What does a training consultant do?
Let’s start with the definition of a training consultant. Training consultant is a professional who develops training materials and programs for employees of a company based on the assessment of the customer’s objectives. Professional training and development consultant combines the duties of an analyst, lecturer, and expert in a particular industry, for example, sales, IT, customer service or management training consultant. This specialist can be both an individual entrepreneur providing own training services and work in the training consulting firm. As for such a company, it has a whole team of professional consultants so that they can offer comprehensive solutions for staff training and development.
So, who and why needs personnel training consultants, let's find out.
The importance of professional training for a company
Before answering the question “Who and why needs professional training consultants?” let's consider the issue of professional training of company staff.
Progress, as we all know, does not stand still, new technologies appear almost every day, as well as new methods and techniques affecting all areas of business and everyday life; besides, social standards, the structure of the consumer market and other things also change. Against the background of global competition, a company must follow current trends and technologies in order not to get lost among its competitors, so companies constantly feel the need to train their staff. This is vital to maintaining the efficiency of any business. Also, this process should be carried out systematically, and the personnel training plan should correspond to the goals and objectives of a company.
Organization of staff training in a company
Typically, an HR manager is responsible for organizing and conducting training in a company. Choosing a solution to this problem one can select one of the following options:
- Training within a company. With this approach, more experienced staff trains less experienced ones. This is a simple and cheap solution, but it is far from always possible to organize such training, since a company may not have the appropriate specialists, and besides with this approach, there is no opportunity to get a new experience from the outside.
- Services of training consulting companies. With this approach, professional training consultants or training consulting companies are involved in the whole process of employee training in a company. They offer in-house training solutions based on the analysis of problems and tasks of a particular company. That is, a client receives a customized solution. Among the disadvantages of this approach are the costs of conducting training.
How do professional training consultants work?
Let us consider in detail the work of training consultants. So, a company has decided to apply for the services of a professional consultant. To do this, it has to prepare a description of tasks or problems that must be solved with training. This is how the process of developing and conducting trainings in a company with a professional consultant looks like.
- Statement of a problem. Any project starts with this. You, as a customer, must clearly state your goals, and describe the existing problem to your consultant. The more detailed and accurate you describe your tasks, the more accurately your consultant assesses a situation, and the more effective solution will be offered.
- Analysis and adjustment of a solution. Using existing knowledge and experience, a corporate training consultant will offer you a comprehensive solution that must be adjusted. When and how the courses will be conducted, what specialists will take part in them – these issues must be resolved before the training start.
- Conducting courses. According to a previously agreed plan, courses are held in a company. HR manager ensures that experts take part in the process and everything goes according to plan.
- Evaluation of training. Conducted training must be evaluated. Most limit themselves with an interviewing of training participants, although it would be better to use a more comprehensive approach, for example, Donald Kirkpatrick’s model.
Is it worth paying for the services of training consultants?
This question arises even before you start choosing a training and consultancy company. Indeed, the feasibility of any investment, including investment in staff training, must be evaluated in terms of ROI. We recommend you to use, for example, the following simple approach.
Evaluate the potential benefits of the training, for example, as a result of the training, the customer churn rate has decreased and this has saved part of the profit on the one hand, and the total cost of the training (the salary of the participants the service itself and the cost of introducing changes in the work of the company) on the other hand. Calculate the difference in these figures, and you will be able to estimate approximately the payback period of such an investment. Although it should be noted that some other factors cannot be evaluated by numbers, for example, improving the loyalty of your employees, who will be grateful to you for the training, in addition, they will receive additional inspiration in their work, which is also important.
How to choose training and consultancy company?
Now there are quite a lot of offers on the professional training services market, and you can easily find several options by entering a query concerning a geographic location, something like this: “Training consultants in Dubai.” There are some important criteria that you should pay attention to when choosing your partner. Here are the main things to consider when choosing a consultancy company:
- Training consultants specialize in various contiguous fields, but they can’t deliver everything. Never trust Jack of all trades. Real professionals can deliver marketing, management, and customer service because these domains are connected, but if you on the top of it you see accountant services, oil and gas consultation, and assistance with construction projects just run away from such “specialists”.
- High professional level of specialists conducting the training. The higher is the professional level of your lecturer, the better it is for a company. This can be assessed by the diploma, certificates and other documents confirming a professional level.
- Experience. A good consulting company will show its completed projects on its website, and you will be able to evaluate the effectiveness of its products.
- Reputation. Now you can easily find reviews about a particular company. Feedbacks from previous clients is very useful information that will help you make the right decision.
In the process of choosing training and consultancy of a company, it is important to correctly assess its ability to assist you in solving your problems, and for this, it is worthwhile to take into account everything.
Indeed, the services of training consulting firms are not cheap, and in order to find a good training consultant you will have to make an effort, but as practice shows, such a solution is worth the money spent on it, because it allows companies to solve complex problems and achieve the desired results. If you need a professional consultation on the matter of your training needs, we will be glad to assist you. Download our corporate brochure for more information and we will contact you to discuss your particular training requirements.