Many small businesses do not offer the same training as a large business.By small I am talking about a micro business of less then 50 employees.Most companies that size do not have a full time trainer, unless they are a training company. But I am talking about non training companies.
Companies that have few employees usually find that it is hard to take a day or 2 off to do training because their may not be anyone to cover while they are gone. Why take training in the first place. I have had so many people tell me they wish they had taken training years ago because I taught them things that would make using their computer easier. So the main benefit for training is that you can learn things that will help you work faster or better. How much is that worth? If a course is 3 days and over the next year you will save more then that by implementing the knowledge you learnt, is that not worth it?
Some still would not attend training because they are too busy. There are alternatives for some courses. One alternative is one to one sessions. Instead of going to the trainer, the trainer comes to you. This is great for companies that have several people who want to see a trainer on the same topic, say computer training. Each person can book time with the trainer, say an hour each and they can look at the topics you need.
This can be called floorwalking, one to one sessions, coaching, or anything really. No matter what the company calls it, the trainer can run the sessions differently, so be specific with how you want the day to go. A good trainer knows what can and can’t be done and will tell you if your expectations are realistic. So if you ask for an hour session that will cover basic calculations, lookup calculations, and pivot tables, they should be honest and tell you that if you don’t already know basic calculations it will probably take more then an hour to cover everything. Everyone learns at different speeds but at least with this type of training, you can learn at your speed and have the topics you need.