In order to further look at this challenge, we will divide it into following two broad categories:

1. How do you get employees booked on the training course to actually turn up in the first place?
    

2. Once they turn up, how do you ensure that employees return on time from breaks (as well as turning up on time on further days of training)?

Let’s look at each of these in turn:

1. How do you get employees booked on the training course to actually turn up in the first place?

I would guess that a large part of a Training Co-ordinator’s energy goes into the following: Hoping that all those booked onto a course will actually turn up; Chasing around after no-show "bookees" on the morning of the training hoping to rustle them into the classroom; Leaving "annoyed-sounding" messages on the voicemails of those that they have given up on; and apologising to the Trainer for the no-shows, commenting that "I bet it’s not like this in the other companies that you visit".

Well, guess what? It probably is. Unless they take some of the following steps to manage "Maximum Show" on their Training Courses:

Step 1: That which gets measured gets noticed.

The first step is to include the following in your monthly Training Metrics (if you don’t use metrics, have a look at this Sample Training Metrics Report).

• For each internal Training Class – Class Capacity

• For each completed internal Training Class – Booked number of attendees

• For each completed internal Training Class – Actual number of attendees

• For each completed internal Training Class – Booked number of attendees as a percentage of class capacity (this is the Training Coordinators challenge – i.e. fill to capacity)

• For each completed internal Training Class – Actual number of attendees as a percentage of booked attendees (this is where you can pinpoint the issue of no-shows)

So, what do you do with this information as it rolls-up over the month and the year? Well, I have seen success with the following:

• Note the cost centre for each course booking. As the months rollup, do a league table of "no-shows per cost centre" and feed them back to the appropriate manager. In other words, MAKE IT THEIR MANAGER’S PROBLEM!

• Ensure that you have a course cancellation policy in place. This will typically state that all course cancellations should be made at least one week before the course . We have used this policy to charge a cancellation fee for each no-show to the appropriate cost centre (it does not need to be too high, e.g. $500 to offset the cost of the training). This normally gets the attention of the Cost Centre Manager!

• If you cannot carry out the above, use the information to get sponsorship from your manager/CEO to deal with repeat offenders.

Step 2. Reminders, Reminders, Reminders

Let’s face, we all lead busy worklives. What’s a priority today, can slip to the back of the pack tomorrow. I find the following system of email communication works well to give a student every chance of showing up on the day:

• TRIGGER: You receive a course booking from an employee. (Note: the following system can be automated with a Learning Management System, semi-automated with Excel/email, or simply done with paper and email).

• You send back a booking confirmation to the employee, copied to their manager. In the mail you state:

  • The first thing you state is "Please read the Course Cancellation Policy at the end of this document".

  • "Thank you for booking etc…."

  • Date, location, time and prerequisites of the course

  • Course outline

  • Pre-reading/exercises for the course

  • Your contact details if they need more information

  • How to get to the training

  • Terms and conditions for the course: INCLUDING COURSE CANCELLATION POLICY.

  • Ideally, give this email the title: PLEASE READ: COURSE BOOKING CONFIRMATION just in case it "gets lost" in their intray

• TWO WEEKS BEFORE THE COURSE: Send on a reminder mail with the following title: PLEASE REPLY: COURSE REMINDER. Again, this should be sent to the course bookee and copied to their manager. It contains:

  • "This is a reminder that you have been booked onto the xxx course. Please confirm your attendance by replying to this email. Please note the cancellation policy e.g. if you cancel within 5 working days before the course, your cost centre will be charged $500". Explain why this is necessary.

  • "We look forward to seeing you on the course"

• TWO DAYS BEFORE THE COURSE: Send on a reminder mail with the following title: FINAL COURSE REMINDER. Again, this should be sent to the course bookee and copied to their manager. It contains:

  • "We look forward to seeing you (give date)… Please let us know as soon as possible if you cannot make this training along with the reason…"

Now, all of the above may look like a lot of work – and it often is, AT FIRST! But the main purpose of the above is NOT to put a policing system into place that is impossible to maintain – BUT TO CONDITION THE GENERAL EMPLOYEE AND MANAGEMENT POPULATION into behaving in a more co-operative manner when it comes to upping the level of classroom attendance i.e. get them to form positive habits using a systematic approach.

Also, you will find other relevant information at the following locations:

• Training Policies, Procedures and Standards

• Training ROI and PR

• Benchmarking and Statistics

I can also recommend the following book as relevant to this area:

• "Running Training Like a Business: Delivering Unmistakeable Value"

Mike Collins is the principle of Michael J. Collins Associates offering Coaching, Training and Psychometric Services.