Delta Consultants is more a development firm than a training organization, particularly in relation to management, leadership and teaming attitudes and competencies. The key differences between development and training are as follows:
Development emphasizes self-discovery, attitude change, genuine motivation (or emotional commitment) to try more effective behavior, real time experimentation with new skills, timely feedback and, ultimately, the consistent and confident acquisition of new attitudes and competencies.
Training refers primarily to defining, explaining, demonstrating and (sometimes) role playing skills or competencies. In some regards, testing assumptions or attitudes that can get in the way of applying more effective skills is a developmental component of some training programs. Nevertheless, training tends to emphasize the explanation and justification of method, which too often does not result in the consistent application of new competencies for most people. This is because training focuses more on the intellectual dimension while development targets the emotional and attitude factors that truly impact behavior change.
We consider training a good follow-up to a development process that targets key needs, but also engenders the personal motivation, responsibility and commitment to learn and apply training principles. Without the development piece, we consider training a nice perk which can often serve as a factor in being an employer of choice. Additionally, for an issue like diversity management, training can be considered a way to minimize liability.
A sound development process often fosters sustained attitude change with improved skill application and related business results (without training). This is because people can often become more effective when they discover, commit to, and plan for self-improvement. This is where Delta Consultants truly adds value.
