Running Training Like a Business

Many of today's business leaders champion learning as essential to business success, backing their belief with massive investments in Training and Development (T&D). In fact, T&D investments reach $56 billion per year in the U.S. alone. In this era of unprecedented opportunity, the time is right for T&D to become a full-fledged "e;player"e; in the world of business. At issue, the authors contend, is T&D's inability to seize this opportunity and deliver unmistakable value to its most influential customers-the exectuvies who pay for trainiing services but are unable to see clear business value being returned on their companies' training investments. The authors also contend that T&D must alter the traditional precepts that keep it "e;separate form the business"e; and "e;out of the loop"e; strategically. Van Adelsberg and Trolley suggest that the key to delivering unmistakable business value lies in transforming T&D-in spirit and in practice-from a funciton to a business. The authors draw on their experiences working inside Moore Corporation, DuPont, Mellon Bank, Kaiser Permanente, Texas Instruments, and other top businesses to illustrate how "e;Running Training Like a Business"e;:1. Eliminates the many hidden costs of training;2. Re-focuses T&D from delivering training content to addressing business issues;3. Makes T&D a full stategic partner in business decision making;4. Ensures that training measurement is "e;baked in, not bolted on"e;;5. Improves the effectiveness and efficiency of internal and/or external T&D organizations. Trolley and van Adelsberg lead the reader through a proven four-step process for transforming traditional training organizations into training enterprises capable of delivering unmistakable value, quarter after quarter and year after year.