Let’s say you and a friend both wear glasses. You both need them to see better. Your glasses and your friend’s glasses both have frames and two lenses, right? Let’s say they’re even similar styles. So, would you borrow your friend’s glasses? Of course not. It’s not that you need glasses, it’s that you need something to help you see better–prescription lenses made for your unique vision needs. It’s not that your people need training, it’s that they need something to help them do their specific jobs better–learning experiences made for their unique performance needs.
It’s not that your people need training, it’s that they need something to help them do their specific jobs better.
You’d never buy a random pair of prescription glasses, hoping to see better. Yet organizations are constantly buying generic training programs, hoping to get better results from their people. Sure, sometimes it’s helpful (which is where the analogy breaks down!), but is it helpful enough? Maybe. Is it the most helpful? Probably not. Would a custom-designed learning experience be more helpful? You bet.
So why do learning professionals turn to off-the-shelf training solutions with such high hopes? There are four compelling reasons:
Let’s put each of those to the test.
1. Cost
Of course off-the-shelf training is cheaper! Develop once, resell perpetually. Perfect for tightening training budgets, right? That depends. Where cost is the overriding consideration, generic training fits the “something is better than nothing” maxim. That can be especially true for individual learners or small teams. Some topics also lend themselves to off-the-shelf training because concepts can be generally applied.
The Case for Custom:
Purchase price isn’t the only cost to training. Every minute (or hour) your people are in training is an expense to you. Plus, time spent in training is time not spent on the job…producing, selling, building, working with customers. None of this should be news, but the real issue is the return you’ll see from the training. What’s different afterwards? How much better are your people performing? The greater the difference and the better the performance, the higher the value and impact to the bottom line. And the reverse is true also. You know what makes ineffective training even more expensive? Repeat training!
Training custom-designed for your people creates deeper and broader change because every aspect is relevant. Every application is their reality. Every problem is theirs and every solution is workable. No paying for something designed for someone else. No time spent on unnecessary or watered down applications. And, definitely no do-overs required!
When it comes to cost, training that’s “a little bit helpful” is expensive!
2. Availability
There’s a seemingly unending supply of pre-built topics, programs, libraries, and subscriptions. And if it’s cheap enough, you can just keep putting training in front of your people. If you’re thinking, “If I throw enough training their way, they’ll at least get something out of some of it”–you’re not wrong. With a dose of luck, some part of something might stick. Determined employees or managers will sift through catalogues, evaluate options, and try some things out. Something will be helpful, surely.
The Case for Custom:
Having unnecessary options available, or assuming what’s accessible is also what’s best, can eclipse more valuable choices–and bigger impacts. Take, for example, the time-honored buffet.
Yes, you could get meatloaf and mashed potatoes off the mile-long buffet, but a steak cooked to order, accompanied by a baked potato with your chosen toppings is likely preferable. They’re both meat and potatoes. No amount of parsley tucked around the meatloaf will make the experience better. Sure, the buffet also has moist fried shrimp, hard cantaloupe wedges, and mounds of oreo fluff, but if you’re not in the mood, well, who cares?
Training is no different. Writing for Entrepreneur, Andrew Schaap puts it bluntly. “Programs should be tailored to your business objectives with industry-specific protocols.” Leadership training is a ubiquitous example. Sure, leaders need training and there are proficiencies common to good leadership. And there’s ample leadership training readily available for you to offer, some of which would help your leaders. But what would really help your leaders is the chance to work on those proficiencies in their own context. They need to work through a case study that matches what they’ll be up against tomorrow, test out the skills with the challenges their people are facing, and solve the problems waiting for them back at work. That’s not on the buffet. That’s custom ordered.
Presuming available training is valuable training is risky at best.
(Think we’re being hard on buffets? If you must partake, look for these red flags. You’re welcome.)
3. Simplicity
The work’s already done! Just sign them up, or send them the link, or get them the subscription. Or with a little more time, you can join the template bandwagon and just fill in some blanks to get your very own custom programming. No doubt, sometimes simple is best. Maybe your team is small. Or the performance problem is very straightforward. Or you truly just don’t have time to give it. There are lots of valid reasons for keeping it simple. The only problem is the true need is rarely as simple as we like to think, which means the simple solution likely isn’t going to work.
The Case for Custom:
Fortunately, custom doesn’t have to mean complicated–at least for you. That’s because you don’t need to take it all on. Custom-designing training is typically done by individuals or teams brought in for their specialized skills. They should do the heavy lifting, not you. They can ask insightful questions and talk with your subject matter experts, then go away and ply their craft. Your role can simply be providing feedback to ideas, prototypes, drafts, etc. That’s not the hard part! Yes, it’s more time than just registering your people for a generic course, but with the right partner, it can still be simple. The result is people who know how to do their actual jobs better. What’s not simple is returning to the same performance problems down the road and trying to solve them yet again.
Custom doesn’t have to mean complicated–for you.
4. Familiarity
Perhaps you’re ready to buy a new pair of shoes. You have a really comfortable pair you like so you go to that manufacturer’s site to see what else they have. Or maybe you had a good experience at a restaurant (hopefully not a buffet!) and you opt to go there the next time you eat out. That’s all fine and logical–to a point. You’re unlikely to be disappointed, but you’re also unlikely to discover other comfortable shoes in more styles or even better restaurants with different dishes. Same with learning and development. It feels less risky when you’ve already used the platform, the provider, the subscription. You know what you’re getting and that’s good.
The Case for Custom:
But let’s zoom in on that word “getting.” Is it about getting content or getting results? If your focus is on getting familiar content, and you like what you’ve gotten before, so be it. But what about the outcomes, the results you’re getting from that comfy content? Are they good enough? Are your people consistently performing better, making better decisions, relating better with customers, achieving at higher levels? In a recent Artisan Learning poll asking learners what’s the biggest eyeroll with generic training, “outdated content” was the most popular answer at 67%. Take a hard look at your go-to training and ask some tough questions. Are emerging problems getting solved? Are new challenges being overcome? Are your people continually able to do their jobs better? Custom-designed learning can use familiar content as a starting point, rather than an ending point. Those familiar trainings can be the springboard for fresh, new experiences that relate to what your people are dealing with right now…and beyond.
Familiar content doesn’t produce new results.
Caution! The “hidden form” of generic training.
One kind of generic training is masquerading as something it’s not. It’s that used-to-be-really-good custom training that still gets hauled out. Maybe it’s your onboarding program that always has to have caveats announced because “things have changed.” Or your systems training that’s specific to your company’s use cases, but doesn’t account for the last two upgrades. Or the security training with tips and warnings based on your organization’s experience with Internet Explorer. Sure, it used to be perfectly suited to your company, your situation, your people, but now? Add it to the list of so-so generic training that’s actually only a little bit helpful. Custom gets cold. The good news, however, is that once-awesome custom training can be revived. An outside expert is often best able to be objective–and creative–in re-customizing tired programming.
Custom-designed learning: the bottom line.
The case for custom-designed learning comes down to this. Generic, off-the-shelf training is perfectly designed for…no one in particular.
Think about it. Organizations have a lot in common. And yet, every organization, even those in the same industry, is unique. Even compared to your closest competitor, you have your own culture, your own goals, your own processes, and your own set of challenges. What your organization needs to succeed is different.
Same with people. People, especially those in similar roles, have a lot in common. And yet, they each have their own experiences, their own proclivities, their own attitudes, their own stressors. What they each need to do to succeed is different.
Generic training is perfectly designed for…no one in particular.
Generic, off-the-shelf training has its place. It can be a helpful piece of a larger learning and development strategy. But over-reliance on generic training ends up costing extra time and money in ineffective courses, unnecessary topics, unsolved problems, training do-overs, and so much more. Buffets aren’t always the best dining experience. Creative design firms like Artisan Learning ensure every dollar you spend on training goes toward customized learning that helps solve your organization’s real problems by helping your people know how to do their actual jobs better. In short, custom training means finding the glasses that match your style and that have the perfect lenses for you. Why would you choose anything else?
Author
Greg Duncan is Vice President of Operations and EOS Integrator at Artisan Learning. He recently got new glasses, which got him thinking about custom learning. Greg is responsible for integrating the major functions of the business and enabling the organization to operate smoothly and successfully for clients, vendors, and staff. An instructional designer at heart, Greg’s career spans university teaching, consulting, municipal governance, small business ownership, executive leadership, and a propensity for philanthropic service.
