Running Training Like a Business: Delivering Unmistakable Value

Training has been viewed as an expense in most organizations, a poor step-child to human resources, at best. It's a cost center in the minds of most executives, a necessary (or is it really?) evil. With the move toward lean organizations, practically every department is expected to be a profit center instead of a cost burden. "If you can't make a positive difference on our bottom line, we'll out-source you" is the attitude of many executives today. So Running Training Like a Business is a book for the times. Like it or not, if you're in the training field, you'd better be reading this book. Credibility. Trainers, like many professionals, are wary of all the garbage that poses as valid information. They need to cut through the noise to get the real meat, and they don't have a lot of time to wade through extraneous space-filling material that doesn't contribute to what they need to know. The authors understand. They're senior executives at The Forum Corporation, one of the premier global consulting firms on training and training management. The authors get right into content. No wasted time here. The writing is concise, supported by graphics where needed. Bullet points at the end of each chapter reinforce what needs to be done to achieve solid accomplishment of objectives. It's a good business approach. The book is organized into three parts: The Business Case for Transformation, Making the Transformation, and The End of the Beginning. The design is a familiar model to professionals engaged in behavioral change, making the content easier to absorb and apply. Organization change is what this book is all about, and the questionnaires in the back of the book will help the reader assess what needs to be done, progress made, and challenges yet to be overcome. This book may be a bit difficult, in places, for some trainers. That's understandable; many trainers have not had sufficient exposure to the business side of business. There's plenty of training language to build comfort and a sense of familiarity, enabling readers to find a number of jumping-off points to stay with the theme. As the author of "Lean & Meaningful," I can say that what van Adelsberg and Trolley have presented is very congruent with what we see in today's corporate culture. The role of training will grow in importance, but it must also grow in producing and measuring bottom-line results.

I found this book very insightful, and a MUST READ if you want to develop a competitive enterprise workforce for today's business challenges and marketplace!

This book is unique. I found it provocative, informative and actionable. Transforming learning inside companies from a function to a business has long been needed, particularly in today's world where learning is fast becoming a key element to sustainable competitive advantage. This book nails the issues and provides the plan, based on real world experience, for crossing the chasm. I recommend it highly for business people with an interest in extracting value from the money they are spending on developing their people.

This book strikes a cord! Year after year, businesses invests billions in training and developing their people. (In the US it is estimated to be a whopping $56 billion annually.) The truth is that most companies are unclear about the size of the investment. But what is far more alarming is the lack of clarity regarding the return on this huge investment. In these pages, the business case and blueprint for getting a tangible ROI from this critical investment is provided in a simple and insightful way. The experience, stories, tips, tools and 'real-world' examples make this short read very long on value.

This book is just tremendous. Just reading the first chapter made me begin to rethink all of my old assumptions about how to create competitive advantage through people. Van Adelsberg and Trolley have written a book that is easy to read, provocative in its point of view, results-oriented, and supported by great case studies. I think that it will make a huge difference for companies that truly want to get leverage from their learning and development efforts. Bravo!