Time to Replace Cancellations with Online Training

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Right now, Training & Development Staff Everywhere are Being Asked to Postpone and Cancel Training Programs

At the time of writing this blogpost, the Western World is fearful about the consequences of the Covid-19 epidemic. And C-suites are tempted to reach for the auto-pilot from the finance crisis (and every crisis before that) and simply cancel training efforts. But this time it is appropriate to warn against wholesale cancellations of all training and development. 

It’s unnecessary to cancel

Over the past decade, the awareness that e-learning is a real alternative to class-room training has been growing. At the same time, one online learning platform after the other has seen the light. Many of them are large learning management systems for corporate usage.

But what is less known is that there are smaller, more agile systems that allow the consulting industry to offer their various programs in formats that range from purely self-paced video training to customized blended-learning solutions.

All of these solutions are out there. Ready for you to use.

The exception from the rule

Admittedly, there may be programs and gatherings that are best shut down right now. They are the sort of programs that endanger individuals and organisations because

• they gather a large number of select people from all across a global organisation, which may even involve a lot of travelling in stuffed, unhealthy airplanes
• the program can only happen in an amputated version, since a substantial number of participants won’t be joining
• the program involves taking key staff or entire teams away from work to large conference facilities, where the Covid19 virus can spread uncontrollably

However, in numerous other cases it is unwise to cancel

Cancelling all training and development is a way to starve the organisation of vital nourishment. So rather than indiscriminate cancellations, it is wise to consider prioritising topics in combination with a shift to online and/or blended learning.  

What sort of training should be a priority?

In a Crisis, Employees Need Their Direct Leaders

No matter if it is localised to only your organisation or e.g. your industry, a crisis calls for leadership. It calls for the sort of leadership that political and corporate leaders provide when they go on national TV or on the corporate intranet and talk to all of us.

But just as importantly, it also calls for a focused direct day-to-day leadership effort. The sort of leadership that helps individuals and teams temporarily adapt and: 

• re-focus their efforts into dealing with a new strategic reality
• develop and/or adapt to changes in work processes and job responsibilities 
• re-consider their knowledge gathering and -sharing
• collaborate as teams and cope with whatever individual challenges emerge
• step-up and shoulder more responsibility or handle unfamiliar tasks
• make operational decisions that require faster/more decentral decisions than usually
• handle day-to-day performance and make whatever adjustments are needed, e.g. if a team must be taken out of production

Don’t Shut Down Your Planned Leadership Workshops – Focus on Key Programs and Convert the Classroom to Online

So, are we advising you to preserve all leadership programs as long as they exist in some online format or other?

Not at all. Our advice is to hold back on programs that are not immediately applicable.

Instead you should increase the sort of training that expands the organisation’s ability to navigate through the crisis. The sort of leadership that:

• Teaches leaders how to be the extension of the C-suite’s efforts to steer the entire organisation safely through the storm
• Permits leaders to support their teams and employees in all of the above areas
• Is quickly learned and immediately applicable

Let us Help You!

Our flagship online program - Direct Leadership® - The Essential Leadership Deliverables - includes 7 roles that are designed to support every one of the 3 purposes above. 

This video-based program may be delivered as: 

• A self-paced online stand-alone program
• A blended learning program combining the Online Program with individual 1:1 coaching
• A blended learning program including the Online Program, individual 1:1 coaching and a self-assessment test.

Furthermore, our certified facilitators and coaches all have extensive experience and varied backgrounds, so no matter what leadership models your organisation is already using, we’ve got someone for you, who knows how to connect the dots for the leaders in your organisation and help them be your company's primary crisis navigators. 

Learn more about Direct Leadership® - The Essential Leadership Deliverables here