Are you getting the training you need?

It's come to my attention recently that some of the available training out there has changed.  One firm I know of rarely has enough students for a class and therefore the few that do sign up keep getting canceled from the class.  This is frustrating for those students that do want to learn I am sure.

The other change is based on the economy and trying to do more with less people.  I've also seen many areas that have not experienced a downturn and are as busy as always.  When firms are busy, it makes it harder to justify training.  Of course it can certainly be said that with some good training, you may increase productivity.  It's just not an immediate return on your investment.

Those of you that have trained with me in the past know that I've never followed conventional training methods.  Now it would seem, trainers and firms that train across the country are all looking for ways to train differently.

If you are looking for training, besides the experience of the trainer, you may want to ask some of these questions.  I always encourage them of anyone with whom I do training.

• Do you offer custom training (without a lot of extra cost) to allow my employees to only be out of the office 1/2 day at a time or break training into 1 day a week for x number of weeks?
• Do you offer webinar training to enhance classroom training?
• Do you offer follow up training a month after our training for areas where we need to review more or expand our knowledge a little more indepth?
• What type of support do you offer along the way as we are learning this new software?  
• Can you use some of our files in training?
  

Get the training that will help you be successful.  Don't just attend some 3-4 day class where you'll retain a small amount and not gain as much when you return to your office and begin working on a real project.