Training needs analysis and managing the transfer of learning are central to The Great Training Robbery which describes how trainers have been robbed of their budgets, their influence and their impact, and demonstrates how they can get it back again. It originated because the authors became increasingly frustrated with the view held by many employers that training is a second class function. To determine whether their frustrations were justified or not, they decided to put management on trial.

The Robbery: Companies regard training as a second class function and have robbed it of its potential impact on company results by treating training courses as recreational restoration, or necessary comic relief, or as a safety value for organisational tensions.

The Trial: With training as the prosecution and management as defence.

The Verdict: Training found guilty of shooting itself in the foot or of perpetrating an inside job.

The Sentence: The steps that training needs to take to conduct better training needs analysis and transfer of learning to the work environment.

Authors Paul Donovan and John Townsend take an allegorical look at The Great Training Robbery