Many organizations aren’t committed to employee training. Blaming Covid is the excuse du jour, yet the fundamental reasons predate the pandemic … by many years.
Andy Grove, former president of, and driving force behind, Intel Corporation’s enormous success once shared with me his thoughts about employee development:
“I can’t stand listening to executives from other Silicon (California) Valley companies spouting excuses for not training their employees. ‘What if I train them, and they leave?’ My response is simply, ‘what if you don’t train them, and they stay!’”
Keep Andy’s thoughts about employee development in mind as you continue … .
Somewhere in the world, the following two scenarios are currently being played out. Both reflect a passive, victim mentality. Both undermine sustained employee and organizational development. Both come across as cool-headed rationale, but in most cases both are merely lame excuses for inaction.
Scenario #1: “This weak economy is killing me. ‘Do more with less’ is the name of the game. My budgets are slashed and I have no wiggle room.”
The Result:
- I don’t have the budget, time or people for training.
- Why train employees? They’ll be gone pretty soon.
Scenario #2: “This booming economy is killing me. We’re barely filling existing orders. Plus I can’t keep my good people. They jump ship as soon as someone else comes along waving a little extra money.”
The Result:
- I don’t have the time or people for training.
- Why train employees? They’ll be gone pretty soon.
These two organizations are at opposite ends of the economic spectrum; one is in a dying environment and the other in a thriving environment. Yet, the economy aside, there are surprising similarities between the two. The odds are good that neither organization has a history or culture of providing useful employee training, supported by leadership or owners.
The extremes of economic booms and busts will never vanish. Both create considerable stess among leaders, and no one is immune. Leaders in government, business, religious institutions, non-profits and start-up organizations all face similar challenges. Boom and bust extremes force leaders to consider ways to address the following challenges:
- Do more with less.
- Keep employees engaged and motivated.
- Reduce employee turnover.
- Improve customer service.
- Differentiate from the competition.
Differentiation is the ultimate goal; how to stand out as the employer-of-choice, vendor-of-choice, service-provider-of-choice or, the whatever-of-choice.
The anxiety and stress that used to be felt only during the extremes of boom and bust is now a daily reality for many. Leaders who blame the economy for not providing training should look in the mirror.
In closing, wrap your head around the following two quotes from a couple of my mentors at Disneyland, Jim Cora and Van France:
“Marketing is the time and money you spend to get people in the door. Training is the investment you make to get customers to come back and employees to stay; it creates loyalty.” – Jim Cora, retired chairman, Disneyland International
Jim’s comments reveal the secret behind the success of Disney’s world-famous employee development organization, the Disney University; incessant and overt leadership support.
In addition to Jim, another of my Disney mentors, and founder of the Disney University, was Van France. Van was a vocal and respected cheerleader for constantly providing relevant learning opportunities for Disney’s employees, the cast members. Over his multiple decades of service, Van challenged many Disney executives with the following rant:
“The budget has become the scapegoat for every possible negative action and rejection of any suggestion for improving things. Cutting budgets is the coward’s way out of any problem.” – Van France, Disney University Founder
Which excuses are you using to justify a lack of employee development?