Posts Tagged ‘wellness’

Today I participated in an annual “Wellness Event” through an organization I belong to.  They check our height, weight, cholesterol, etc.  I had to fast from 10 p.m. the night before and then go in to have blood drawn at 8 a.m.   After my blood was drawn and my vitals were checked, I was able to go and eat some of the breakfast they provided. 
 
I was a bit disappointed when I saw that they had muffins and doughnuts for us.  While it may be common to have these items during a software training class, we were attending an event to encourage wellness!  Why are we being given items that are not that good for us?  On my evaluation form, I wrote that they should have fruit and yogurt or something more healthy next time. (I also wrote that the tech who took my blood did a great job since I like to have positive notes on my evaluations, too.)
 
That experience made me think about what happens in the corporate world with training.  Corporations provide great training events for their employees.  They spend money on the training, allow their employees to have the time off to attend, and even provide travel funds if the training is outside of their city. 
 
After the training, employees go back to their jobs and often are not able to use all of their training.  They are not given time to practice what they learned to incorporate their new skills (after all, “time is money”!).  In a way, they experience what I did when I saw the muffins and doughnuts.
 
I realized that someone had not thought through the whole concept of follow-through after our wellness event.  If a corporation wants to encourage development in their employees, they should think through the post-training period, too.  They need to provide for employees to be able to have the time to try new things with the new skills they learned in training.
 
I hope that more corporations think about training in terms of total package instead of just a training event or training day.  I know that as a Versitas trainer, I’m always encouraged when I hear that someone has had time to try out something they learned in my training class!