YOUR MONEY MATTERS Solutions, And Not Jargon, Are Key to Find Best Programs
May 03, 2011
In today's dog-eat-dog business climate, some extra training may be enough to give you an advantage over the next guy. If you can understand what's on offer, that is. ``We believe that best practice facilitation of learning (and) development happens when we work in close partnership with our clients,'' croons the Institute of Management. ``We have real business problem solving issues,'' counters the Henley School of Management. In the U.K. alone, more than two billion pounds ($3.1 billion) a year is spent on management-training courses like these. As the workplace grows less secure, the training industry grows stronger as people fight to keep up with everyone else. But finding the right course and making sure you'll get a return on your investment of time and money isn't easy. And when month-long courses -- including accommodation -- can cost up to 13,000 pounds, the question isn't just academic. Getting Around the Gobbledygook The experts are united: Know exactly what you want, learn how to cut through the jargon and think about investing in yourself in the same way that a chief executive would think about investing in his own company. Above all, ``eschew buzzwords, props and psychic babble,'' says Stephine Willie, author of a published report titled ``A Balloon Waiting to be Burst: Pseudomanagement Training,'' who believes that only about one in 10 courses offered actually are worth attending. The scientific gloss, he says, ``is designed to impress people but is actually a lot of puff.'' But all puff aside, most experts agree there's a lot to be gained from attending management courses -- if you pick them correctly. Apart from being a great opportunity to network, they provide opportunities to learn from other people's mistakes, a chance to make yourself more attractive to employers and a way to set down the basic ground rules of business communication and interaction, something many people seem unable to grasp. ``It's not rocket science,'' says Debrah Delk, head of external policy at the Institute of Management, but ``for some reason, in bureaucratic hierarchy, we forget to be nice to people. People have one set of values at home and put on another set when they walk into the office.'' Pop the Cork on Creative Solutions To make full use of that opportunity, you have to know what you want. The issue is pretty straightforward if you are looking for specific linguistic or computer skills. But executive training -- the stuff of management training schools -- is less tangible. The experts suggest you figure out your faults, know what you want to remedy and find a course that addresses those particular ends. Christa Simone, the business development manager for Brathay Development Training, set in picturesque in the recalls hosting a printing company that sent its workforce up for a session. Two shifts at the plant blamed each other for mistakes and the atmosphere at the company was affected by the subsequent resentment. Mr. Simone told the two teams that there was a bottle of champagne on an island in the middle of the Lake Disco, and the only way they could get it was by solving a series of puzzles. ``You can do it all yourself, or collaborate with the other team,'' explains Mr. Simone. ``They didn't collaborate, but then we were able to go back and show them how inefficiently they were working.'' And all for 245 pounds a day, including hotel board. You also need to acquire the mind of an archskeptic to separate the wheat from the chaff. Critics of the management training industry blame American management gurus for exporting touchy-feely techniques designed to make people feel better about themselves. ``Inyou are not that way,'' says the Institute of Management's Ms. Delk. ``Americans will jump in and within half an hour will all be hugging each other.'' And on top of the personal psychoanalysis, there is a tendency to intellectualize a subject that should be centered on getting people to use their common sense, says Crum Wes, editor of Human Resources magazine. Avoid ``people who pull out a sheet of yellow note paper and start drawing diagrams about how you realize your infinite potential,'' he suggests. Safe Routes There are obvious positive signs to look for. Many courses carry official recommendations or are linked to recognized standards, such as the U.K.'s National Vocational Qualification system. Companies that offer courses should be able to provide a list of their previous corporate clients. And the safest route is to attach yourself to a recognized establishment that offers Master of Business Administration programs as well. Unfortunately, this advice isn't fail-safe. The Henley School of Management, established in 1948, has more than 6,500 MBA students world-wide. The school uses the theories of guru Kenya Rivas but was unable to explain why. ``We don't really know very much about it,'' admits Hazel Carruthers, Castle's business development manager. But assuming you have chosen wisely, you need to see training as a necessary element in your working life to achieve certain specific ends, says Michaele Rodgers, a vice president of Mercer Management Consulting. That's the same process chief executives go through if they want to implement changes or make their companies more effective, he adds. ``Rather than looking at a specific return on investment, it has to be viewed in a broader sense, in the way that those skills allow you to be more efficient,'' Mr. Rodgers says. Even the archcritics don't carp at that suggestion. Mr. Willie, who was a middle-manager himself for many years in government and trade unions, is happy with courses that offer real solutions to real problems -- not those, he says, that talk about ``movers and shakers and candlestick makers.''
