Training do it yourself or find good training vendors

This past week, a client and I were talking about “buying” and/or “building” his management team.  My experience is that training is not a strength for small companies (revenues of less than $250M). 

It is not a strength because it is not a high priority and resources for in-house training would represent too large a percentage of gross revenues.  It is questionable if it should be a high priority.  There are some necessary skills and tools that a small company requires on a part time basis and this is where training budgets for small companies should be focused. 

Time after time, I sit with CEOs and business owners who believe in investing in employee training, even training and adding resources for their managers, and yet only focus on technical/tactical skills. If your company is growing, I can say with some certainty that the way you do what you do now is, at some point, going to need to change.  How will your staff know when to change systems and processes? What are their strengths and weaknesses as people/managers?  How will they improve in these areas? 

Some CEO’s, that I meet, tell me about how they do nothing regular, consistent and frequent about growing their own skills, tools and capabilities.  In practically the same breath, the very same CEO’s have said that their employees aren’t ready for where their company is heading.  I usually ask if they are ready and they tell me they are. 

Unfortunately, they often are the reason their company gets stuck and does not grow to the next stage because they think that their job/role is not changing, even though they realize that everyone else’s role is, or should be.  Most Business owners/Executives believe that their company is a pyramid, not a bad metaphor. 

The Business Owner/CEO sees themselves sitting at the top of the pyramid, their direct reports (management team) sit below them and the “worker bees” complete the lowest and largest segment of the pyramid. 

When their business grows, they think that the bottom of the pyramid gets larger (more workers but the upper part does not get wider/bigger or that the total of the pyramid grows upward larger/higher). 

Many of the problems that businesses have in scaling, comes from this view. It does not take in to account increasing complexity/size of the total organization and does not include demands on the upper and top of the pyramid.  

What really happens?  Using the ‘pyramid’ metaphor, the two upright walls of the pyramid grow out and up (think larger structure everywhere: base, sides and height).  When it grows, the business does have a larger base of workers. What is significant is that the business grows up as well as out.  It becomes more complex and it demands a more talented, trained and professional management staff and CEO/Owner. 

As a business grows, it not only needs more line workers, it grows in complexity.  It must create/use more complex and robust process tools and the management, including the CEO, must grow their skills, sharpen and add management tools and expand their abilities to address the increased complexity.  

So, if you want to get to or stay at the top of your game.... how will you invest in your skills to lead, communicate, strategize and execute on more complex levels?  What do you do to invest in yourself? 

If you have grown and run companies that are much larger and more complex then your present company, perhaps you can devote yourself to training staff in-house.  On the other hand, if you spend too much of your time on this valuable activity, when are you going to run your company? 

The dilemma is a fairly easy one for me to answer, as an executive, one of my roles is to mentor, coach and teach people who report to me.  My role as mentor/coach is focused and limited and not a substitute for an intensive focused program.  I am always learning and want to continue growing professionally.  To continue my professional growth, I undertake a number of activities, which include being coached (challenged and supported). 

 I have yet to work in a company that has the resources to provide high level executive development programs, so I look for programs and opportunities to strengthen my skills, acquire new ones and expand my repetoire.  At the same time, I urge and challenge my reports to do the same. 

What are your favorite ways to make sure you grow professionally?