Getting started in the training business Topic 1: arriving at a realistic company training plan Available to Purchase

In my previous article I emphasised the importance of having a Company Training Plan. I explained that a company training plan attempts to answer certain fundamental manpower questions such as these — in what jobs should we, now and in the future, be training people; how many should be under training within each category; over what period of time should this training be extended and when should it come to fruition? I then invited you to take part in a participative exercise designed to convince you that these matters are not within the competence of the training manager to decide, that the training plan should reflect and implement the overall company objectives and, accordingly, the training plan should be determined by the top management. I also made the point that a company training plan should grow out of the company training needs assessment. I made a distinction between the COMPANY TRAINING NEEDS ASSESSMENT and the COMPANY TRAINING PLAN. CTNA is the aggregate of all identifiable needs of the company irrespective of whether it is possible or desirable to satisfy them; the company training plan is what results from taking the CTNA and fixing the priorities — making a choice of which needs to meet. I made a further point: that in the situation in which you find yourself, you may have to make these managerial decisions yourself, in isolation, in default of their being made by the management. In this case the training manager has no alternative, in the short‐term, but to accept the unsatisfactory situation and work for correct management involvement in the longer term.