Keeping the profits at their optimum level and getting the most impact out of the money invested in training are top priorities for any company. Training just for the sake of it is not a good use of resources. After the actual training, implementation of the knowledge gathered to create value and generate growth of the organisation is of utmost importance. Corporates invest a lot in employee training; approx. 1-2% of the employee cost is invested in the training of the employee. Therefore, it becomes a pain point for companies when the ROI from the employee training is not generated. There are three major hurdles in garnering the ROI in employee training.

Time

Employee training and implementation of the same is immensely dependent on time. Post training the employee generally gets engaged in the regular work of managing teams, achieving pre-decided goals and targets. Therefore, the employee gets very little time to implement what he/she has learnt during the training sessions that can essentially add value to the organisation. In such cases, the only solution that remains is to generate time for implementation of the training. Once the employee can create time, then he is in a position where he can potentially implement learnings from the training. To create time, it is extremely necessary to find out where the time is getting utilised. On an average a person works for 10 hours, out of those 10 hours almost 30-35% is invested in reading of emails, reports, documents etc. and another 30-35% is spent in meetings and the remaining 30-35% time is spent in actual work for which the employee is paid for, which includes thinking, strategizing, planning, organizing etc.

But the question is how the employee will be able to save some amount of time for himself out of all the activities he carries out in a single day at work? The answer lies in speed-reading and memory retention. Speed-reading and memory retention techniques help in reading a large number of words per minute and at the same time comprehending the information. These techniques help in reducing the time taken by the employee in reading reports, large emails, documents etc. Speed-reading can reduce the time taken for reading by a normal person by 40-50%. By practising speed-reading an employee cannot only able to generate time but also understand, retain and reproduce the information in its entirety. In this way, the employee can save time and implement the learning from employee training in a more effective manner leading to greater value addition to the organisation.

Memory

Remembering what you have learned is crucial to ensure return on investment of any training. Post training loss of information as soon as the candidates leave the venue is not a new phenomenon. During training, It is common for candidates to take down notes and comprehend what’s being taught, but as soon as they leave the venue and in the first 15 minutes, 20% of the information they’ve gathered is lost. The rest of the information is lost within a week’s time. What is left with the employee are just chunks and pieces of the information he gathered at the training irrespective of how many notes the employee has taken down in his notebook. Information lost during employee training cannot be gathered back and at the same time the employee doesn’t get time to utilise and implement what he learned to his work. Ultimately, the report gets created on the overall performance of the employee who has undergone the training as “zero value addition” which also reflects on the overall career path of the employee. Memory retention is a huge issue in employee training and the same reflects on the daily functioning of the employee.

Mind mapping is a solution for memory retention and creative thinking is the answer for such issues. The mind is the most dynamic organ in the human body, which can be trained and modified. Techniques like mind mapping and creative thinking exercises can train the mind and take it an exceptional level where retention of information is not an issue. Mind mapping techniques helps brains to categorise humongous chunks of information into relevant categories that make it easy for brain to remember and store the information, therefore, helping the employee achieving the desired level of performance and value addition.

Awareness at Leadership Level

Awareness at the leadership level about such techniques is important. Many times, a top-down approach is required to create awareness about such techniques, which works for the greater good of the organisation. Techniques like mind mapping and speed-reading are approximately 4 decades old and proven their metal. Today, many world- renowned corporates have adopted these techniques to improve their ROI on employee training and the growth of the organisation. The leadership needs to undergo the training in these techniques to sensitise them towards mind mapping and speed-reading which ultimately gets trickled down to other levels in the organisation.

Therefore, these are the three main reasons why most of the time ROI on employee training is poor or is not as per the expectation of the leadership. Instead of the regular TNAs, organisations need to help employees generate time so that they can implement what they have learned during the training. Equip them with tools to learn and understand the training sessions better and in a more efficient manner.

By following the techniques of mind mapping, memory retention and speed reading techniques, an employee will end up generating spare time, taking faster decisions and getting creative solutions. These will help the employee in having a better work-life balance at the same time implementing the learnings from other employee training sessions. Once the employee starts implementing the learnings from the training sessions is when it starts showing up in his work and that’s where the real ROI from the employee training is achieved by the organisation.