A Lesson Learned About Training
Rick Corry had heard enough.
He had listened carefully as the speaker lauded the virtues of multimedia training, telling 200 executives how using new software and the Internet could improve workers’ skills.
What the speaker didn’t mention was that such training was expensive--even for big companies.
One vendor had once told Corry that a particular multimedia training program for his company, Owens Corning, would cost $150,000 and could be used at only one business unit.
So when the speaker asked for comments, Corry rose, introduced himself, then turned to the attendees.
“I’m just wondering, why don’t we get together and share what we’ve got and fund what we need?” he asked.
Corry told the audience that most companies had similar training needs in a number of areas, including basic sales skills and time management. So, he said, sharing training programs would reduce costs and improve quality.
Utter silence.
The speaker didn’t say a word, but after the session, dozens of executives gave Corry their business cards. They asked Corry, director of an Owens Corning sales training and management program, to call if he ever formed such a group.
That was the birth of LearnShare, a consortium of nine large noncompeting manufacturers that share training courses.
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Sixteen months later, LearnShare members are a who’s who of business, including General Motors Corp., 3M, Motorola and Owens Corning. Several other Fortune 500 companies are ready to join, as well as government entities, including the state of Ohio.
“I had no intention of standing up that day. But I was annoyed, maybe getting a little angry,” Corry said, recalling the 1995 meeting in Boston. “I felt that we were being taken advantage of by the system . . . where vendors would specifically sell and copyright licensed materials very closely so you couldn’t share it with your colleagues in other divisions.”
When Corry returned to work, he told his boss about his idea, and was given time to develop it.
Corry spent several months talking to other companies and found out that 75% of all training--regardless of industry--was almost identical.
He then invited the people who had given him business cards at the Boston conference to Toledo to discuss his proposal. In September 1996, LearnShare opened for business, with five employees and Corry as its president.
Nine companies--which together employ 2.2 million people and have revenue in excess of $100 billion--each gave LearnShare $200,000 to help fund the consortium’s $1.8-million two-year budget. Each company has a member on LearnShare’s board of directors.
After two years, the board will decide whether Corry, who is on loan from Owens Corning, will stay at LearnShare.
The center collects courses donated by the participants and also creates them.
When a need arises, members contact LearnShare for courses. Classes are offered via the Internet and CD-ROM. Sometimes, one company might invite employees from another company to attend their classes.
LearnShare members avoid consultants’ expensive and often redundant courses while getting better instruction, Corry said.
He estimates that some companies save as much as 50% on educational expenses.
“We’re giving them an alternative to the standard way of doing business,” Corry said.
Experts say pooling worker training resources is important to improving productivity, especially with new technology.
LearnShare will “drive down costs and drive up quality,” said Dan Twomey, professor and director of the Center for Human Resource Management Studies at Fairleigh Dickinson in Madison, N.J. “It’s definitely the trend of the future.”
