A senior human resources professional was perturbed by a mail from the training department calling employees to collect certificates for a prestigious training from an individual’s desk!
The letter had an ‘inhuman’ touch and he was livid comparing it to distributing ‘water bottles’ which had become a rage in the organization recently.
I agreed he had a point.
After going through an elaborate training program built to upgrade managers into dynamic leaders, the last thing you wanted was to pick up certificates like lemons. Instead if they were distributed at a formal forum or even if there was a communication congratulating the managers, it may have made more sense.
Did the training department forget to close the loop at the final lap? Did the training mean only so much to them? Was it another check mark against their list of deliverables?
A lot of questions cropped up in my mind which promoted me to pen this post.
The last milestone provides a host of opportunities for internal teams to be visible, encourage participation and recognize the event or program.
As communicators, we can play a leading role in supporting teams understand the various touch-points, leverage internal channels, cross pollinate messages and integrate communication across other forums.
Some ideas to communicate the ‘final lap’ include sharing progress till date, defining what happens as an outcome of the program, who gets impacted and what do employees do next if they are interested in learning more.
Have other suggestions? Post it here.
