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The Limits of EmployeeTrainingLearning programs alone don't engage employees, according to a

survey of Singapore's workforceby Ashok Gopal

The media in Singapore regularly carry reports about employee learning or"retooling" efforts that have been launched by the government. Thoseprograms aim to make citizens more employable and successful in today'shighly competitive marketplace. Businesses, too, spend large amounts oftime and money drawing up extensive training schedules for theiremployees.

However, fundamental questions arise regarding these investments: Doestraining really address core objectives, such as promoting world-class

performance among employees while heightening their engagementlevels? And if these goals are not being met, what are the obstacles tosuccess?

To answer these questions, The Gallup Organization asked employees inSingapore about their experiences with employee training programs aspart of its annual Singapore Workforce Engagement Index survey. Theresults suggest that there are key issues that companies should considerwhen thinking about their training programs. These issues have significantimplications for how Singapore's companies -- and organizationseverywhere -- can maximize the returns from training.

Attendance at training programs is on the decline

A review of responses from the past three years reveals this trend:Although training may get significant coverage in the media, thepercentage of respondents who have attended company-sponsoredtraining has actually declinedsharply.

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Given that Singapore is emerging from a recent economic downturn, it'spossible that training budgets might be getting trimmed due to short-termeconomic considerations. But it's also possible that training efforts havenot yielded the expected boost in employee performance, resulting inbudget cutbacks.

Training aims to fix weaknesses

Survey respondents who had been through training in the past six monthswere asked whether that training focused on building their strengths orfixing areas of weakness. In three of every four cases, respondents wereattending training programs to fix their areas of weakness. Yet decades ofGallup research reveals that people achieve the greatest increases inperformance when they focus on building their strengths.

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Although building strengths can lead to world-class performance, trainingto improve areas of weakness is essentially damage control -- by aiming toeliminate defects, it inspires adequate, not superior, performance.

This doesn't mean training is worthless. Even in this sample, 93% of therespondents who had been through training reported that it had helpedthem do their jobs better. But the key question remains: What willgenerate the strongest results for a company -- a remedial approachbased on weakness prevention that produces marginal improvements or astrengths development approach that could boost employee performance

to levels of excellence?

Replies to another survey question reveal a related problem: Only aboutone in five of Singapore's employees are in roles that allow them to usetheir talents on a daily basis. The fact is, training can do wonders for theright person in the right job -- especially when that training builds on theemployee's greatest talents. But all the training in the world cannot makean employee the rightperson for the job.

These findings have serious implications for Singapore businesses,especially those in which customer service is key. The latest GlobalCompetitiveness Report reveals that Singapore has slipped to 21st place in

providing excellent customer service, down from an impressive 8th-placeranking just six years ago. As a result, there is much talk about launchingtraining programs to help employees become more "customer-centric."But training can go only so far. To drive real change, companies mustdevelop strategies to hire more customer-focused employees in the firstplace, then provide them with strengths development opportunities thatcan help them become world-class.

Training is only one factor in building employee engagement

The survey results suggest that the engagement levels of employees whohave been through training are slightly higher than engagement levels of

those who have not. Those who indicate they have been through training

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are 43% more likely than those who have not been through training to saythey have had opportunities at work to learn and grow.

But these numbers don't tell the whole story -- learning and growing canbe counterproductive in isolation. Gallup's research has revealed thatthere are 12 key dimensions that companies must manage to enhance

employee engagement, and providing opportunities to learn and grow isjust one of them. (See "Feedback for Real" and "Item 12: Opportunities toLearn and Grow" in See Also.)

For example, if employees are learning and growing but don't know whatis expected of them at work, they can become frustrated in their roles andmay start exploring job opportunities at other companies. This does notmean that providing opportunities for employees to learn and grow iswrong. What would be wrong is to believe that just providing theseopportunities will guarantee that employees will become more engagedand successful.

Managing all of the dimensions

Organizations that want to increase employee engagement need aperformance management system that is geared toward developing it.Giving people more opportunities to learn can play a part, but companiesmust manage all the dimensions that drive engagement, not focus on justone.

The world's best companies recognize that employees flourish when theyare placed in roles that play to their talents. Thus, organizations shouldnot try to "bestow talents" on their employees; instead, they should workto maximize the greatest talents within those individuals. To become

world-class, companies must first focus on selecting the right employeesinto each role -- then on helping them develop into excellent performers inthose roles.

The best companies also know that employee engagement begins at theworkgroup level with great front-line managers. As noted in Gallup'smanagement book First, Break All the Rules, "An employee may join acompany because of its prestige and reputation, but . . . his relationshipwith his immediate manager determines how long he stays and howproductive he is while he is there." And the world's best managers actuallymaximize the impact of training by developing employees' strengthsrather than trying to improve upon their weaknesses.

Results of this survey are based on nationally representative samples of about 1,000employed adults aged 18 and older. Interviews were conducted by telephone May 2001-October 2004. For results based on samples of this size, one can say with 95% confidencethat the error attributable to sampling and other random effects could be plus or minusthree percentage points. For findings based on subgroups, the sampling error would begreater.

Ashok Gopal is a Principal with The Gallup Organization. He is based in Singapore.