The training practices of results‐oriented leaders

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to show that in many organizations training professionals and human resource leaders are under increasing pressure to use training to improve organizational performance, and yet, front‐line managers are often passive or even indifferent on the issue of properly training their workers. This paper will also discuss the key practices of high performance business leaders and how they use effective training practices to achieve superior results.Design/methodology/approachOver 2,000 managers, identified by their organizations as being “high performers”, were surveyed and the findings of this paper are based on a content analysis of both questionnaire and interview data.FindingsThe paper finds that results‐oriented leaders realized that training is critical to their success and must be handled with great care employing a systematic and disciplined process. This study revealed that results‐oriented leaders realized that properly training and educating their workers increased the likelihood of achieving high performance and that poorly trained workers can create a myriad of performance problems. The study showed that high performance leaders were doing the things necessary to develop their workers and to educate them about the bigger picture of their organization to enable them to make better decisions and be more engaged. The over‐arching finding concludes that high performance business leaders are actively engaged in the training and development process and that they do not abdicate that responsibility to others.Originality/valueThe findings of this paper make it clear that training and developing workers is a top priority for high performance managers who are serious about improving operational and organizational performance.