What’s the point?

At a recent workshop, I went around the room and asked each person what they wanted to get out of the session. Most had a specific thing they wanted to understand or learn, but what one participant said surprised me.

They said, “I don’t use Excel and I’m not sure why I’m here.”

I was blown away!

We can never replace time. It’s our most precious commodity. Yet the organisation was happy to send this person out all day to learn about something they never use.

Now it might have been that in the near future, the person attending the program may be required to do some Excel work, but they hadn’t been told!

The organisation they worked for invested the time, money and lost productivity having a staff member attend a program without clear expectations or purpose.

With no reason to be there they were happy to listen, learn what they could, without knowing what or how they might, or might not use it, and to just pass the day until it was time to go home.

If you want to be productive you need to seize opportunities to learn and grow.

If you are being sent to a training program organised for you, you need to understand WHY you are going.  Is it a process to ensure continued certification for example a first aid, or is there a plan for you to be able to do something in the future that you don’t do now?  You just need to ASK so you know the context of why you need to attend.  If there’s no why, what’s the point?

If you are a manager with team members participating in in-house or offsite training, you have made an investment. Set your team member up for success by being clear on your expectations. Don’t assume that they know WHY you are getting them to participate otherwise what’s the point?

Want to get your team purposely productive with technology?

Donna Hanson is a productivity expert who works with organizations and their teams to help them increase productivity performance and profits with everyday technology. Subscribe to her monthly eNewsletter at www.donnahanson.com.au