The surveyed large companies in the Philippines strongly believe that training and

development is a vital strategy in human resource management, which is one of the factors that
stimulate innovation, which in turn, steer the companies to gain competitive advantage.
There are several reasons why training and development efforts have become important
are for the firms. The most frequently cited among these are to “improve job performance” of,
and to help the workforce acquire and improve their technical skills.
The companies’ practices revealed that in terms of the type of trainings, both technical
and behavioral trainings to stimulate creativity and innovation in their firms are undertaken,
although those are slightly more technical trainings implemented than behavioral trainings. With
regards to training methods, there are many methods, which can be categorized as presentation
methods, hands-on methods, and group building methods, which are used by large companies to
help their employees acquire new knowledge, skills, and behavior to pursue innovation in their
organizations. The most often used training method, regardless of the industry sector and training
categories, is the lecture together with the use of new technologies such as the CD-ROM, the
Internet, and the company intranet/portal. This is followed by team training, and then by on-the-
job training. The surveyed firms also provide adequate resources in terms of budget, time, and
expertise for training and development.
Several emerging workplace patterns and best training and development practices which
are considered to stimulate and generate innovations were identified by the different participating
companies. These lessons which other companies can learn from are related to people
commitment, use of resources, and conducive organizational climate. The top prevailing
emerging best practice is the implementation of extensive continuing training and development
programs, not only for the improvement of technical competence, but for the development of
cultural behaviors and values congruent with that of the company’s core values and philosophy.
While this survey’s results are mostly consistent with the practices of other companies in
the Philippines and in other countries, there is a need to conduct further in depth research that
will investigate the training and development efforts that have high and significant contributions
in stimulating and generating innovation

(PDF) Training and development practices of large Philippines companies. Available from:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/233026763_Training_and_development_practices_of_l
arge_Philippines_companies [accessed Jul 12 2018].

The key training industry trends identified by AMA Enterprise are:

1. The definition of “leader” is broadening. A majority of large organizations now consider individuals to be leaders based on their impact, not
on their authority or position. Increasingly, a leader is viewed as “anyone, whether they manage others or not, who is a top-performer in their
specific role.”

2. Management faces a more risk-averse workforce. A growing proportion of the workforce has become risk-averse, probably due to the
sluggish economy and weak job market. Management must assess its own responsibility for this phenomenon and determine if the
organization really encourages initiative or risk taking.

3. Demand for ”Big Data” skills is growing sharply. A greater volume of information is now at the disposal of organizations today, but
employees lack the analytical skills to deal with such complex data, and management is now pressed to provide the needed training.

4. More organizations avoid the term ”high potential.“ There is a growing reluctance to call candidates for accelerated career development
”high potential.“ The term may suggest that other employees do not have much potential, which is not a healthy message to convey, either to
them or to the organization.
5. Selection for high-potential programs is becoming more impartial. Companies now seek to make the application process for such
programs more systematic and impartial. As a consequence, expect greater transparency on performance criteria, changes in corporate
strategy, more flexible career opportunities, and tighter high-potential selection and management succession processes.

6. Leadership programs are being retooled for globalization. Some companies have long had a global dimension to their development
initiatives. But others find they must now play catch up or lose ground in an increasingly competitive global marketplace. The top
competencies for global leadership development are change management, ability to influence and build coalitions, and critical thinking and
problem solving.

7. Many organizations find themselves ill-prepared for rising turnover. One-third of employers are concerned that employee turnover may rise
as the job market improves, a 2013 AMA survey found. And many companies admit they are not ready to deal with the challenge and are
seeking suitable solutions.

8. Core skills are a renewed focus. Classic programs devoted to basic skills often suffered during the recession, taking a back seat to
specialized modules that met immediate business challenges. There is now greater demand for programs that develop communications
skills, critical thinking, collaboration, and creativity, all of which aim to improve long-term employee productivity.

9. More and more employees now seek entry into leadership programs. If the selection process for programs once had a low profile,
ambitious individuals now volunteer themselves for any kind of leadership development offering. Organizations realize they must find ways to
meet this growing demand.

10. Growing focus is on developing individual contributors. More than one in three organizations have stepped up efforts to develop
individual contributors. So-called high-potential candidates from the management ranks often get all the attention, while individual
contributors hardly figure in development programs. Yet these are key constituents within every organization—core players who get things
done despite having no direct management authority.

By: Jennifer Jones

Elements of Integrated Training Support Process 1. Units requiring training support will access the TSC
through a variety of means. They include, but are not limited to: a. First Contact Sheet questionnaire
filled out by the contractor when a unit makes direct contact with the TSC, b. Indirect contact through
MCB and its subordinate organizations, primarily Range Management Branch (RMB), c. Responses to
links on the MCB and RMB Websites, and d. The Organizational Mailbox that automatically sends a
request e-mail when units complete an on-line First Contact Sheet questionnaire. 2. The initial
information collected through these means begins the information exchange between the unit and the
TSC. It helps determine the level and type of Training Design, the complexity of Exercise Design and the
complexity of Training and Exercise Support that will be required to accomplish unit training objectives,
and meet training standards. 3. Appropriate training resources must be assigned to each unit request in
order to develop the appropriate level of support. In order to ensure that appropriate support is
provided at the correct time and place to ensure unit training requirements are met, other support
agencies and systems within MCB must also be included when appropriate. These assets include: a.
Range Safety, b. Range Operations, c. Global Information Systems d. Range Facility Management Support
System e. Reserve Support Unit f. MCB G-4 g. Other support organizations aboard MCB that may be
required depending upon each unique training situation. 4. Notification and access to these resources
are provided by the contractor, and recorded when the contractor completes the Training Support
Request (TSR). The TSR is reviewed, and progress tracked as internal and external agencies and resources
respond. 5. The result, deliverable to the unit is a Training Support Package.
For REPORTING

Metrics can help.

Measuring the effectiveness of training is a very difficult task, for stakeholders, training departments
and end users. If you are a training manager or company stakeholder looking for ways to measure the
effectiveness of your programs, these ten metrics are a great place to start.

One: Increased retention. Most Human Resources departments measure the rate of retention in all or
various jobs. Many times, the front line, high turnover jobs are the ones that receive the most
attention. If newly trained employees feel ill-equipped for the job, they are more likely to leave within
their first 90 days. When you measure training success this way, higher retention points to a
successful training program.

Two: Increased sales. Many organizations can track efficiency based on sales. If training is heavily
geared toward a sales or customer service force, an effective program will eventually increase sales
numbers. You can also measure product knowledge training as part of a sales number – poorly
educated sales people usually do not make the sale. Dollar figures and unit sales make good metrics,
but be sure to balance any metric with other factors that can influence sales numbers.

Three: Increased operational efficiency. In highly regulated or production-oriented businesses,

managers look for more efficiency, which raises the bottom line. If your training programs teach skills,
look to management’s efficiency metrics, as a baseline, before and after the training intervention. If
you are building a new program or product, look at the efficiency numbers to obtain direction on
training course content.

Four: Customer service results. Any organization can link training to customer service, which can be
both internal and external. Customer service is also one of the easier place to start: one well-written
survey can identify a host of customer related issues that can be addressed by training programs.
Remember that training may not be the only solution to those issues. If your organization already has
a customer survey in place, use those metrics to cross check your programs. When your programs
impact the survey items, you can correlate an increase in customer satisfaction back to training.

Five: Company-defined scorecards. Training outsourcers tend to use client-defined criteria to

determine training effectiveness. If your organization has a wide variety of possible measurements, sit
down with management, and stakeholders, to create a custom scorecard based on expectations and
the training programs that need to be in place.
Six: Cost of training. This is an internal training department measurement. In high turnover
organizations, lowering cost per student can be used as an effectiveness measurement. Cost of
training could also relate directly back to retention – if you’re spending less on new hire training, your
retention may be higher. Work with your stakeholders and the HR department to determine training
costs and where you want those numbers to be.

Seven: Return on Investment. ROI has long been a “catch all” metric. In some cases, it’s easy to
define ROI, but in more cases it’s increasingly difficult. If you deliver soft skills training, it’s hard to
put a dollar figure on the return. There are numerous ROI calculations available, so if you’re thinking
about using an ROI metric, look for the formulas and plug in what you can. If you are part of a
numbers-driven organization, you’ll be able to make friends with the stakeholders by defining and
measuring concrete ROI.

Eight: Revenue generation. This metric appears most likely as a combination of sales numbers,
operational efficiency, and customer service. If an organization shows increased revenue, a solid
training program can be part of that increase. If your organization is rolling out a new revenue
generator, such as a product or service, that is generally the best time to use revenue generation as
training metric.

Nine: Instructor performance. Instructor evaluation is an important internal measurement. The results
can come from student and manager evaluations, and must take into account the instructor’s
presentation skills, knowledge of the subject, projection of organizational values, and adherence to
instructional guidelines. The good part about instructor performance as a metric is that it can also be
used as an external measure. When training is under discussion, training managers should be the first
to praise their instructors for delivering quality instruction in every course – and instructor evaluations
provide the supporting evidence.

Ten: End-user satisfaction. Your audience can measure effectiveness quicker than anyone else, both
immediately following training and after a given time period, such as 30 or 60 days. The immediate
results, sometimes referred to as “smile sheets”, can give you a picture of what happened in the
classroom. The delayed results can tell you if the material is useful or not. Plus, end-user surveys are
great tools for proving effectiveness with management.

Remember that training metrics may take time to put into place and show results. It’s also important
to obtain buy-in from your stakeholders while you’re determining how to measure results. Use these
metrics to start with – and use them whenever you’re developing or revamping training programs.
Once you can prove bottom-line effectiveness, your credibility will go a long way.