UK organisations are persisting with outdated training methods

Employers in the UK are still relying on outdated methods to train their sales staff

According to a new survey by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) found that traditional methods of workplace learning are considered amongst the least effective ways of up-skilling employees. Surprisingly only 16% of Learning and Development professionals believed formal education courses provided the best return on investment, and the same for coaching by external practitioners.

The survey also found that 11% believed e-learning to be an effective resource for sales training, yet 17% of respondents were planning to reduce their reliance on “classroom trainer led instruction”.

When investing in Learning and Development it is critical that organisations understand their people and the type of training that will suit them. So long as this happens then companies will be able to see a better ROI as employees will be more engaged in the training and be able to transfer the skills learnt in the classroom into their day-to-day activities in their role.

For training to see a real impact, it is important that it isn’t been done for ‘trainings sake’, but instead to be able to show that the investment is valuable and can be measured. Training that can be aligned with business objectives, with a well thought out learning strategy to develop the sales talent within the organisation will benefit employee engagement, staff retention and job satisfaction.