Career advice, insights & tips for HR professionals
How to manage training budgets effectively 11/08/2010
Category:
It’s the eternal business paradox. How do we achieve more with less? How should businesses be managing their training budgets and continue to invest in people, while juggling cuts made as a result of the coalition budget?
Click to jump to section
- Training - an efficient resource?
- Set your strategic objectives
- Consider introducing a learning management system
- Utilise existing resources for training
- Conduct a learning resources review
- Review cuts, processes and minimise wastage
- Ensure you set out clear, achievable goals
Training - an efficient resource?
Making available resources go further and essentially increasing efficiency is not something that applies only to training and development; all colleagues in different functions and departments are also being affected by efficiency drives.
Often with training and development, the issue is more acute. Why? Well partly because we didn’t have many resources to start with, and secondly because organisations find cutting training a relatively harmless way of achieving savings, particularly in the short term. But what about the long term effects, and how can organisations overcome this problem?
Set your strategic objectives
Prioritise the learning that you offer. Having developed a clear understanding of how the learning and development activities will tie in with the organisation’s strategy, the strategic approach is to select the options for how to achieve the required deliverables.
Consider introducing a learning management system
By using information on attendance and course completion for example, you can offer top-ups or further reading materials as an alternative to another complete course.
Utilise existing resources for training
In this instance, you can focus your training resources on adapting the information into an appropriate learning format.
Conduct a learning resources review
Having reviewed all of your available resources, explore the value of different methods of delivery and really understand where your costs are coming from. Make sure that face-to-face sessions (the single most expensive medium) are provided when there is no better way to deliver the learning i.e. when there is an experiential learning requirement.
Review cuts, processes and minimise wastage
Review the way in which other departments make cuts and learn which approaches have been most successful and adopt them as your own.
Review your processes and minimise wastage. Any creative process has an element of ‘design and amend’ - ensuring that your briefing documents are succinct and your objectives are clear will save you endless time and money through rewrites and redesigns.
Ensure you set out clear, achievable goals
Investing in proper learning design for the elements that really deliver the value are the key to delivering cost effective learning.
Set yourself goals. Having completed all of the above, the only thing left to do is to set your department some goals and publish them in the business so that you and your team remain focussed and the profile of your contribution is visible.
Robin Hoyle, head of learning, Infinity Learning
Robin oversees all learning design activities within Infinity Learning. Robin was nominated for outstanding contribution to the training industry in successive years 2006 and 2007.