Companies spend countless amounts of dollars on training their employees and it seems that everyone involved is less than satisfied with the experience. It’s hard to quantify whether a training program is actually working. It will take each individual a different amount of time to implement the skills that are being taught. This process can be tedious for the trainers and the trainees. Consider these six tips when you begin a new training and development program to make the experience more fulfilling:
- Explain the training ahead of time. Before the actual training date, explain exactly what is expected of your employees. Make sure they know what the goal of the exercise is and this will help alleviate any anxiety they’re feeling ahead of time. If they know what to expect they’ll go into the program with a better frame of mind than if they went in blind.
- Put the onus on the employee. Let the employee know that the training is their responsibility according to their job description. This will make them take the process seriously. This means they have to diligently attend to the pre-training exercises, the actual training and the application of the new skills to their job.
- Train supervisors first. The supervisor should learn the new skills before the people working under them. This will allow the supervisor to model the new skills and let them know what to expect from their employees.
- Make sure the training is an absolute necessity. If you’re going to take employees out of their normal workday and put them in a training program assess the needs of the training. Be sure that a training session is what the employee needs and isn’t just a way of punishing poor performance. Assess whether the employee is actually suited for the position before throwing more training at the situation.
- Fine tune the training program. Make sure that the program fits the actual needs of your workforce. If the outside training service you employ doesn’t have a program that fits your need then internalize the process and make it fit the framework of the job. This will ensure that the skills you need your workers to gain will be the actual ones that will foster advancement.
- Define objectives. Make sure the training program you choose has clear objectives that transfer to the skill set you are attempting to instill. Select objectives that will have measurable outcomes.