Training Loves Organizational Change

Last week I attended smith & beta workshops in two different cities in North America. Across the country I went. During almost every class, workshop or field trip we see a bit of doubt on the faces of attendees. This isn't doubt as to whether they need to learn the topic or that they are behind in digital capabilities, this is big ol' doubt that their organization won't make the changes necessary to support true digital transformation.

Training alone falls flat if there is not an immediate and ongoing handshake (agreement!) with organizational change. This requires leadership to alter ways of working, systems, processes and behaviors within the marketing department or agency – then (and only then) talent development investment truly pays off. Otherwise we are training employees to leave the company, not stay.

Yet "training" often is a check that box kind of thing. L&D professionals do not always have a seat at the business strategy table. Although many leaders don't understand the true impact that learning does for growth and innovation (and employee retention of course), training is a often just a known answer. Yet almost immediately after training begins, employees start changing how they work. They question how things are currently done, they poke at systems and processes, and apply what they learn to everyday work. They try to make their new knowledge fit in the old organization. This employee behavioral change pushes on all sides of the organization. And then...that change slows.

Employees quickly figure out that their commitment to skillset evolution is directly connected to the organization's ambition for change. Right? If leaders don't do the hard work to change ways of working, then why should the employee try to evolve or commit? Most often they don't. Disbelief sets in, just like I noticed at those workshops I attended last week. Leaders aren't making enough big decisions (with action) needed to keep pace and employees are in on the secret. So employees' doubts remain.

The whole organization is not changing as quickly as the skillsets and capabilities of individuals. And that, my friends, is a recipe for standing still.

What are your thoughts?

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Six Years Strong

smith & beta is now 6 years into our research of the capabilities and ways of working at agencies. We just released our 2018 Talent and Transformation report and we're excited to share with you what we found.

Our business at smith & beta has always been focused on the development of people walking in the doors each day. We believe that if a company focuses on the current talent, what they know today and should know in the future, it can make all the difference to the bottom line. But some leaders aren’t familiar with talent development. It’s new. It feels unmeasurable. It seems foreign compared to hiring a few new experts. It’s a mindset and strategic shift. Yet we know talent development works. We also know that experts don’t scale. Often those superheros we hire land at the new job only to find that no one at the company understands them. They get siloed into a back room. They are change agents without support. They eventually leave. It happens time and time again. Take a minute to consider your budget for hiring experts this year or even a single leader and then compare to your training dollars. Is there a big difference? Do you operate as “training is nice to have” but not required? If so, you’re missing out on a big opportunity to scale and distribute capabilities beyond a few people at your company. Digital is not a department. Digital is shared knowledge, common language and collective understanding. When we design talent development programs, we work with industry leaders directly to lead content design. They are the experts. They know what should specifics should be covered. They walk in the room and own the conversation with employees. Below we’ve included a great workshop to get started this year.

2017 Greatest Hits

Welcome to the Greatest Hits 2017.Each year, at smith & beta, we publish our “greatest hits” for classes, workshops that we completed. This year, we noticed a preferential trend for content that focused on mindset development. No big surprise given how important mindsets, behaviors and habits are for learning in the workplace.

According to smith & beta’s 2016 report, 62% of industry professionals say their clients are asking for more advanced digital work from them and 43% of respondents said they were unprepared to provide more advanced work. When a company does not have the knowledge and talent to give their customers what they expect in the current technological climate, they fall behind and often cannot catch up.