During a downturn, people, not systems, can tell you what is going on with your clients, find ways to save you money, identify critical innovations and help you manage an increasingly nervous workforce. So writes Todd Warner in the FT Soapbox column in Business Life. I heartily agree with him.

The thrust of his article is to stress that corporate learning programmes must be wholly relevant to the business. He writes: ‘Those companies most likely to navigate this downturn and emerge from it stronger are removing the historical gap between learning and work and finding ways to integrate learning more fully into the enterprise’s real business challenges’. Again I agree, and would strongly recommend any company seeking advice about the effectiveness of their training in this context to take a look at Clive Johnson’s services (www.proactivestyle.com).

An important function of corporate training is to increase the level of ‘engagement’ of your employees. High engagement is associated with ‘ownership behaviour’, where people are enthusiastic, creative and productive. They self-regulate, they see clearly what they need to pay attention to. Above all, companies with highly engaged employees are exceptionally resilient in a downturn.

High-engagement needs to be facilitated by the actions of management. I use the acronym ROTA as a reminder of what is needed in dealing with employees: respect, openness, trust, and autonomy. These are the foundations of a high-engagement culture without which no amount of training and development will succeed in closing the gap between learning and work.