What training managers in Hong Kong need

In Hong Kong, Business Training is more important than ever. Our businesses increasingly need every employee to have the skills, knowledge and confidence to take the initiative in order to assess situations, solve problems, and seize opportunities. Not only to build richer relationships with existing customers and suppliers, but also to extend and expand market presence, and to innovate internal practices.

However, Senior Executives and HR Managers in Hong Kong with responsibilities for Training face significant challenges. The technical challenge is to find appropriate trainers given the increasing needs in Hong Kong for:

• Training in multiple business functions and technical topics
• Trainers competent in multiple training methods
• Trainers with awareness of the markets, technology, and culture of your industry
• Delivery in multiple locations
• Delivery in multiple languages
• Delivery tailored to the working practices of your organisation

This challenge is especially difficult to address given each individual organisation’s relatively limited exposure to the capabilities and competence of the full universe of suppliers of Business Training in Hong Kong. And particularly in SMEs, Training Management - and indeed even HR Management itself – is often a part-time responsibility with extremely limited resources, despite the fact that Business Training is critical to survival, let alone to growth, evolution and success.

On-line and remote training may provide some effective and efficient solutions. But for now, face-to-face training remains critical, particularly for the development of vital interpersonal skills and for the facilitated learning of senior executives. The strategic challenge is to ensure that talent is developed to meet the needs of your organisation.

How to anticipate and respond to changes in skill requirements? How to procure Business Training cost-effectively? How to deliver Business Training that delivers measurable bottom line results short and long-term? How to ensure that new capabilities developed through training are deployed effectively? How to demonstrate the Return on Investment in Training?

The professional challenge is your own development as an HR Manager with responsibilities for Training. How to keep up-to-date with changing practices? How to develop new Training Management skills? How to ensure that you and your organisation are armed and practiced in application of the best in training ideas and methods?

How can a Senior Executive or HR Manager in Hong Kong with responsibilities for Training meet these challenges?

There are limits to what an individual Training Manager can achieve on their own. What Hong Kong businesses need is a stronger, more connected, better informed, Business Training community:

1. An active community where those responsible for Training, and Business Trainers, can share experiences and knowledge e.g.

• ‘How can we find Trainers with a specific set of skills?’
• ‘By industry and type of company, what is the typical investment in training as a percentage of payroll costs?’
• ‘What type of Training has been found to give the best return? ‘What return should we expect?’’

2. A connected community where members can ask for advice and share information e.g.

• ‘What are typical Training needs of various positions?’
• ‘How adaptable are psychological assessment instruments to different cultures?’
• ‘What types of Training approaches are most effective for various Training Needs?’

3. A stronger community where members can co-operate to develop shared solutions to common problems:

• ‘What are the opportunities in Hong Kong for shared training courses?’
• ‘How can businesses supply training to each other?’
• ‘How can Training be fitted in to already long working weeks?’

Building a stronger community for Business Training is essential if Hong Kong is to attract, retain, develop, motivate and align the talent needed to sustain, let alone enhance, our competitiveness. All organisations in Hong Kong should welcome the development of a stronger Business Training community.