LSA Global Insights Newsletter: July 2010

July 25, 2010

Is Conviction the Missing Ingredient to Training Success?

What if skills and knowledge alone are not enough to "move the needle?"

I'll never forget the question posed by a veteran Vice President of Sales Operations.

We had just designed a comprehensive sales training assessment to pinpoint skill gaps in his sales team before designing a targeted solution to grow revenue.

We thought we had covered all the sales best practice bases - inside sales, prospecting, calling high, qualifying, financial acumen, sales presentation, negotiating, strategic account planning, influencing, etc.

Then he said, "I think we're missing something here. What about the fire in the belly?".

He explained that some of his best sales people lacked polish and sophistication, but they believed so fervently in the value of their solutions that clients responded.

He was not talking about "selling ice to the Eskimos," but rather moving people to trust you in the face of uncertainty.

As it turns out, that battle-tested VP was really onto something. Conviction matters. It can be measured.

Are you building, reinforcing, and measuring training Conviction? Our research shows that it may be the missing link to success.

Read more about the role of operational, training and measurement conviction...


About LSA Global
Founded in 1995, LSA Global is a leading performance consulting and training firm that helps high growth technology, services, and life-science companies create a competitive advantage by powerfully aligning their culture and talent with their strategy. Learn more about getting aligned


Training Measurement Best Practices

Are you making the right business impact?

Unfortunately, if you asked your executives and stakeholders, odds are that the answer is - NO!

Not surprisingly, when we ask training and HR about the impact of their training initiatives, most tell us that they are making the right impact - even though the majority admit that they did not measure the training program it and are unclear about what happens "after people leave the session," or if there was an effective transfer of training.

When we look deeper however, the data is less encouraging:

  • Leaders believe that 90% of training initiatives fail to meet expectations
  • 75% of CEO's do not believe that training is impacting their business
  • Without systemic training reinforcement, 80% of skills and knowledge are not transferred back to the job
Based upon more than 600 training assessment and measurement projects, we have substantial evidence that consistent executive coaching combined with clear measurement achieves significantly higher levels of cultural and environmental performance than stand alone training events.

If you have a training initiative that is critical to your success or the success of your business, make sure that you can answer the following questions. Eventually someone will want to know.

  1. Impact: Is it making an impact?
  2. Adoption: Are people using the new knowledge, skills and processes?
  3. Reinforcement: Are managers involved, supportive, and reinforcing?
  4. Coaching: Are we providing individualized feedback that is relevant, simple, and actionable?
Having answers to the above 4 questions is proven to help drive the right amount of accountability to make an impact.

While you may think that it is too difficult or too costly to measure and reinforce training, we believe that you will be pleasantly surprised with the possibilities.

Read more about the top 5 steps to measure your return on training...




About LSA Global
Founded in 1995, LSA Global is a leading performance consulting and training firm that helps high growth technology, services, and life-science companies create a competitive advantage by powerfully aligning their culture and talent with their strategy. Learn more about getting aligned