An educated, inspired and trained workforce is what every business wants. Creating an effective training programme is the key to successful growth and employee satisfaction. Here are some tips from Uspire on how to create an effective training programme:
Perform a Training Needs Assessment
This is crucial to ensure the trainer know what the employees need to learn, so no time is wasted on teaching workers what they already know or skills they don’t need.
- Identify a clear business goal that the training will support. For example, enabling the sales force to generate new leads and get new business.
- Determine the tasks the employee needs to complete to reach the goal.
- Identify the training activity that will help the workers learn to perform the tasks.
- Determine the learning characteristics of the workers to make sure the training style is effective. Is the need, knowledge, skill or attitudinal based?
Develop the Learning Objectives and Write Them Down
The learning objectives should be the end result of all the training. They should always form the shape of your training. Write them down in behavioural terms (what will the employees be able to do by end of the training). All quizzes, tests, case studies or hands-on exercises should return to these objectives.
Design the Training Material
Remember to focus on the learning needs of your employees, not what is easy for your trainers.
- Remember to create content and assessment based solely on your learning objectives.
- Include as much hands-on practice, role-play or simulation as possible. People learn by doing. Put the employee in charge of the learning process, wherever possible.
- Allow for interaction and feedback during training.
- Break the training into small chunks that are easy to take in and understand.
- Make time for ‘blended learning’; include a mix of instructor-led, computer-led and employee interaction.
- Use all the senses during training if you can – sight, hearing, touch, smell and taste.
Create the Training Material
There are lots of options for creating, engaging material for the end users. Remember to use resources that make your employees learn most effectively and clearly reach the learning objectives of your course.
- Use Word, Excel or a similar Office programme to create hand-outs or training outlines for employees for the instructor-led or hands-on elements of the course.
- Use PowerPoint for in-class projections (make sure these aren’t too lengthy or full of bullet points).
- Try using Flip charts, computer generated graphics, etc. for presenting visual materials during training
- If appropriate, consider e-learning tools like Adobe Captivate or Storyline to create computer based e-learning modules.
Implement the Training
This may sound obvious but one of the most critical parts of this phase is to get people to attend the course. If it is internal make sure people are warned in advance, make sure you remind them regularly too. Often a Learning Management System can be useful for this. If it is opened out to a wider audience make sure the marketing is in place so that people are informed about the course across all the social platforms your company uses. Also, remember to remind employees via email to book the course into their diary.
Evaluate the Training
Your end goal is to deliver effective training to your employees, so you also need to evaluate whether it has worked or not.
- Firstly evaluate the employees’ actual learning. This is usually done during training - it can be done with a simple knowledge test, working through case studies or via hands-on exercises or simulations.
- Employees’ post training behaviours. Are the workers taking the new knowledge/skills/attitudes from the training and applying it at work? Performance-based metrics and observation of employees actually at work will determine this.
- Quantifiable business results. Did the training deliver the required business goal? For example, did sales improve? Did poor performance in the workplace decrease?
Look, Learn, Repeat
Make sure you work through your training course, practice on colleagues. When you implement it, learn from any mistakes. Amend the course for the next time, ensure you continue to learn from the people you teach. Don’t afraid to be wrong, just make sure you go back and do it better next time.
“Empowerment isn't a buzzword among leadership gurus. It's a proven technique where leaders give their teams the appropriate training, tools, resources, and guidance to succeed.”
- John Rampton