After several years of corporations and law firms not conducting employee training programs, I might be seeing an uptick in HR Professionals aggressively seeking a variety of options for new learning seminars to bring into their companies.
When I first started speaking and training I often spoke to folks in the Human Resources Department. These busy executives were interested in hearing what I was doing for other companies at internal meetings and were actively trying to find ways to inspire, educate and create action plans for their teams. They had education days and other company events, and were always seeking options for interesting programs, speakers, trainers, etc.....
In 2009 I stopped hearing back from many of my HR contacts. It was as if when I called they hit "STAR - 3 - DELETE" without even listening to the message. Some shared that the downsizing and other fallout from the economic situation meant that all training was sidelined. Others lost team members in their department and were doing the job of three people. No matter what was happening, there was little interest in speaking about educational issues.
However in the last two months I have suddenly seen an uptick in my HR contacts aggressively seeking ideas for upcoming training programs. Some want to hire me directly, other are curious about what I have seen at conferences that help them create unique and alternative learning-style programs. I have begun emailing and calling these people again, and some clearly believe there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Others say that with three years of hosting zero employee development, that the time has come to do something or risk losing their best people.
Regardless of the reasoning, I am getting my calls returned and their is a lot of interest in new and different options for classes that can have an impact. While this is hardly a scientific survey, I will keep you posted as to how this impacts my business.
What do you think?
Have A Great Day.
thom singer
This post brought two phone calls from friends in HR. One said "YES, they are excited to get back to the positive sides of being in HR" (which includes organizing educational activities. The other said we are not yet there in the economic cycle.
ReplyDeleteSo which way do you think we are going... have we gotten beyond all the downsizing and companies are investing for growth? Or more of the same from the last three years?
Hmmm... I have not way of knowing.