the Price of Career Training

The price (which at $20K/person isn't a typo) covers the cost of a week-long management seminar with a decade-established management consulting firm.

The company also offers services from direct consulting services to the sale of a variety of self-teaching tools. Prices for consulting scale depending on the size of the company (but range from jaw-dropping to chest pain-inducing). Money back if their ideas don't at least save you the cost of their consulting fees, though.

The seminar was a week-long affair conducted in small group format, led by competent instructors who taught using the old law school-standby: the Socratic method.

Seeing as we sent three managers through the seminar, by applying what was learned we figure we have recouped our cost dozens of times over in the months following, we're outright ecstatic about the quality of the training. Considering the seminar covered a very simple and easy to learn mechanism for identifying and "exploiting" bottlenecks in production, I do have to wonder at the cost. I suspect the cost is so high not because the seminar is in great demand (we didn't have difficulty finding three seats at the last minute), but rather as a tactic to get the ideas taken seriously by "upper" management.

Since the principles are so simple, they seem on first blush like common sense, and so aren't given much thought and are easily overlooked. But they're certainly worth learning how to apply correctly.

These things are a crap shoot. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of certifications and educational programs and continuing education credit whatevers for every profession. Even if you go with a reputable, established education company, you run the risk of just wasting your money on another pointless junket. And who hasn't wasted a weekend in a crummy hired meeting room in a crummy city in discussion with crummy instructors and crummy classmates? If you haven't you're either very young or very lucky.

Look for things like a published professional journal, with peer-reviewed articles, where appropriate. A long established reputation for competent teaching is good, too. And so is a money-back guarantee.

Sometimes, though, you just have to take a risk.