Is Training Development Complicated or Complex?

[Excerpt from UPTRAIN: An Executive's Guide to Making Powerful Training]

Making good decisions about training is complicated, but not complex.

Let me explain that.

Complicated decisions involve a multitude of moving parts. Complex decisions involve a high degree of expert knowledge and understanding of an approach or methodology.

Plainly stated, planning the seating at a wedding rehearsal dinner is complicated. Finding a treatment for cancer is complex.

Do you see the difference? Each attendee of the  wedding rehearsal dinner is a set of challenges and opportunities that must be adequately matched with the others in attendance. Seating individuals who have personality conflicts would not make for an enjoyable dinner. While it’s important for us to understand these individuals and their potential relationship with one another, it’s not necessary for us to understand the reasons for each attendee’s potential personality clashes with other attendees.

If you wanted to make the seating arrangements complex, you might break down these specific reasons for each attendee’s personality traits to predict the likelihood of differing traits to trigger heated arguments at a dinner table. And guess what? It would be completely unnecessary.

These are the same challenges we face as business leaders when we have to make sufficient and effective decisions regarding training.

We can easily break down the inputs we need to make confident training decisions. Once we understand those key components, we can then make more valuable decisions – specifically, decisions that will increase the training impact on our organizations.