What are the trends in corporate training and what do executives want right
now?
In this recent UCEA South corporate roundtable, industry leaders discuss their needs and what colleges and universities must do to get their business.
The discussion included the perspectives of:
- Tina Finch – Director of Leadership Development, AirTran Airways
- Marisa Benson – PMP, Director, Emory University Technology Services
- Steve Lee – Director of Training, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport
- Cate Miller – PHR, Director of Learning & Development, Dixon Hughes PLLC
Conversation themes included doing more with less, the need for customized education, and listening to needs. The following is an approximate transcript of the discussion:
With the current economic slowdown, what impact are you seeing on your training budgets this year and forward?
Finch (AirTran): At AirTran, the biggest impact on total revenue is fuel costs. Our training budgets were cut last year after June. This year, our budget has not been slashed at all because fuel costs have come down. Our focus now is really to get people to be more productive with the assets we already have. We have seen high internal demand for basic business productivity skills – such as Word, Excel.
Lee (Hartsfield-Jackson): In the good economic times, I had over 900K for training for 700 people. Now we’ve seen a 50% cut in our training budgets. As we look at training investments today, we have to have assessment, pre and post. Vendors need to build it into their proposals. We need to show training is no longer training – rather we are building measurable skill sets.
I don’t see major changes for us next year. We have to do more with fewer people.
Benson (Emory): Our budget hasn’t gone done at all. With future training programs, I want to add pre- and post-skills/knowledge assessments. I do it on my own today using Blackboard. It’s fundamentally easier to do assessment for productivity training course such as Excel.
It’s much harder to gauge how leadership or facilitation skills have improved.
Miller (Dixon Hughes): We have to look at some virtual tools to scale training over multiple locations. Our budgets are staying the same for training – we have to shift our dollars from travel and entertainment expenses and take advantage of more virtual opportunities. As a professional services business, we are looking to increase productivity and increase charge hours for the business.
When you are hiring an outside training vendor or education provider, what are your priorities?
Miller (Dixon Hughes): We look for partners that can demonstrate the intellectual depth to go head-to -head with our professional services staff. In partnering with a university, the benefit is having access to primary research which training companies may not have.
Benson (Emory): We had a RIF (reduction in force) our training people in the IT division about 6 years ago. We have to find partners to work with. The critical choice for me to decide between our internal HR function and Emory continuing education is being to sit down with highly knowledgeable people that can take me in any direction that a department needs to go. I use Emory Continuing Education for basic IT skills and advanced soft skills. I use another vendor in Atlanta for higher level IT work.
Lee (Hartsfield-Jackson): I give vendors grief, they need to know more than me and be able to turn on a dime. I look for that go-to capability and the ability to stick to what I need. They need to understand my dynamic. I also need name recognition … weight.
Finch (AirTran): My priorities are flexibility and creativity. When brining in external consultants to deal with my different employee groups, creativity is essential. Given our national operations, we have to ask our vendors to get creative – to reach a lot of people that may not be here. Strictly online is not a good option for us. We have changes to occur very quickly in our business – you (education provider) may not be able to do what you had planned at that time.
What are your top training needs?
Finch (AirTran): Our people are asking about productivity. How do you cut down on the use of email? How can I improve my processes to cut down on costs and time?
From an upper management view, what we are trying to push is customer service and focus. That’s the big differentiator when everything else is gone. Looking at that whole customer aspect is critical to us.
We have started a class in selling specifically for our ticket agents and gate agents. They need to know how to up-sell. Having this skill is actually helping them with customer service.
Lee (Hartsfield-Jackson): About 2 years ago, we created a talent module. One was accountability. If you say you are going to do something, do it. We started our first class at 9 AM … our employees began showing up at 9:15 AM … 9:20 AM. That’s what we are dealing with.
We are also trying to increase presentation skills in order to present to executives. We are going back to basics ... writing and presenting.
Benson (Emory): For the last three years, I’ve opened up some of our courses to the entire IT Division to get volume training discounts from providers. The major IT training needs are really nit-picky technical stuff that is difficult to cover with broad training providers.
The biggest IT need - that can be covered by professional and continuing education units - is people and management skills. We are investing in writing classes and presentation skills. They (our staff) can write but not in a concise fashion. We don’t use our internal HR capability for training because they don’t let non-managers go to their management development courses.
Miller (Dixon Hughes): We are running a program on how to present effectively. We are putting our people on video tape, letting people see themselves … and providing feedback in an intense two-day program.
We are also designing an intense two-day coaching program to help in succession planning. How to coach … for two days we put our people to effectively coach in role plays.
Do you need leadership skills for non-managers?
Miller (Dixon Hughes): At the staff level, our employees need the same skills as our senior leadership. They need to know how to provide feedback, do more with less, and coach.
What advice would you give to someone new to selling university to corporate?
Benson (Emory): Something that is important coming in is to understand the university. We have had corporate trainers that run screaming. You can’t tell people to do something … in a university setting … you have to convince them to do it. I try and coach my corporate trainers to anticipate and understand the frustration that you will find in the university environment.
Finch (AirTran): My advice is to not bring anything off the shelf. Truly listen to me to understand pains. Then come up with a creative solution.
Lee (Hartsfield-Jackson): Listen to me. Get my input on your standard solutions.
Miller (Dixon Hughes): Know my industry. Understand my challenges.
Most of you expressed some desire for distance education. What issues are you having in using learning management systems (LMS)?
Finch (AirTran): We actually don’t have a LMS. We have a homegrown system and are working with a vendor to get it up and running.
Lee (Hartsfield-Jackson): We don’t have an LMS. It’s basically a piece of paper in a box. It’s going to be an issue in the future.
Benson (Emory): We don’t have the capability.
Miller (Dixon Hughes): We have a compliance tools for the state agencies, but no LMS system.
What’s the attraction in working with a professional and continuing education partner?
Miller (Dixon Hughes): For us, it’s the latest research that the private providers don’t typically have. It’s important to have the depth of the research and understanding of the current issues.
Benson (Emory): It’s the strong branding. I’ve typically used Emory and Georgia Tech in Atlanta for that reason alone.
Lee (Hartsfield-Jackson): We’ve printed t-shirts with the Emory brand on it. The name recognition is important for us.
Finch (AirTran): We’ve been actually looking for universities that will offer credit for these programs. We have a lot of people that don’t have degrees so it’s important.
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