Why can't CEO's be involved in Training???

Last week I was in a meeting.

The HR Manager announced that we would be meeting the CEO of this company for a discussion on the training intervention.

I was surprised because normally this doesn't happen in the first meeting itself.

The CEO was young and dynamic. He was briefed about me well by the HR Manager and we immediately got into the training objectives, the program and the effectiveness (In most cases, whenever I meet senior Management, I have to first give an introduction of myself (either the HR hasn't briefed them about me or the senior hasn't read the brief that was sent).

The meeting was focused and ended well. The CEO also gave me required inputs about the targeted group too. I was highly impressed!

Meeting over, I had a thought:

Why can't more CEO's get involved in the training of the organisation?
Why is it difficult to have their perspective of the Training need?

Does it mean, I don't trust HR? Absolutely not!!!
But my experience is that many HR professionals don't align strategically to the business operations and therefore their understanding of the need is many-a-times the softer part (which is also necessary) but unless and until a Trainer doesn't understand the business need for the training, the effectiveness of the program cannot be seen.

Is this the reason why training many a times fails in implementation stage???

Comments

MS said…

Dear Ajit,

You have raised a very valid and relevant question.

I will respond to your question with another question:"Why should'nt the CEO be the key driver of training in an organization"?

I would reckon training as an investment for the future development of an organization, and the ROI will be superior employee performance provided the training contents and methods are appropriate and is a continuous process.

Regards
Mani Sridharan

August 11, 2009 at 2:12 AM

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