Training is not new to small businesses or to the Fortune 1000 corporations. Employees must be trained to learn specific skill sets within their job functions as well as policies and procedures. This is especially true in todays technology driven 24/7 business world.

During the last 100 years, training has been viewed by some as the necessary evil. The prevailing belief was "We gotta to train them." And when sales plummeted or companies merged, the leaderships or managements belief was to cut the training budgets as well as the human resource department. Now does this really make sense?

If your people are the key to overcoming current challenges, then why cut their resources when you are experiencing significant issues. This is the time more than ever to invest (key word here is invest) in YOUR people.

Slashing the training budget is in many cases a reaction to a symptom instead of the real much larger problem or problems. That problem or those problems may include the following:

Inability to define the desired results
HINT: If you cant define the desired results that you want from the training, then why do the training? This is now a management problem, not a training problem.

No Strategic Plan
HINT: If there is no strategic plan (who does what by when), the you and your people are on some one elses plan and the problem is poor planning, not training.

Outdated Strategic Plan
HINT: If you havent revisited your plan within the last 30 days, then the problem is not training, but again poor planning.

Poor Communication
HINT: If 100% of your people cannot tell you what the top 3 goals of the organization are for the current year, you have a communication problem not a training problem.

Inconsistent Leadership
HINT: If your actions are not consistently focused on the end results and your behaviors are not demonstrating the shared common values, then you have a leadership problem, not a training problem.

With the New Year fast approaching and the quarter quickly ending, now is the time for you as that forward thinking business leader to use your leadership skills to assess what the real problems that you are facing and not just the symptoms. Begin to belief that training is an investment in your people and therefore in your organization.

For without those most advanced systems (your people) in your business, you wouldnt be able to conduct business, would you?

Leanne Hoagland-Smith

Good Day. Thanks for visiting. I hope that you have enjoyed my articles. In 1999, I founded ADVANCED SYSTEMS because I saw that performance could and should be doubled in warp time. Individuals, small and large businesses could not afford expensive solutions that may or may not deliver improved results in 12 months.

From my corporate, small business and education experiences, I recognized the individuals must have opportunities for connecting their passion to their purpose to secure the desired performance results, but many lacked the necessary skills, strategies and tools.

With over 20 years in sales management and 10 years in education, I understand how to unite productivity with profitability by developing a proactive working culture. My previous experiences resulted in cost savings through one of the first implementations of a computer software in a wholesaler distributor to the creation of a vendor performance assessment.

Since facilitating over 500 sessions, developing and editing over 25 training programs and writing numerous articles focusing on performance improvement, I bring a results focused approach to my clients. Also, I am proud to be one of the first five nationally certified facilitators of America?s Rising Stars (a Student Leadership developmental curriculum).

My passion is to help others connect their passion to their purpose to double performance. As The small business coach in Chicago, my clients have easily doubled their performance. Since our greatest resource is our young people, I am now working with large urban schools to generate the same results.

Education Background

• Graduated with honors from Purdue University with a B.A. in Education
• Earned M.S. from Purdue University in Instructional Design and Curriculum
• Published in the national trade journal, The Supply House Times, and numerous national newsletters
• Developed seminars and training on diversity, communication, leadership, sales, effective trade show behavior, networking, knowledge management, goal setting and improved educational outcomes
• Co-authored M.A.G.I.C.A.L. Potential: 7 Capicities for Living an Amazing Life Beyond Purpose to Achievement, to be available in 2006
• Working a another book focusing on performance in public education
• Speaker in a national bureau - Resource Associates Corporation