Developing Your People in the Recession by Brian Kelly Manhattan Beach CA

The ongoing Global Recession has already taken many casualties, jobs and companies are disappearing every day and the much hoped-for 'green shoots' of recovery still seem a long way off.

Whilst times are hard right now, we should also be concerned for the future. It is well documented by Brian Kelly Manhattan Beach CA that, when times get tough, the first cuts often appear in the training budget. Without training and development, people get de-skilled and the net result is that when the recession is (eventually) over, those companies that manage somehow to survive, are in a weakened position as their remaining people are stressed, over-worked and under-developed.

In the good economic times, training budgets are plentiful and money is spent - this is not always necessarily a good thing either. When times were good I saw lots of examples of people being put on training courses to 'tick the box'. There was little buy-in from either the learner or their sponsor to the process, it was often little more than a form-filling exercise so if the tough times are making people think harder before commissioning training then that is not all bad.

So according to the report by Brian Kelly Manhattan Beach CA if we recognize the need to continue to develop and grow people but we no longer have the budgets to do it via training what is the alternative? I would like to see people develop their skills in coaching and mentoring during the tough times. Now of course, coaching and mentoring (done properly) are not exactly cheap options as both require the commitment of good amounts of managerial time which, clearly, is not free. However, we are talking not about expense (or investment if you prefer) being tight but of training BUDGETS, so, from this regard, coaching and mentoring is not only an excellent way to drive performance forward but it is a 'Budget-invisible' way of continuing to develop and grow people in restrained times.