Making The Most Of Corporate Training
Corporate training is an investment in a company's employees and in the company's future
. Companies that are successful over the long-term recognize training as a fundamental necessity. Effective training not only helps to foster knowledge, skills and experience but also provides an opportunity to enhance consistency in the quality of a company's products and/or services.
Training is an investment that can yield far greater return over the long run. While improved productivity, reduced error rates, and lower rework costs can be quantified; there are a number of less tangible benefits such as team building, reduced turnover, improved morale and increased customer satisfaction. In addition, well trained employees can require less direct supervision and management.
To be effective, training must ultimately deliver employees that possess greater knowledge, improved skills and/or enhanced capabilities. Key elements of an effective training program include: attainable objectives, effective instructors, focused trainees, engaging training methods/exercises, available/common tools, and effective post-training reinforcement.
Here are some ideas and insights to help make the most of a company's investment in a training program:
Define Attainable Objectives
Focus training objectives on specific skills while taking into consideration the competency level of trainees. Develop a strategy for different competency levels. This may involve assigning employees with comparable competencies to the same class, or it may involve developing course material that team higher skilled employees to with lower skilled employees during training. While focusing training on specific objectives is important, training should leverage all possible opportunities that are applicable to the material. For example, many training programs can also be designed to develop relevant problem solving skills, enhance communication skills and foster team building.
Use an Effective Instructor
Most people can remember those college or high school instructors who were truly outstanding and those that were not. Too often, ineffective instructors just lectured and simply regurgitated what could be read from text books. Effective instructors engaged students with hands-on demonstrations, relevant stories and real life examples. If your company does not have professional trainers, consider hiring or contracting one. For technical material, team a professional instructor with a subject matter expert from your team. Another option is to use a professional instructor to train capable and competent team members to deliver the training. Remember, just because an employee can do a job flawlessly does not mean that they can teach someone else how to do it!
Enable Trainees to be Focused on the Training
If a student's training is interrupted with inquires about their regular duties, trainees will not be focused on learning. Students should be removed from their normal work environment. If you do not have a facility on-site that will allow this, consider renting a room at a hotel or conference center. Ensure the facility is comfortable (chairs, tables, ventilation, lighting) and adequately equipped (projectors, white boards, flip charts, etc.).
To optimize use of classroom time, have lunch delivered. That is not to say that training should continue through lunch. Rather, on-site lunches can give participants a chance to continue team building, casually discuss training material and ask questions of instructors. Also, instructors can solicit feedback from students and adjust the afternoon session appropriately. On-site lunches will help minimize the time required to reconvene the group after lunch while keeping students in a learning mode. If the cost of lunch is a concern, compare the cost of sandwiches or pizzas to your investment in the course (labor costs, benefits, material, facilities, etc.) and the potential payback; the cost of lunch is largely inconsequential for extended training sessions.
Use Engaging Methods
People learn at different rates and in different ways. Some people can learn well from reading, others prefer visual demonstrations and still others benefit most from actually performing a task. In addition, one technique can reinforce another. While it may seem redundant, consider that most highly effective employees gained their expertise by performing the duties repeatedly over years.
Engaging exercises can be helpful to keep participants attention and reinforce lessons. Using exercises in advance of a lesson can also help get students in the right frame of mind for subsequent training material. For example, consider asking students to create an object using
stress relief putty as an exercise before a lesson requiring creativity (e.g. creative problem solving, for example). By giving each employee a different color putty and have them create a multi-colored item, the same concept can also facilitate team building. Some other examples of exercises tied into a lesson's subject matter include:
Use custom dice or playing cards to demonstrate concepts associated with probability or statistics (e.g. statistical process control)
Incorporate mirrors, voice recorders or even flip video camera into roll playing exercises to help develop customer service, interpersonal or leadership skills.
Have a hand-held Sudoku competition prior to an analytical lesson.
Use chess sets to demonstrate strategic alternatives and consequences
Demonstrate team work using Frisbees/flyers (have you ever tired playing Frisbee by yourself?)
Equip Students with Necessary Tools
Equip students with tools required for the class whether they are simply a pad of paper and a pen or computers and software. All students should be working with the same tool. Instructors will not have time determine how 25 different calculators convert to percentages or to compensate for different versions of a software application. Allow students to keep lower cost tools (e.g. paper, pens, rulers, calculators, etc.) to reinforce training and enable their immediate use in performing regular duties. There is no need to buy a calculator that can calculate percentages or to re-learn how to do percentages on a different calculator!
Ensure computers and other high-dollar tools are set up, identically configured and tested before classes begin. Provide hand-outs of training material presented so students can follow along during the course and retain for future reference. For large volumes of material or to avoid overburdening traveling students, augment classroom hard copies with take-away material loaded on a Company USB Drive (e.g. Thumb Drive).
Combine training material, exercise props and tools into a take-away "tool kit" for participants. Consider reinforcing their usefulness as tools by providing them in a
customized tool box. Logo messenger bags and embossed folios can also be used for tool kits. These kits become a resource for students while also helping to enhance the perceived value of the program and encourage other employees' participation.
For training a large body of students across an entire organization, create a logo for the course and imprint it on the tools, kits and other material used in the class. This will effectively create a course brand reinforcing the company is commitment to the training program as well as to professional development.
TIP: Consider the overall needs of students in preparing "tool kits". Add a tin of mints to help students overcome any cravings, a
custom travel mug for refreshments, a stress ball to occupy restless hands or even a custom towel or yoga mat to facilitate periodic "stretch breaks".
Post Course Reinforcement
Acknowledge employees for successful completion of the course. While framed certificates of completion certainly will do the trick, consider demonstrating the same level of innovation that you seek from your employees. Provide employees with customized lapel pins or custom coins bearing the course's logo. Since many people like to collect and display such items, it can help to not only acknowledge the accomplishment but also encourage future participation in training courses to expand upon the collection.
Utilizing take-away tools as noted previously can help reinforce course content. Utilizing these tools (e.g. calculators, pens, etc.) in the course of performing their routine duties will help participants recall training material.
Encourage supervisors to refer to training material when interacting with their
team. This requires that supervisors also attend the training to be fully aware of the material. Consider providing supervisors a tailored course that incorporates tips on how to reinforce lessons in regular work routines.
Ask past students to facilitate specific exercises in future classes. While this may remove them from their routine duties, it can be an excellent refresher as well as provide current students with meaningful perspective.
by: BNoticed
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