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An elite athlete retired from his sport (a team sport).

This elite athlete is recognised as not one of the greatest ever, but in the next tier below the greatest ever. He was an integral member of the “unofficial world championship team” as his sport had no official world championship. His retirement had an immediate detrimental effect on the team (they missed him).

He wanted to stay active in the sport, and offered to be a specialist coach for his local side.

It is a sign of the times that he was turned down because he did not have a “coaching certificate”. His 14 years of experience at international level were apparently worthless without a piece of paper saying he had completed a “training course on how to be a coach”.

He found another organisation that was willing to hire him based on his credentials, without the certificate. He has been quite successful in his role. In an ironic twist, the organisation that turned him down has not had success for years.

It does beg the question, though, of how to select industrial training.

Another elite athlete from a (different) team sport also retired. He was recognised as one of the greatest ever to play the game. He was a national hero, and was asked to coach his side into the world championships. He also had not completed a “training course on how to be a coach”. He failed miserably.

What should a company do? Should they focus on training organisations that have “accredited” courses? Or should they seek “retired champions” to help deliver the message to their team of employees?

How do the training organisations retain the “retired champions”? And … do they want to?

It is a difficult question, and one with no clear answer. But in our age of certification and paper trail traceability, companies are tending to follow the path of selecting accredited training organisations. (I am speculating) this is because it provides a minimum benchmark of service delivery. By relying on an accreditation organisation to “rate and certify”, the job of training quality assurance has been (perceived to be) efficiently outsourced to a reasonable and neutral third party.

But what opportunities are missed? The first example of the elite athlete is one opportunity missed. The second example of the elite athlete is one opportunity unrealised.

There are other opportunities missed. Working directly with the “retired champion” is probably a more flexible option, allowing more customisation. The lack of structure can be beneficial, but the lack of structure can also mean increased cost with reduced certainty.

What is best for your organisation will depend entirely upon your organisation – what is needed and what is available (budget, resources, etc).

By the way … contact us and we will tell you the names of the elite athletes used in this article.