The path to excellence: Beyond the training completion

Businesses recognize the need for highly skilled employees who exhibit excellence in their roles in today’s competitive landscape. However, Horst Schulze’s book Excellence Wins notes that one key lesson for achieving excellence is not about attending training sessions. It requires an organizational commitment to practice, accountability, and a culture that values growth and competency.

The disparity between training and application is a primary challenge in promoting a culture of excellence. Training programs often focus on providing information and skills but frequently do not translate into transferable competencies employees can use in their assigned functions.

For example, a theoretical course on communication skills and some tips may not have a clear throughline for an on-the-road employee to move concepts and ideas to practical habits to adopt and use in their job.

This risk increases when employers rate success with Kirkpatrick’s Level 1 assessment. They measure participant satisfaction rather than the training’s effectiveness on job performance.

There is often little structure post-training to facilitate the need to practice new skills. As a result, the old expression “use it or lose it” kicks in. Without support and structure in the hustle of daily operations, employees may find it challenging to carve out time for practice, which is vital for mastering skills that promote excellence.

CEOs and senior leaders must examine whether they are committed to fostering a culture of excellence or inadvertently perpetuating a compliance culture by prioritizing completing mandatory or optional training without following through.

Humans cannot be exposed to training once and master it. Employers must recognize that training efforts that appear beneficial based on employee feedback often fail to deliver measurable results without time allocated for practice.

The question is not that complicated. Do the CEO and senior leadership want to create a learning culture prioritizing compliance or excellence?

The risks of checkbox compliance culture

A checkbox compliance culture poses risks of decreased effectiveness of training initiatives because there is little forethought to correcting the forgetting curve, which states that human memory will not retain new information without rehearsal and practice. When organizations approach employee training as a formality to meet legal or regulatory obligations, they disregard opportunities to move information into habits and promote excellence.

This compliance mindset can increase the risk of the issues the training was designed to prevent because of a lack of skills, habits and mastery due to a lack of practice. Imagine Team Canada preparing for the Olympics. There is a high probability that the best in the world are practicing their hockey fundamentals before their first game. Why? Excellence in any skill requires practice. There are no shortcuts or magic.

Organizations that fail to uphold the standards of excellence risk losing their competitive edge. Conversely, employees equipped with skills through genuine practice can contribute to higher performance levels, improved customer satisfaction, and innovation – benefits that cannot be realized in a compliance-driven environment.

Increasing excellence: Creating space for learning

Organizations must implement strategies to allow employees time and space to practice new skills to cultivate a culture of excellence.

The following are steps HR leaders and senior executives can take to drive change effectively:

1. Prioritize practice in schedules: Encourage employees to dedicate a portion of their day to practice newly-acquired skills. This could range from 10 to 30 minutes, lowering the frequency once the skill is acquired with consideration for review, re-learning knowledge and skill retention. By integrating practice into the daily routine, organizations send a clear message that learning new habits is expected.
2. Foster a culture of feedback and accountability: Implement feedback mechanisms that enable employees to share their experiences applying new skills, noting what works well and what can be improved. Establish accountability structures that promote peer support and recognize efforts made towards practicing to encourage excellence. Regular check-ins with managers can amplify this accountability. Leveraging personalized digital passports can help employees track and monitor their practice and provide employers with pulse feedback on applying learning for assigned functions.
3. Measure outcomes beyond attendance: Shift the focus from attendance to practical outcomes. Implement clear expectations that learning will continue beyond training sessions and that post-learning is where mastery and excellence happen. Setting goals that can be measured as excellence metrics, such as tracking 10 minutes of daily practice, can promote accountability for learning and practicing. Leadership can monitor metrics to assess post-learning practice and adherence to reinforce good efforts or make necessary adjustments to increase practice time.
4. Invest in a continuous learning environment: Create resources for ongoing re-learning, such as online follow-up modules, workshops, coaching or mentorship programs, to support employees after initial training sessions. Encourage a mindset where skills are constantly refined and expanded upon. The goal is to see learning as continuous, and that excellence has no goal line; it is a journey. Depending on the skill and standards expected, this will influence the program design. The object is to promote continuous improvement and create opportunities for re-learning critical core competencies or skills to support specific functions.
5. Cultivate leadership buy-in: Leaders are critical in driving a culture of excellence. Leadership must demonstrate their commitment to empowering employees and prioritizing skill application, making it clear that they value competency over compliance. This means emphasizing that practice and mastery are needed to create excellence, and there are no shortcuts. The importance of CEOs and senior leaders permitting employees to practice and expecting them to be on the journey every day cannot be understated. Learning and opportunities to improve never stop.

Fostering a culture of excellence goes beyond providing training opportunities. Employers benefit when they accept and acknowledge the challenges surrounding time allocation and the importance of prioritizing learning and building practice into the daily management system, which is part of core work.

By shifting the focus from compliance to competency, organizations can create more opportunities to generate a culture of excellence to maximize their potential, not unlike any pro athlete or musician. Fostering a culture of excellence is not about checklists. It’s about instilling an ongoing commitment to learning, practice and accountability, leading to lasting success.

Dr. Bill Howatt is the Ottawa-based president of Howatt HR Consulting.

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