Training Is Not Just an Event

If you’ve spent any time in your career as a trainer, you’ve heard the words: “It’s a training issue”.  More often than not, it’s not a training issue, but something else.

There is a misconception that attending a training event or activity will resolve performance issues or magically transform an employee’s skills or competencies. In fact, the training event is only the beginning.

At HealthTeamWorks^®, we recognize the intention behind sending a team member to a training event is to drive business results and ultimately provide a return on investment. This is why our programs are designed with a focus on practical application of the competencies needed to perform the work required by the role. Attendees spend a great deal of time in small group activities that encourage them to apply their learnings before bringing them back to the practice.

Unfortunately, we see many of our attendees struggle to maintain momentum once back in their practices. The demands of day-to-day activities often allow only brief pockets of time to focus on applying new learnings. Sometimes the practice’s workflows do not allow for easy integration of lessons learned and attendees are not empowered to make the necessary changes. This is not a training problem; it’s an implementation problem.

As trainers, we struggle with the question of how to ensure that learnings are transferred into practice. Trainings do not singularly benefit the attendee and therefore, the responsibility to implement cannot be placed singularly on the shoulders of the attendee.

We provide best practices intended to improve the success of your practice, but one individual cannot do it alone. It takes a team. Your team members work very hard in our trainings to apply what they’ve learned and collaborate with other attendees on new ideas and processes. When they return, they must have the opportunity to share and apply what they have learned in order to experience the business impact or return on investment. This requires the support and guidance of practice management and physicians.

With your help, attendees can begin to address some of the challenges associated with quality improvement, engaging patients in care management, and documenting activities and outcomes. When attendees return from a HealthTeamWorks’^® training event, go through a check list:

1. Schedule time with the attendee to learn what was covered in training
2. Work together to devise a plan to integrate learnings into the practice
3. Define a process and associated measures to track progress, outcomes, and overall business impact
4. Give the attendee the opportunity to share their learnings with other care team members to reinforce what they’ve learned and to foster collaboration across the team

Follow these steps and you will be able see the operational benefit of the training as well as the increased engagement of your team.   As an added bonus, you can help to remove the ‘it’s a training issue” stigma. We are excited to release our 2018 calendar, providing three courses in three states. Learn more and mark your calendars today!