This month’s Secret L&D manager is Australian, based in Germany and works for an American corporation which produces machine vision systems and software. He has worked in training and development for over 18 years – as an L&D manager, an in-house trainer and as an external training provider.
What do you look for in a training offer?
First and foremost I want to see if the provider actually listened to me. I want to see some evidence that they understood what I was saying and had a clear grasp of my expectations. What I mean by that is the offer has to reflect my true needs and the information that I gave to them at the beginning. Next, I want to see some added value as well. Yes, I want to be sure that they listened to me but I also want them to bring something extra to the table. I guess I’m expecting them to show me that they are sharing some of their expertise and experience by offering me a new idea or a solution to a problem that I hadn’t thought about.
To be honest I don’t really want, or even need, a super-detailed offer document. In fact, the more I think about it the less likely I am to be impressed by a 50 page in-depth report with all the i’s dotted and t’s crossed. Let’s face it, we’re all very busy, so what I want to see is a document where they break it down into chunks so that I can get a clear look at what is going to happen and how they’re going to make it happen. Oh and not forgetting, the expected outcome at the end of the training. You know, what people can do better after they have been on the training course than they could before. That is after all why we’re sending them on a training course.
Obviously I want a clear understanding of how much the training solution is going to cost me. Yes, I know that it is not always possible to identify every possible cost but what I don’t want are any nasty surprises later in the process. You know, you suddenly find you’ve got a business class ticket you’re paying for. That’s going to be an issue.
If it’s the first offer from a new provider, what extras do you need?
Things are a bit different when it’s somebody you haven’t used before. If it’s the first time, I really want to see an example of what the training material looks like. That look and feel is very important to me. I want to be sure that the material looks professional and isn’t, for example, full of cartoons or hand-drawn pictures. On day 1, when our people walk into the training session and pick up the material for the first time, I want them to be impressed. First impressions matter.
Equally I want to know what they’re going to get at the end of the training. Are they going to get a whole slide pack, pdf documents of notes, and photographs of flipcharts? You know the sort of things I mean. Whatever it is I want to know that in advance. So samples are always a good idea.
Do you need any information about the providers in the offer?
Generally not, I like to do my homework before anybody gets to the offer stage with me. I want to feel reasonably confident that the provider is up to the job, whatever the job is. So before I even ask for an offer I will have done a fair bit of digging and that will include references from previous customers and things like that. That type of thing needs to be handled before an offer not during or after the process.
How many offers do you look at for one session?
Generally I want 2 or 3. Any more than that and I’m wasting my time digging around and doing a very bad job of filtering out the good offers in the first place. There are times when I know exactly what I’m looking for and then one provider will probably be fine. Sure, for me, as an internal training provider, it’s important to have multiple providers. But if there are courses where we only uses one particular provider I don’t have a problem with that.
What is your biggest frustration with offers?
I think the thing that frustrates me more than anything else is when you feel like you’re just getting the same thing that they send to everyone. It drives me mad! Why did I spend 2 hours explaining my situation to you and you send me a generic offer. That makes me feel like I’ve wasted my time. I never expect to buy, and probably never (or very rarely), buy an off-the-shelf product.
And there is one more thing. The one where you get an offer that has no mention whatsoever of the intended outcome and what we’re actually trying to achieve. I would say those are the 2 most frustrating things.
Who is the Secret L&D manager?
The Secret L&D manager is actually many L&D managers. They are real people who would prefer not to mention their name or company – but do want to write anonymously so they can openly and directly share their ideas and experience with peers. Also from the Secret L&D manager:
- Without boundaries – Why I believe the digital learning experience represents the future of L&D
- 3 questions to ask your existing training providers
- The Secret L&D manager: 4 questions for screening potential training providers
- Qualifying potential training providers
- Making sure managers understand the importance of their role in developing our staff
