mikelally.net

Just finished an article from strategy+business on the advertising god – David Ogilvy. Great article, well worth your time but a couple of points about training really resonated with me.

To Ogilvy training was critical. Hire the best people and then train them. He believed that training was “the glue that held together the organization.”

How many of you just snorted at this? Let me know by leaving a comment.

He used training to “indoctrinate everyone in what he believed”. Indoctrinate. Wow. That is a VERY powerful word. Let me guess….99% of you were indoctrinated on a brief company history, sexual harassment and diversity training. Culture??? What is that??

And the absolute KICKER from this article:

There were training programs for every level and every discipline – new employees, midlevel staff, heads of offices, ….After the entry level, training was positioned as a PRIVILEGE [my emphasis] rather than a duty. One had to get a good evaluation to be admitted.

A PRIVILEGE! When was the last time you felt that way about a training class you were in – when WASN’T it something you just had to get through?

Why aren’t we attacking training this way? Why is “good enough” ok?