How to outsource your training

What do you want to achieve?

You may already know that you’re looking for a development programme, so it seems natural to just start looking for that, especially if you’re short on time.

However, there are SO MANY variations out there that you could lose a lot of time speaking to people that can’t help you with the outcome you want, just because it looks like they deliver a few key topics you think you’ll want to cover.

Start with the end in mind:

• What change are you trying to create and why?
• How does that relate to what the business needs to achieve?
• What specifically do you want your participants to do differently?

Without clarity on these key areas, it’s likely you’ll be shopping for ‘content’ (what’s delivered on the programme) rather than ‘change’.

I’m sure with the time and costs invested, both you and the business will want to see something different after the development, otherwise why do it?

You don’t (yet) need a fully formed solution, that’s where your provider can help (if you choose the right one). But you will need to be clear on what’s driving the need if you want the development to get results.

What makes a great provider?

From speaking to 100s of HR/L&D professionals and from 25 years buying in services myself, there’s a real theme of what makes the difference:

Credibility

Do they have the experience and background to be credible with you, senior stakeholders and the participants they’ll be working with?

What’s their track record? What do their previous clients say about working with them?

It’s worth checking whether the person you initially talk to will be speaking to stakeholders, managing the process and delivering the training. I’ve been caught out in the past with speaking to highly credible Account Directors of large companies, who then outsource the actual work on to junior team members with little experience to save costs.

Flexibility

I always wanted to work with providers who can be flexible with both what and how they deliver. Most providers will have core programmes that they offer. They’re used to similar development themes and have created their own approach to ‘solve’ the problems.

This enables them to scale rapidly and drive efficiencies. The good news for you is that these standard programmes are likely (but not always in the case of some of the well-known providers) to be cheaper.

It’s worth bearing in mind that although themes will be similar, you’ll have your own unique culture, goals and processes. In which case, you might prefer, like I did, working with providers who can flex what they offer to precisely what you need.

You might also want to check how flexible they are when they’re actually ‘in the room’ with participants. Can they adapt to fit what’s needed there and then, and STILL meet the programme outcomes?

Working in partnership  

This could mean everything from supporting you with stakeholder buy-in to creating a comms plan, co-creating the programme to embedding the behaviour change.

This isn’t just for those less experienced in L&D. When you combine your own knowledge of the business and context with a provider who can bring experience and insight from a range of other assignments and sectors, you create something way more effective than either one of you by yourselves.

Aim for a provider who’ll clearly demonstrate the value they can bring outside of the training itself.

Strong communication skills

Essential for the success of the training. Ask yourself:

• Could they influence your stakeholders?
• Can they keep participants engaged AND challenged?
• Will they keep me as involved as I want / need to be to ensure success?

Some providers are amazing trainers but have zero credibility with senior audiences or don’t keep you in the loop in the way you need.

You can get a good feel for this from an initial conversation to discuss needs. Do they ask the more difficult questions? Challenge your thinking? Provide fresh insights? As opposed to purely asking logistical questions on dates, times and number of people attending the training.

Reliability  

I lost count of the amount of times that providers would promise delivery of proposals or materials by a certain date, which I then had to chase. When it’s your own reputation on the line, it makes sense to work with a provider who you trust to deliver what they say they’ll deliver, when they say they’ll deliver it.

Relationship

Although I’ve left it until last, this was a big one for me and for many others. With all of the above under consideration, does it feel ‘easy’ to work with this provider? Does it feel like they get me / us / what we want? Do I look forward to speaking with them or dread it? Do I feel supported and as if they’re on my side?

I’ve not added cost in here, which may be a surprise – as often decisions are primarily based around ‘will it fit my budget’. I’d suggest reframing that slightly to ‘what will it cost the business if we don’t get the behaviour change we need’.

Given that replacing one member of staff who’s resigned due to poor leadership could be 1.5 to 2x their annual salary, just think of the business benefit to increasing leadership capability in one leader, let alone across the whole business. It’s likely to far outweigh the cost of not training, or simply going with the cheapest, generic option.

You can get more insight on how much training costs in my blog here.

Where to find a great partner

Although not quite as rare as hen’s teeth, a great partner is usually in high demand, so may not be advertising as frequently. Which makes it slightly harder to find them.

Some of the best I ever worked with when I was in-house didn’t even have websites or social media presence – and still don’t!

So how do you find them?

• Watch or listen to them in action. This is one of my preferred routes, as you can quickly get a feel for their credibility, communication, and what it might feel like to work with them. Do they already sound like they might ‘get’ you / your organisation? If so, book in a call and have a follow up chat to find out more. I used to make a point of attending free & paid workshops, or watching videos / listening to podcasts for exactly this reason and then kept a list of potential providers I could reach out to when I had a need.
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• Referrals and recommendations. Ask people you trust (colleagues, other HR / L&D professionals) who they’ve used, or who would be on their shortlist. And then follow that up with a ‘why’. What is it about that person that they’d rate? This helps you filter out the names that are just commonly shared from the people who have experienced them first hand.

What to ask

When you’ve got an initial scoping call with a provider, here are a few questions to add to your list:

1. What outcomes have you helped other clients achieve? Look for specifics here, not just ‘they loved it’. ‍
2. How do you measure impact? If they don’t, that’s a potential red flag. They may not be able to offer full ROI (if you can’t set up control groups and access internal data measures for example) but they should be able to measure behaviour change and at least some of the impact as a result‍
3. What support do you offer before and after the training? Partnership and embedding support are the most common elements people tell me are missing when their providers aren’t hitting the mark. Poor providers are happy to just turn up, deliver, and then walk away.‍
4. Who will be delivering the programme? If it’s not the person you’re speaking to, ask to speak with them directly before you agree to go ahead and sense check against the criteria in the section ‘what makes a great provider?’
5. ‍How might you tailor your product / approach for our people / culture? If they don’t, think about whether this will really work for the change you need. Sometimes even the minor elements (like using the wrong terminology for a performance review process) can mean participants engage less‍
6. Can you walk me through a suggested approach? This allows you to sense check their thinking at an early stage. Does it feel well thought through? Is it worth exploring more?‍
7. What do you need from us to make it a success? Great providers will always expect your input, otherwise they won’t have the insight to get the behaviour change and results that you need to deliver.

Ultimately, don’t just rely on a written proposal. You want to know that they ‘get it’ (your context) and ‘get you’ (how to work with you best).  

Set them up for success

Outsourcing to a provider should mean that you gain expert insight & skills and a partner who takes the heavy lifting off you and gets the results you need.

It doesn’t mean an abdication on your part, handing it all over and forgetting it. A partnership works 2 ways!

As far as you’re able to, aim to:

• ‍Brief them on the context. Sharing the background to your organisation, the culture, the challenges, the successes, the vision, the goals. If you’re in a role with no access to this, you might like to consider bringing a senior stakeholder into the conversation to share more
• Brief them on the outcomes. What specifically needs to change and why? What will success look like? If you look back 6 months after the programme ends, how will you know it’s been a success?
• ‍Brief them on the participants. What are their key challenges? How do you know? What impact does that have? What will happen if changes aren’t made? How aware are they of what they need to develop? Have they had feedback before? What else (apart from training) have you tried?
• Communicate well. This includes engaging / involving key stakeholders at an early stage, making sure participants know what’s happening, why and what’s expected. Plus, keeping your provider up to speed with any key changes that may impact the participants on the programme such as: absence, organisational changes or anecdotal feedback from participants / leaders as the programme progresses.

Make sure you get at least one debrief call, ideally two. The first to share immediate insights after the programme finishes and the next steps. The second to share results of the behaviour change and recommendations from those.

3 big mistakes to avoid

• The development is treated as a ‘tick box’ activity. Just like we might notice poor engagement and increased challenges when managers have ‘tick box’ 1-1 conversations, it’s the same with development. One of your challenges may be with senior stakeholders, who expect training to solve the problems they don’t want to / have time to solve themselves.
  
  Training won’t fix everything. However, using the tips in this blog and the video will dramatically increase your ability to source a provider who can guide you to what they can / can’t achieve through development and what else might be needed
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• Focussing just on content rather than change. If your discussions start and end with what the provider will cover, you’re unlikely to get the change that you need. Equally, if you’re obsessed with covering too much content (to get value), you’ll find that you overwhelm the participants.
  
  Start thinking about the value being delivered through the level of change you see and the results you get, as opposed to rigidly fixating on covering specific models and tools. Or packing participants full to the brim with knowledge that they’re unlikely to need now or in the future – which can lead to second guessing and a dip in confidence.
  

• It’s too removed from their World. The big downside to not partnering with a provider, is that generic content won’t fit their experience. Whilst there’s some value in theoretical models and general discussions, there’s usually not enough to see changes.

How I can help you

With your own reputation on the line, it makes sense to find the best outsourced partner you can for your needs. One who you trust has the right skills and experience to deliver.

The best providers will also be honest with you about whether or not they can support this work and if not, give suggestions for alternate providers. They’ll be well-connected, which is another sign!

If you’re looking for a partner who’ll help you figure out what you need, create a programme that lands and get the behaviour change you want … well, hi! This is exactly what I do.

It starts with a quick exploration call (be prepared for the questions in this blog!) and then I can either make recommendations on how I might be able to help or refer you to others who might be a better fit. You can book a call with me by clicking here.

Interested but not yet ready for a call? You can check out what we offer (including costs) and feedback from our clients here.

And if you’ve got leadership development on your agenda, I run a free programme twice a year called ‘Set your Leaders Up for Success’. You’ll get resources, insights and opportunity to learn best practise from and with other in-house HR / L&D professionals. Register here for more information.