, and there is no opportunity for practice and feedback.
Common situations – Half-day to one-day training is completed, and follow-up is not designed – It is not specified when and how the frameworks and skills covered in the training will be used in the field – After the training, there is no opportunity to check on the practical status from superiors or human resources – There is too much time between training sessions, and the previous learning is not remembered – There is no place or person to talk to after the training to discuss any problems that arise after the training is over
Key Points for Review To change behavior, it is essential to repeat the cycle of “learning,” “trying,” and “receiving feedback” over a certain period of time. The starting point is to design a set that includes several months of practical training and follow-up opportunities, rather than a one-off training session.
2-2. Cause B: Sticks to “ideal theory” and is not connected to the company’s organizational issues
Common situations – Training is limited to general explanations such as “listening is important” and “psychological safety is important” – Training content is not linked to management issues that are actually occurring in the company (employee turnover, lack of cooperation between departments, etc.) – Uniform content is provided to all managers, and differences depending on the situation of departments and teams are not taken into account – Training is implemented under the leadership of human resources without management talking about the purpose and goals of the training – Everything is left to external instructors, and there is no customization based on the company's circumstances.
Key Points for Review Rather than ending the training content with generalizations, you can greatly change the participants' sense of ownership by talking about why your company is conducting training on this topic in connection with your company's organizational issues. It is also effective for management to discuss the intentions of the training themselves as a motivator for implementation.
2-3. Cause C: No one measures whether behavior has changed.
Common situations – Measuring the effectiveness of training is limited to satisfaction scores from post-participation surveys – There is no mechanism to track how management behavior has changed after three months or six months – Feedback from subordinates (engagement surveys, etc.) and training content are not linked and analyzed – “Implementing the training” itself becomes an objective, and behavioral change beyond that is not set as a goal – Personnel evaluation and 1on1 items have no connection to the themes covered in training and are disconnected from daily work.
Key Points for Review The results of training need to be measured not by satisfaction levels after the training, but by changes in behavior and team conditions on site. It is important to define in advance what changes would be considered a success, and to incorporate a mechanism to reflect on it after a certain period of time.
3. Countermeasure: Redesign from “what will happen after the training”
What the three causes so far have in common is that they all focus too much on the “day” of the training and neglect to plan for “after”. When planning a training program, we recommend that you take inventory from three perspectives: “When and how will you provide opportunities to put what you learned in the training into practice in the field?” “Who will give feedback on what you have put into practice and when?” “How will you define behavior change and when and how will you confirm its effectiveness?”
Particularly effective is a design in which "on-site practical tasks" are set between training sessions, and then reviewed at the beginning of the next training session. By going back and forth between learning and practicing, knowledge gradually becomes established as action. The key to practical tasks is not to set abstract behavioral goals, but to make them concrete to the point where you can decide on the spot whether or not they can be carried out, such as “I will listen to my subordinate's story until the end without interrupting during this week's one-on-one meeting.” If the granularity remains coarse, in a busy workplace, things will end up being “thought they were done” and concrete findings will not come out even when reviewing.
4. Don’t make it an issue of the manager’s individual qualifications.
If training is not effective, it is easy to come to the conclusion that “that manager has a low level of awareness to begin with” or “it can't be helped because he is unwilling to change.” However, we need to be careful about this approach.
Many managers who receive training designed to make behavior change less likely are not unwilling to learn. In fact, in many cases, the main reason why people do not change their behavior is that the workplace does not have the time or psychological space to put what they have learned into practice. If there is no room for trial and error of new management styles while being busy with daily playing manager duties, no matter how good the training content is, it will not lead to practical implementation.
Before dismissing the effectiveness of training as a matter of individual qualifications, organizations must first confirm whether they have an environment in place that supports their implementation.
5. Training design should not be completed by HR alone.
Although human resources often takes the lead in planning and administering managerial training, the question of how to support practical implementation at the workplace after training cannot be realized without the cooperation of the workplace. If a program is designed solely by human resources, even if the content is in place, implementation follow-up will be left to the on-site staff, and in the end, the original management style will return.
In order to make the training effective, it is essential to involve the project manager from the planning stage and to reach an agreement among the staff on “how to secure time to put into practice what has been learned in the training” and “how to monitor the implementation status.”
In order to truly resolve the situation that “management training is a waste of time,” it is necessary not only to design the training itself, but also to involve management and business leaders in the organizational design of how to develop the next generation of management personnel. When using external experts, we recommend that you select them from the perspective of not inviting them as one-off training instructors, but rather having them accompany you in designing effects measurement and creating a follow-up system during the practical period.
Summary/Conclusion
The reason why management training is not effective is often due to the fact that there is room for review in the design of the program, such as the cycle of practice and feedback, connection with company issues, and effectiveness measurement, rather than the individual qualifications of the participants. If left unaddressed, this could affect the sustainability of management itself by weakening the management team and depleting candidates for the next generation of management.
Rather than setting the goal of “implementing” the training itself, by reviewing the design based on “what will happen on-site after the training”, we can move closer to training that leads to behavior change.
At Global Career Incubator (GCI), our consultants with practical experience as managers and organizational leaders provide comprehensive support, from designing training programs that lead to behavioral changes in managers, to follow-up during the implementation period, and creating a system for measuring effectiveness. If you are concerned about the effectiveness of management training, please feel free to contact us.
Recommended articles
Author
Global Career Incubator Co., Ltd. CEO Shinichi Ikawa
Biography: Entered the business world after working for the Ministry of Defense (National Class I) and the Australian Ministry of Defence. After working at a major real estate company, he started a real estate venture and experienced management and recruitment at a domestic fund, domestic business company, and overseas tech company before founding our company.
Based on my experience as a corporate management and recruitment manager, I support corporate management, organization, recruitment, and training, as well as individual career selection and ability development. At the point of contact between Japan and the world, we face the challenges faced by companies and individuals alike.