When it comes to training delivery, many companies want to keep it to themselves. After all, it can be costly to use external resources every time you want to deliver a course or training session. But it’s not the case for every topic. Below you’ll find a snippet from our latest KnowledgeGraphic: Today’s Training Function.
In our 2015 Training Study, we surveyed respondents on a dozen different training topics in order to get a sense of which ones were most often trained by internal staff and which were outsourced. Here’s what we came away with for topics most often outsourced:
- 40% Leadership
- 30% General business acumen
- 29% Team development
- 29% Soft skills
- 26% Sales
That’s an interesting cross section, so let’s consider some of the main reasons companies contact third- party providers for support with these types of topics.
Lack of Time
For many organizations, the lack of time, either for L&D staff or for the internal leaders supporting these programs, will drive them toward external providers. The 2015 Learning and Development Study, which recently closed, also points to time being a continuous issue within the learning world: 71% of companies say time is a key challenge in implementing an overall learning strategy.
Lack of Resources
Similarly, a lack of training resources can drive learning leaders to look outward for solutions. Our study also showed that nearly half of leadership training content is sourced from external providers. That piece of data in conjunction with leadership topping this particular list indicates that many organizations simply don’t have the capabilities in-house to develop these skills.
Lack of Expertise
And finally, even those with the time and resources to train staff may lack the required expertise. Consider these topics: sales skills, business acumen, and soft skills. They’re simply not core competencies for many organizations. Therefore, they are outsourced so the organizations can focus on the topics they know best, such as onboarding, ethics, and product knowledge.
What topics does your organization outsource most often and why? What do you keep internally?
–Ben Eubanks, Learning Analyst, Brandon Hall Group
@beneubanks
