Multivitamins.
We love them.
We need them.
We take them almost religiously as part of our routine.
Who would dare deny that multivitamins are good for us?
That would be crazy, right?
We swear by our multivitamins, but do we really know whether they truly work?
I mean, do we?
Sure, people like them, but do we have definitive proof that multivitamins keep us healthy?
Do we have proof they make us smarter?
Do we have proof they give us more energy, prevent disease, or help us live longer?
Or, are these assumptions?
Maybe it’s nothing more than wishful thinking.
Apparently, at least some experts believe that multivitamins don’t do us any good.
Johns Hopkins Medicine has declared in an editorial in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine that “Enough Is Enough: Stop Wasting Money on Vitamin and Mineral Supplements.”
Yet, most of us will continue taking our multivitamins because we’ve programmed ourselves to believe, almost blindly, in their benefits.
To have a different opinion just doesn’t feel right, like we’d be missing out on something good.
OK, so where are going with this?
Well, there’s something training has in common with multivitamins — our unwavering belief that it is inherently good and unquestioningly beneficial to all who consume it.
So, let’s start the conversation again:
Training.
We love it.
We need it.
We take it almost religiously as part of our routine.
Who would dare deny that training is good for us?
That would be crazy, right?
We swear by our training, but do we really know whether it truly works?
I mean, do we?
Sure, people like it, but do we have definitive proof that it makes us better?
Do we have proof it makes us smarter?
Do we have proof it improves our performance at work, brings us business results, or gives our organization a competitive edge?
Or are these assumptions?
Maybe they’re nothing more than wishful thinking.
Wanting these things to be true doesn’t make them true.
And just as there are skeptics who believe that multivitamins aren’t as beneficial as many would claim, there are also those who have serious doubts about the value of training.
They simply believe that the time, money, and resources spent on training are wasted.
The sad truth is that the skeptics are often right.
But it doesn’t have to be that way.
Training is often treated as a panacea that will make all our troubles go away.
Like multivitamins, training makes people feel good.
It makes managers feel like the problem’s being handled.
It makes L&D professionals, people like us, feel like we’re able to heal the organization and help people.
We’re the heroes who save the day.
Or so we daydream.
Training for the sake of training will be a solution only by chance, only on rare occasions, and only partially.
As they say, even a blind squirrel finds a nut every now and again.
How can we prove our training’s solved a problem that we never took the time to identify?
How can we prove our training has gotten us to where we wanted to be if we never identified our destination?
How many times have you been required to sit through a workshop that you knew you didn’t need to attend?
If you’re like me, I bet more than once.
How many training programs have you delivered that others didn’t need to attend?
If you’re like me, I bet more than you’re willing to admit.
Oh sure, for any of us who’ve been around for a while, we know our training is beneficial because our trainees have told us so dozens … no, hundreds … no, thousands of times.
Well, just remember that there are millions … no, tens of millions … no, hundreds of millions of testimonials proclaiming the miraculous results of different multivitamin products on television and the internet.
People saying something’s so doesn’t make it so.
We need proof.
We need evidence.
There’s no proof that multivitamins do us any good.
It’s a nothing burger.
There’s no “there” there.
What about your training?
Would Johns Hopkins Medicine proclaim that “Enough Is Enough: Stop Wasting Time, Money, and Resources …” about the training in your organization?
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