In his posting Depressing study of L&D, Donald Clark quotes research by Coleman and Parkes in Spring of this year, which involved interviews with 100 key decision-makers at major UK companies. Apparently this showed that:

• 70% see inadequate staff skills as a barrier to growth.
• 40% see a risk of employee skills being obsolete.
• 55% claim that l&d are failing to deliver necessary training.
• 46% doubt that l&d can deliver.
• Less than 18% agree that l&d is aligned with business

Now I haven't seen this research in any detail, so I don't know how objective these results really are. But let's suppose they're true and my instinct tells me that they probably are. I'd be inclined to point the finger of blame (not a nice thing to do but hey) at the key decision-makers themselves:

• What on earth are you doing tolerating such poor performance (at least as you perceive it)?

• Would you sit back and do nothing if other departments performed so poorly?

• What direction have you been giving to your l&d team?

• On what basis did you appoint your l&d manager?

• How much do you understand about the process of learning? If not very much, then what are you going to do about this?

The reality in my experience is that many major organisations do well in spite of themselves. Most departments have their fair share of hopeless cases and it's probable that l&d has exceeded its quota. But don't blame those on the shop floor, the trainers themselves, because they're simply doing what they're told and, to be fair, what has always been done. Most are extremely dedicated and hard-working. The majority do get results at the level of the individual learner, but probably not results that are strategically important.

If there is a problem, and this survey indicates that there probably is in more companies than is acceptable, then this is a problem of management. L&d requires strong and assertive leadership, like any other business function. And it needs to start by educating those above to understand the realities of adult learning in the workplace, not the business of processing employees through courses.