The Value of Training

Imagine a farmer with fruit orchards. He's got oranges and apples, maybe a few pear trees here and there.

He's hired you to come talk to him about why his business isn't doing so well. He's cut expenses back every way he can, but he just can't turn a profit.

Analyzing his balance sheet, you're shocked to see that two of the areas he's cut down on are water and fertilizer.

"How are you watering your trees?" you ask.


"I'm not, really," says the farmer. "Not fertilizing, either. The way I see it, I'm here to sell fruit, not soil. I got worry about the fruit first, then the tree second. Something had to go, and that was the ground!"

The flaws in his logic are obvious. In fact, there's very little you can do to improve the health and quality of either the fruit or the tree that doesn't start in the ground first.

Every self-respecting farmer knows that, which is why it's highly unlikely you'll encounter a scenario like the one I describe here.

However, I see businesses doing the equivalent of this all the time. When there are cuts to be made, one of the first departments to get funding slashed is the training department.

"We have to focus on quality of product," people will say. Or, "We already have good quality, highly trained employees."

And that's generally true enough. However, the roots of both high quality products and great employees are grounded firmly in the soil of good training.

The other problem with this attitude is not always as obvious: it suggests that employees are the only ones who need training.

Upper management knows that they are in a position where they can make a huge impact on their organization--they certainly want that reflected in their salaries. However, often ego, or a worry that such training will make them look like they're weak, will prevent them from so much as attending the same seminars or workshops they're putting their mid-level managers through.

Good, principle-based training gets to the root of employee issues, management issues, and interpersonal conflict. By helping employees and managers on those deep, fundamental levels, it creates change that can reach through all levels of the organization. It manifests itself in areas ranging from quality of product to employee morale to employee loyalty.