People: Train Them Often, Train Them Right

by Stephen J. Andriole

The pace of today's business is generating technology problem-solving requirements faster than employers and employees can satisfy them. This is stressing learning organizations to the point where they have to invest in serious training programs for their employees. Corporate "universities" are springing up all over the place, and the number of new content titles is growing by leaps and bounds. All of this effort, however, must be targeted with coherent strategies. If the strategies aren't clear, then all of the work to keep employees current may be misdirected: training requirements should be derived from business strategies and tactics -- not the other way around.