Meg's Corner: The Importance of Training in a Tough Economy

Across industries, in nearly every corner of the globe, budgets are tight. Companies that once dedicated exorbitant amounts of money to employee training and education are now slashing spending and cutting back on “non-essential” expenditures in order to stay in the black.

In this tough economy, there has been a troubling tendency for firms both large and small, to cut training budgets. Let me be clear: This is exactly the worst time to take educational opportunities away from employees. Because most firms are working with fewer staff, the quality and development of the remaining staff has become paramount. We’re all trying to do more with less. From a communications standpoint, firms need team members who can write and speak well in a variety of different contexts. Without ongoing training, how can managers expect their staff to deliver exceptional proposals and presentations? How do we ensure that our employees can continue to perform and engage in significant ways? The answer is consistent, effective, relevant training.

In this marketplace, it’s no longer enough to have talented technical professionals. While technical professionals like engineers, contractors, and architects, bring incredible skill and expertise to the table, they also must have the skills to convince and persuade.  If they cannot communicate their value effectively to new clients in particular, they will not be able to win new work. Unfortunately, the most talented technical professionals can easily lose projects because of poor communication skills.

For 20 years, I have specialized in coaching A/E/C project teams through the short-list interview process. I have come to believe that in this marketplace, companies should not ever be losing projects in an interview due to poor speaking skills. Smart professionals are intentionally sharpening their communication repertoire and taking steps to learn to communicate effectively in a full range of venues. Fortunately, communication skills are 100% learned behavior. This is an incredibly encouraging statistic! This means that firms can proactively provide communication training to make their employees more effective in client meetings and formal presentations. And, they can provide resources to help their technical professionals write more efficiently and clearly, producing better proposals and RFQ’s. Better proposals and RFQ’s results in more projects won.

Companies simply cannot afford to cut back on communication training for employees. Firms live and die on their ability to communicate their values, mission, and experience in ways that differentiate them from the competition.