CFO Magazine published an article on February 15, 2006 that was entitled, “What's Wrong with Finance Training,“ by Randy Myers. I recently ran across this article in my files, and I was getting ready to shred it until I re-read it and noticed how little has changed in the last four years.
The article starts with a quote from Lisa Kline, director of finance and supply chain at General Mills, Inc., who lamented that "People didn't learn skills or techniques; they just got information." That quote resonated with me because as I explained in my last blog entry, that’s my observation of most finance training programs.
The author of the article went on to list the additional mistakes made by companies—keep in mind that this list was compiled four years ago:
- They offer off-the-shelf courses or seminars that aren't aligned with employees' everyday responsibilities.
- They schedule classroom training when the trainer is available rather than when employees need to enhance their skills.
- They offer lectures, even though adults generally fare better with interactive learning.
- They pluck trainers from within the ranks, even though these subject experts are unlikely to be skilled facilitators.
- They allow managers to skip the training sessions offered to lower-ranking employees, which means they won't know how to reinforce what their employees have learned.
- Worst of all, companies don't follow through — they offer a training program, check the task off their list, and forget about it. They don’t do anything after the program to reinforce the learning that should have taken place.
The author concludes the article with an explanation of why it doesn't have to be that way, and he points to General Mills as an example of a company that took on the challenge of finance training and did something right. They rolled out a 20-module program designed to help new employees quickly grasp the mission and structure of General Mills' finance organization and their role in its success. In addition to providing information about the finance organization's structure and vision, it describes how the company prepares its profit-and-loss statements and what goes into key line items such as trade expenses. Other modules help finance staffers provide better decision support to the business units, improve their critical thinking, and understand how to build shareholder value.
In my experience, very few companies have embraced finance training the way that General Mills did. Granted, General Mills is a big company with a big budget and the resources to develop custom training. But is that what it takes to get beyond “just information”—custom solutions? Are there any “off-the-shelf” products that fit the bill? My guess is probably not, because if there were, finance training today wouldn’t be in the same state that it was four years ago.
If you
have any comments on this topic, post your comments to this blog or send me an
email to pae@tmiwebmail.com. Until next time…
