CHAPTER 4
The Client Perspective

Although such situations do occur in mono-cultural environments, this mismatch of expectations is more likely to occur with an international group of participants. How could this have been handled to achieve a more positive outcome? In this chapter we will analyse the client perspective in more detail and suggest how this and similar situations could be handled to produce effective training interventions which are positioned to satisfy client expectations without disappointing the participants.

This is as important if the training is being organized internally, as it is if a trainer is being paid a fee to develop and deliver the training.

Client expectations from training

The client, by whom we mean the holder of the training budget, usually expects to see participants doing something differently following a training event. The challenge for the trainer is to be able to identify just what the client wants to observe being done differently. It is often a challenge because the client can find it difficult to articulate what they want to see that is different. The client will probably know what it is when it is observed, but it may prove very problematic to explain beforehand. Herein lays one of the biggest challenges faced by trainers of managers. What will be certain is that the client needs to see value from the training investment. This may be perceived in terms of specialist skills and knowledge developed, but could equally well be perceived as the ability of participants to deploy more appropriate interpersonal behaviours when operating in previously unfamiliar cultural environments.

Very often it will be a participant's direct manager who will evaluate whether the participant is doing something differently after the training, rather than the client who contracts for the training. This makes it even more difficult for the trainer to judge what change is really required. The client commissioning the training and the participant's manager may have different perceptions of the requirement, and their perceptions of the observed change after the training could also vary. In the face of these difficulties the trainer has to make the best possible judgement about the change required and attempt to develop learning experiences to bring about this change.

The desired change, in increasing order of difficulty for the trainer, is likely to be in one or more of the following areas:

• more knowledge
• more skill
• greater competence
• different behaviours
• different attitudes.

Whichever of these appears to be required, there will also be an expectation that the training will contribute to the participant producing better results for the organization after completion of the programme.

Increasing knowledge may be possible through distance learning alone. Changing a person's attitudes through training is many times more difficult to achieve. Some might say it is impossible!

To deliver successful training, it is important to understand the client s perspective on which category of change is perceived as being necessary. It is always worth exploring this with the client. A good place to start is to ask the broad question 'What would you want to see the participants doing differently as a result of the training?' and to follow up with questions about the client's perception of whether this will require developments in knowledge, skill, competence, behaviour or attitude. It is even worth exploring at this point whether the client has some preconceived ideas about the best training methods to achieve the change sought. Whatever the trainer's own judgement about the validity of these ideas, they certainly need to be discussed and taken into account. Clients will judge the training according to their own perceptions, not those that the trainer feels are most valid in the light of what is known about the theory of learning. If the client feels the room should be wallpapered and the supplier uses paint, there is little hope that the job will be seen as successful! In other words, if the client wants the participants to understand why certain things, such as working with other departments, need to be done, while the trainer focuses on how to do this, then there is clearly a mismatch of expectations.

As a broad generalization, clients from industrialized countries, particularly where the training ethos is embedded in the organizations, will place a heavier emphasis on some of the more difficult (for the trainer) changes relating to competences, behaviours and attitudes. Developing countries will focus more strongly on the development of knowledge and skills.

Clients from different cultural backgrounds

Clients from different cultural backgrounds are likely to take a different view about the types of outcome they see as most important from training interventions. Also, due to different experiences, they may also have different views on how that outcome can best be achieved.

For example:

• UK clients often tend to put a very heavy emphasis on developing positive interpersonal behaviours.
• German clients frequently tend to focus on increasing competence levels in important job-related tasks.
• French clients commonly tend to want participants to develop depth of knowledge and understanding of principles and processes.
• Clients in developing countries often want participants to gain knowledge of approaches and situations in the more developed countries.

Clearly these are generalizations and the client focus will depend on the particular training need that is being addressed. However, training needs have to be interpreted and clients from different cultural backgrounds are likely to interpret them in different ways.

The trainer needs to be ready for the fact that the client may well interpret situations as requiring different training solutions than the one the trainer has in mind. Indeed, as demonstrated in the example above, different managers within the client organization may have their own perceptions of the training need due to their cultural perspectives. The trainer needs to be able to accept this too and resist the temptation to feel that their own interpretation is the correct one. After all, the trainer is subject to the influence of cultural background just as much as is the client.

To put this in perspective, it is similar to the different emphasis the clients from the public and private sectors are likely to place on an 'organization development' programme in their respective organizations. Public-sector clients are likely to be much more concerned with systems and documentation, whereas private-sector clients are likely to focus more on communications and relationships. Again this is a generalization. The key point is that the trainer needs to appreciate that a client's background and experience will influence the way that problems and the types of solution required are perceived.

Trainers need to be very flexible in accepting these differences. There is very rarely just one effective solution to any business problem, and the trainer certainly does not necessarily have all the best answers. It is vitally important to take the client's perceptions on board and be seen to work with them, introducing the trainer's own approaches within a framework that is acceptable to the client.

A good example of this would be designing a 'presentation skills' programme for a worldwide group of participants, where the client is European. The client is likely to emphasize the need for opportunity to be given to all participants to practise presentation skills. The trainer should be aware that where there are Australians and Koreans, for example, amongst the participants, the Australians are going to have far fewer reservations than the Koreans about practising in front of an audience of fellow participants. So it is the trainer's responsibility to respect the client's requirement for the opportunity to practise, while organizing the event to minimize the potential discomfort of the Koreans when it comes to be their turn in front of an audience.

Client perceptions on training evaluation

When we come to look at training evaluation (Chapter 11) we will recognize how important it is to discuss evaluation methods and criteria with the client at the very outset of the development of a training programme. In evaluating training, clients will also be influenced by their experience and cultural background when deciding how they are going to measure the success of the training. UK clients traditionally put a great deal of emphasis on participants' initial reaction to the training, spoken and written. Clients from cultures with a longer time horizon (Chapter 2) may well study participant behaviour after the event and measure the results of the training over several months, often with pre- and post-training tests. This is more difficult to do but, for example, Chinese organizations are likely to attempt to do it. Naturally the trainer must respect these differences and not present obstacles to the longer-term evaluation of the effect of training inputs.

Client involvement with the development of training materials

Clients will vary greatly in the degree to which they want to review the development of training materials as they are written. This is more likely to depend on their individual personality than their cultural background. However, where the organization has had relatively little experience of implementing management training, as can be the case in developing economies, then they are more likely to want to see the training materials prior to the training event.

Trainers should see a client's request to review training materials as an opportunity to increase the commitment from the client. It is also a chance to refine the materials so that the client feels they fit the organization's requirements more closely. It may take time, and it may be uncomfortable when a client suggests omitting one's favourite exercise, but it will pay off in terms of the acceptability of the training event. Clients want some subjects presented in a particular way for political reasons and it is a foolish trainer who ignores this! It is the client who controls the training budget and it is the same person who can influence whether a training programme is repeated or whether this trainer or another one will be asked to develop the next programme.

To return to the anecdote in the introduction to this chapter: the conflict between the client's and the participants' priorities could have been resolved by the major part of the trainer's delivery focusing on the client company's strategy and business processes, while the focus of the exercises could have been mainly on the participants identifying and evaluating the differences in approach between their new company and the approaches of their previous employers.

Summary

Clients perceptions of what type of training is likely to be effective, the training methods to be used, the points of emphasis and the method of evaluation is likely to be influenced by cultural background, experience and personality. It is important that trainers accept these perceptions and work within them if they are to gain the client's commitment to the training that is going to be developed and delivered.

Clients usually want to see participants do something differently as a result of a training intervention. It is very important that the trainer asks questions to identify just what the client wants to see in terms of improved skills, competences, behaviours or attitudes.

Clients from different cultural backgrounds are likely to have a variety of views on the best way to evaluate the effectiveness of training inputs. European clients often favour a quick measurement of participant reaction, spoken and written, whereas clients from China and the Far East may be inclined towards an evaluation that takes into account longer-term evidence of changes in performance.

Trainers should take every opportunity to share draft training materials with the client during the development phase. This can only increase the client's commitment to the training so long as the trainer is flexible in allowing the client to influence the content and style of the training.

Action plan

The action plan below should be completed by the trainer.