Training – how to make it worthwhile
Billions are wasted every year on training that have little or no effect and is not worth the investment,
on the other hand billions are also Not invested in training that should have been. Below follows Problems Solved advice on training and how to make it worthwhile:
Problems Solved Top-10 tips on training
1) Have a plan; Very few things ever stand alone and training is definitely a case in point for that, so make sure that you plan, not just for training on any particular subject but have a plan across your organisation including all the subjects that training is needed in. This will ensure that everything is aligned, will make all the training more effective and will save you money.
2) Make it focused; Having a plan does not mean train everyone in everything in one go, tailor your training sessions to have a clearly rounded set of subjects, focus on these, let people go away, absorb and then do the next one. Benefits from training comes from absorption so make sure people have time for it.
3) Make it relevant; Train people in areas they recognise is worth learning about – make sure they have the understanding to recognise the value from the outset, motivated people do better and learn more.
4) Make it interesting; Interactive training is just as easy to create as one-way lectures these days, so make sure to take advantage and get people active. People learn much better when they are interested and understand the purpose.
5) Make it “normal”; With the cost of good quality training being half (or less) than it was 10 years ago, it is now possible to aim for a much higher target performance level and attending training a regular intervals – say once a quarter – is not only realistic but desirable both from a company and employee perspective, regular training raises both performance, morale and bottom line impact. It also creates a learning organisation where people are well practiced in learning.
6) Make it yours; Generic training can be fine, but to get real value you need to make it relevant to your business and people. The extra effort in making the training fit your company is well worth it.
7) Make it measurable; How do you know you are getting value for money? Training like everything else should be measurable, the easy thing to do is have a test, at least that shows if people have been paying attention, however if you really want to see results measure the impact in performance before & after.
8) Make it real; Train your people, train the organisation – train the hand-offs, exceptions, the whole setup, make it as real as you can. Include upstream and downstream of any change areas.
9) Make it professional; We may be a bit of a broken record on the subject of using professionals however every study ever made shows that using professionals in specialised roles, like training, is the way to go.
10) Don’t stop; Once you start training don’t stop, make sure that new people are trained as part of their induction and existing staff keeps improving, make learning a part of the culture and you will get a culture that drives excellence - and that in turn is where the major long term gains can be found.
These are Problems Solved tips on training. Do you disagree? Is there something we should add? We welcome your comments. Let us know, we love to discuss and learn.