Obstacles to Exceptional Training

Great training creates great employees. But sometimes obstacles--namely time and money—arise, credit union executives say.

"My number-one challenge is finding time to schedule training sessions," says Pammi Bains, corporate training coordinator for Baton Rouge (La.) Teachers Federal Credit Union. "It’s difficult to pull employees out of the branches because they may be short-staffed."

Another obstacle: boring presentations. "I’ve been to training where the presenter talked in monotone," she says. "Trainers have to involve the participants. If training isn’t fun, employees won’t be engaged and the won’t learn."

"Training is a little like art class in high school: It’s the first thing to be cut back in a tight economy," adds Dennis Karras, senior vice president of administration for Washington State Employees Credit Union in Olympia. "But it’s costly to not provide good training. Make sure senior management understands how important training is to an organization. The best companies dedicate money to training."

John Gamino, training and development director for Fresno (Calif.) County Federal Credit Union, recalls one training effort that didn’t pan out. "We had a professional business writing course that required some work to be done one week prior to the class. The materials didn’t arrive in time for some participants and others weren’t given adequate time to do the prework. Therefore, people weren’t at the same learning level. It took a long time to get people on track and at the same level before teaching could begin. Consequently, people didn’t get the message."