New Diagnostic Tool for SMEs Launched
Donal Kavanagh reports on an interactive CD released by the IITD that enables small and medium sized companies to develop a customised learning and development plan
The Irish Institute of Training & Development (IITD) has released an interactive CD that enables small and medium sized companies to develop a customised learning and development plan.
Sinead Heneghan, Director of IITD, explains that “the Positive to Train project originated from a concern within the Institute that education and training in small companies was not at the same level as that in larger organisations. With that in mind we approached FÁS with a view to supporting a project that would develop a self-administered diagnostic tool for SMEs, to assist them in creating a strategy for the education and training of their employees.”
Cork-based HR consultancy firm Tony Murphy & Associates was appointed to create the Positive to Train CD.
“The overall design is such as to make the development of a training plan relevant to business needs, simple to develop and easy to evaluate. We are hopeful that it will be seen as an aid and help companies without significant resources or experience to develop and implement Learning and Development Plans in their organisations”, claims Tony Murphy.
The first section of the programme is designed to allow companies to analyse their overall environment and explore whether there is a role for a training plan in their organisation. This is achieved through answering questions under four headings. Each question is designed for a quick response and the entire section can be completed in less than thirty minutes.
The four areas explored in this introductory analysis include:
(i) External Challenges: the impact of competition, new developments, possible expansion and new technologies.
(ii) Legislation and Regulatory Environment: the impact of legislation and regulatory standards including health & safety, employment law and quality.
(iii) Internal Environment: issues such as delegation, staff turnover, flexibility in the workforce, and the impact of change.
(iv) Benefits of Training: your organisation is asked to indicate which of thirty listed benefits it could identify as being relevant to its needs.
Having completed the questionnaire, a numeric value is produced: the higher the figure, the more likely that training will benefit an organisation. Finally the organisation is invited to position itself on a graded Organisational Training Continuum.
At the conclusion of this first section, it is envisaged that organisations would have developed a broad awareness of the areas where Training and Development could benefit them.
The second section of the programme is more specifically focused on the details of each need of the organisation. It begins with a strong recommendation that the business develops a business plan, as this will clearly identify the company’s goals. It then lists ten specific items that research indicates are amongst the most common issues faced by organisations. Each item is accompanied by a series of follow-on questions that will help to clarify an organisation’s training requirements.
These ten questions help to unearth data that is relevant to a Training Needs Analysis. In addition, it is suggested that the organisation utilise a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analysis, with the full involvement of staff.
Having identified the relevant data, the third section then asks where the performance gaps exist and whether training could address these gaps. This is where the core-training plan is developed.
A further section is provided to match up the draft training needs against the business goals of an organisation, to ensure that the training plan is integrated into the overall business goals. This section also addresses issues such as the expected difference in performance, once a successful training programme has been completed, as well as how new skills can be transferred across the workplace.
Finally, in view of the reluctance of many SMEs to commit to a training programme, there are two final sections that are designed to give encouragement. These final sections comprise a Cost Benefit Analysis, and an analysis of the barriers to training that organisations experience, with helpful suggestions as to how you might overcome these problems.
Included in the CD is a very useful template for a Learning and Development Plan as well as case studies of six companies from a broad range of sectors, from construction to consultancy. In these case studies, each business examined the environment in which they were operating and took a strategic decision to change or improve that environment, linking each step of the process with a specific training intervention.
The CD is available free of charge from the IITD, send an email to info@iitd.com or phone 045 881 166.
