Training and Development Process

Now that you understand how training is evolving in companies and have been introduced to the concept of business strategy and how training can support a business strategy, you are ready to study the process of strategic training and development. Let’s explore a model of the strategic training and development process with examples of strategic initiatives, training activities, and metrics. Five major components are part of developing a new business strategy or changing an existing one. The first component is the company mission, which is a statement of the company’s reason for existing. Training can contribute to a number of different business goals. The third and fourth components, external and internal analysis, are combined to form what is called a SWOT analysis. External analysis involves examining the operating environment to identify opportunities and threats. Internal analysis attempts to identify the company’s strength and weaknesses. The strategic choice represents the strategy believed to be the best alternative to achieve the company goals. Strategic training and development initiatives are learning-related actions that a company should take to help it achieve its business strategy. Metrics that might be used to assess training’s contribution to the balanced scorecard include employees trained (employees trained divided by total number of employees), training costs (total training costs divided by number of employees trained), and training costs per hour (total training costs divided by total training hours).