'Public Course' or 'In-house':

which is best?

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Feb-Jun
or
Jul-Dec

Brookfield's
Motivational Factors for Adult Learning:

Participation in learning is Voluntary

Facilitation is Collaborative

Needs to be dynamic with much Activity

Should cause a spirit of Critical Reflection

The objective is self-directed and empowered people

"Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach him to fish and you feed him for life"

Explaining the Jargon!

Public Courses are training workshops run by providers such as STA Training, EMA, NZIM, Chamber of Commerce, Ace Computer Training, and lots of others. Simply put, you 'send someone along' for training on the scheduled day(s), having 'booked' them first. They join a bunch of other people from different organisations. The workshops are often one or two days in duration, specialist ones can be three, four or more days.  There will be some kind of brochure - either in print or on the web - that describes what the course will cover. It is your job to make sure the course offers what you want. Typically used when you only have one or two people needing to learn those specific things.

In-house training workshops are training events offered by a training provider like ourselves, but the training is done specifically for your people only - we help you choose what the course will cover (working from existing workshops), and choose what needs to be left out, and what needs to be put in. The training is done on a date you choose, and is run either at your own premises or at a training venue that we arrange on your behalf.

Public Courses:

What's good about public courses:

Well for a start the investment is a lot smaller. You're only sending one person along, and prices average around the $350 mark for a one-day workshop. So the buying decision is easier. Logistically, all you have to do is have a look at the brochure, make sure the course offers what you want or close to it, have a chat with the person you want to send to make sure they want to go (if they don't, do us all a favour and don't send them - we all suffer!), and make arrangements to cover their workload for the day.

They will meet and interact with people doing similar work but in all sorts of different organisations, and they get to hear how other people cope with situations that may be similar to theirs.

What's not so good about public courses:

The expression 'sent along' sort of says it all, really. All too often we trainers are confronted with negative, non-contributory (even angry) people who really do not want to be there and are going to make sure we all know it... At best, they just sit there and don't contribute, at worst they can set out to sabotage the whole course.

The 'content' (what the course will cover) has been decided by someone else, based on... well, based on a rough idea of what the market might want. Will the course address the specific issues you have? The public courses we offer are what the market has found 'good' - if a particular course is popular and fills up every time it runs, then whoever designed the content got it right, or has refined it over time. Our Train the Trainer 3-day workshop has run almost every time since 1992 - but it gets a 'tune-up' every couple of years.  The Team Leader Series has been going even longer - but it still gets adjusted over time to reflect changes in management thinking and legislation.

'Caveat Emptor' (let the buyer beware) applies here too - it's your responsibility to work off the advertising material and make a decision as to whether the course is the right one for your employee.

Often the Trainer isn't specified. So who is going to be running this course? A last-minute ring-in? Whoever has nothing to do that day? What is their track-record? The 'content' is irrelevant if you've got a poor trainer at the front of the room.

Sometimes the group size is too large - perhaps caused by a 'bums on seats' mentality, which means the trainer has less opportunity to answer specific questions and it's easy for participants who are 'shy' or just don't want to contribute to get lost in the crowd.

How to get the best out of a public course:

Involve the person you want to send in the decision whether to book them or not, and what course to go on. Make sure you and the employee both know and agree why they are going on the course, why that particular 'content' is necessary, what the course will do for them, and - most importantly - what they will do differently as a result of going.

Remember - Learning is a Voluntary experience.

Check out who the facilitator is for that specific course, ask to see their bio, check whether they have practical and personal experience in the content they are teaching.

In-house training workshops:

What's good about in-house training:

First up has to be the fact that in-house workshops are (or should be!) tailored to fit what you want. They can (and should) be customised. People who work together and already know each other,  are more responsive and more participative during training than those on public courses - simply because there is less stress speaking in front of people you know. The trainer can (and should) be briefed thoroughly about the specific nature of your organisation, and 'sensitive areas' can be pre-planned as to how they will be addressed. Real issues, rather than 'general or simulated' issues can be discussed and addressed.

The 'content' can be carefully chosen to address exactly what the issues are. Intended training objectives (outcomes) can be agreed well before the training commences - and communicated to all participants. Individual participant differences can be catered for. 

Within the limits of the training provider, dates and times for training can be negotiated to give best fit around your organisation's logistics.

Work-place projects can be designed and be carried out either pre-training (to 'tease' the thinking processes and allow them to come to the training prepared) or post-training (so that the concepts learned during training can be applied in real-time in the workplace, and the results discussed).

Because most providers charge a fixed daily facilitation fee (regardless of the number of participants), if you have more than 5 or 6 people needing the same training, the investment is starting to equal the per-head cost of Public Courses. Once your group size gets to about 10 participants, the per-head cost is definitely in favour of in-house workshops. At 15, which is the optimum for most types of workshop, in-house becomes far cheaper per-head.

If the training occurs at your premises (assuming you have a training or suitable conference room) then the surroundings are familiar, removing yet another stress from the learning process.

The training can be evaluated both on an individual and group basis, in that what 'was' can be compared with 'what now is'.

Depending on the circumstances, there is often a barrier-breaking effect between participants from different departments.

What's not so good about in-house training:

Well, there's the perceived high cost. As you can see above, if you've got the numbers, it's a perception rather than a reality.  Logistics - it's not that easy to have many staff away from the work-face at one time - it requires some planning, and a degree of acceptance that 'time taken' is part of the investment. There is no cross-feed of ideas from participants from other organisations. If done properly, then there is more work for the internal organiser to do (in terms of the consultation process with the training provider, internal management, and intending participants).

How to get the best out of in-house training:

Do your own homework first. Don't rely on a Broker to do it - you'll only see a small range of potential providers, Brokers are not always as impartial, or as knowledgeable, as you may think - and many top providers will not work through Brokers because they have to give away up to 25% of the job value, plus they can no longer work directly for you for up to 2 years. So do it yourself - your providers will be far more motivated. Either conduct a formal Training Need Analysis or get the training provider to do one with you. Engage the intending participants early in the consultation process. Make the consultation both individual and group. Brief the managers of those participating on what the manager can do to support the individual participant. Remember to set your Objectives (outcomes) collaboratively - involve the participants here too. Do a 'sell' job on the training and then make participants apply for the privilege of participating. Once you've determined the 'content' and the participants, check out your training providers. Brief them properly and select the best proposal with 'organisational fit', referees, facilitator track-record and ability to customise (including pre- and post-training projects) all being more important than price.

When you've done the training, the job's not finished until the evaluation is done. Did the training achieve the objectives? Just because people had a good time doesn't mean they learned anything, and while they may have learned heaps, that doesn't mean they'll put it into practice.

Summarising:

If you've only got one or two people needing training, or if you can only release one or two people at a time, then Public Courses are the logical answer.

If you've got more than (say) 5 or 6 people needing the same or similar training, and if you can release them all at one time (even if it has to be a Saturday or multiple evenings) then in terms of results, in-house training is far and away the best way to go.

We offer both, so we hope you'll see the above dissertation is as unbiased as we could get it. Good Luck!

If you found this wee discussion helpful, email us and let us know.