Here’s a chance to see what others are doing and thinking.

We’ve picked out the results that will help you make comparisons with your own thinking and your organisation’s priorities for training.

The survey was a mix of qualitative and quantitative questions. The respondents included people in learning and development, human resources, senior leadership roles, as well as participants from our workshops.

The results reflect our client base which is skewed towards central, regional and local government as well as some of New Zealand's largest commercial organisations and branches of multi-national companies.

The figures are rounded.

1. Tell us about the most significant sources of training for your organisation.

• In-house: 42%
• Private external provider: 36%
• E-learning: 13%
• University or polytechnic: 9%

2. Thinking of your own organisation, list any major challenges you see in training and development in the next year or so.

The most common theme in responses to this question was the budget.  Respondents also mentioned the challenge of embedding the learning and communicating with senior staff about training.

3. Please select which forms of communication about training you would find most influential.

• Websites: 72%
• Emails: 63%
• Word-of-mouth: 44%
• Free or low-cost taster: 30%

4. If you were choosing between two external training providers what would be the most significant issues influencing your decision?

Our respondents told us they would choose the provider that could offer the most relevant training. They didn't like off-the-shelf training.

Cost was a factor for some, but not a major theme in the responses to this particular question.

 5. Thinking of your organisation and organisations you have worked for previously, what have external training providers done well?

Respondents appreciated external providers who ensured the training was relevant, engaging, challenging, interactive and practical. 

We also asked about disappointments (adding that we didn't need to know which provider they were referring to). Respondents cited ‘overuse of a fixed format’, out-of-date content and unnecessarily elaborate training programs - as one put it, ‘A Rolls-Royce when a Corolla was needed’.

6. We would appreciate your thoughts on our performance. For 20 years we were Media Associates, but Skillset is the same people, with the same focus on training.

We asked respondents to rate us on understanding their needs, delivering what we promise, our training resource books, the ease of doing business with us, our communication and customer service. 

The average score was 8.26 out of 10. The scores varied by 0.6 across all the criteria. 

Thanks to all those who contributed to our survey. We appreciate the time and thought you put into your responses.