Mismatch in what training professionals think and the rest of us think

I attended the Kluwer Meet&Greet event some hours ago in Mechelen. They presented their new Learning Indicator, based on surveys amongst HR professionals and just plain professionals in Belgium. Here are some highlights and my reflections:

• The smaller the company, the more often a strategy for training lacks. Make sense as the smaller the company, the more any policy document lacks, they don't need it as much. But I do hope even the small ones at least think about what it brings them and how they go about it, policy or strategy document or not.
• But small or big, this vision often plainly lacks (in 36% of cases)
• The top priority is mapping the (key) competencies with their training plans. Enabling learning technology is only at place 5 of the priority list. That's a good trend. It should always have been about balancing demand and supply of talent/competencies in your organization, aligned with business objectives.
• Mismatch: the training department thinks it is doing a better job then the employees rate it
• Mismatch: employees are far more willing to learn (88%), even outside of work (73%), than training folks assume (54%). The reflection I have with this is: employees will probably not take just any training outside of hours. Yes, I mean you, compliance training! Especially if people want to voluntarily take up training to advance their career, it better be effective and time well spent, and engaging etc. I would like to see a study on what the difference is between the learning people consume outside of work, and the learning during hours (and most often enforced)
• The dominance of classroom is still standing, and of course e-learning is still on the rise, but also a lot of focus on coaching as a learning activity. Gaming isn't mainstream.