Recently, I had some minor surgery at an outpatient surgery center. When I received a patient satisfaction survey a couple of weeks later, I completed it honestly. I cited areas in which I felt I was treated very well but also pointed out areas (specifically in the business office) that needed improvement. I added a note saying that I would be happy to discuss my concerns and invited them to call me.
One of the office supervisors did call me and asked me to provide additional information. Each time I mentioned an area needing improvement, she discounted the concern. "Oh, anyone would make that mistake," she said several times, implying that my concerns were overstated. Finally, she informed me that staff had completed customer service training so they could not have possibly made the mistakes I outlined. And therein lies the problem.
Many organizations require that employees attend a variety of training classes. The titles are usually similar--"Diversity Training", "Coping with Difficult People", "Customer Service", "Communication Skills"--just to name a few. While the content of these courses may be very relevant and interesting, generally, employees gain very little long-term benefit. Additionally, employees frequently don't model classroom skills in the workplace. The reason for this is really quite simple.
In order for training to have any relevance in the workplace, employees must first understand how the information gained can be used at work. Employees must then be able to use that information to solve real world problems in the real work setting. This concept is called transfer of training and is critical if long-term sustainable change is to be derived from the training situation. Finally, leaders must communicate both verbally and by modeling appropriate behaviors, that the information gained is important and employees will be expected to also model the behaviors.
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