
Finding talent nowadays has become difficult especially with the new technologies emerging every now and then. At the same time, employee under-performance is becoming a big issue, companies are spending lots of money to hire and train candidates but productivity is still not improving.
What are they doing wrong? What else can they do to make training programs more effective?
This article will show you 6 exact ways that will make your training programs more effective so that you can hire the right mentors, train in the right way, and improve your overall productivity and employee loyalty.
1 – Establish Training Goals
Start with asking questions to yourself like what problem do you want employees to solve after the training? What’s the performance gap between what they can do now and what they must be able to do? Read this employee training manifesto to understand everything about corporate training programs.
While many companies use a broad metric such as enhanced productivity, you can take a more tactical approach and identify specific problems employees must be able to solve.
An example of this would be a web development company that wants to move into mobile app development and hence want to train new employees to ensure they can complete the work efficiently.
You also need to determine the training activities that will help your employees perform the task efficiently. To continue our example, this may include developing a complete app or an MVP (minimum viable product) for both Android and iOS.
2 – Hire a Skilled and Efficient Training Manager
Effective training programs start with a skilled person who has the experience of managing corporate training. They are responsible for planning and implementing all training actions within an organization.
An ideal training manager must have a deep knowledge of the business, strong communication, and interpersonal skills. S/he also must be open-minded, curious, and invested in developing employees’ skills (no matter how poor an employee performs in training) to help them reach their potential.
Additionally, this person also needs to have fun to keep things interesting and employees engaged throughout the session. Employees who have just started their career could feel overwhelmed if the trainer regurgitates old formats of teaching.
3 – Analyze Knowledge Gaps to Segment Training Programs
Chances are, you have employees who don’t have all the skills they need to have to drive your company forward or maybe they have basic knowledge and they’re making lots of mistakes.
The best way to analyze knowledge gaps is by conducting multiple tests and dividing employees into three categories (beginner, intermediate, and advanced).
This will help you pay attention to individual employees and tailor training programs for them. Additionally, you can talk to customers, partners, or anyone else who is in constant professional touch with your employees to know what they think is missing in terms of skill set.
4 – Create Personalized and Engaging Employee Learning Experiences
Creating personalized learning experience is the key to successful employee training programs. As mentioned above, asking employees and managers what they need in terms of training could help you create customized training programs.
When creating training programs, keep these things in mind:
- Focus primarily on the needs of the employees.
- Create training content that relates directly to your business goals.
- Keep theoretical training to a minimum and focus on real-time practice.
- Make sure there’s plenty of opportunity for feedback during training.
- Break your training material into small chunks that are easier to understand.
To create an engaging learning experience:
- Ask trainers to integrate storytelling and fun games into the training.
- Put the employees in control of the learning process instead of the trainer (once or twice a week).
- Include videos to keep their attention for longer.
- Ask questions regularly.
- Small rewards like chocolate for 3 correct answers or for doing something good could encourage them to participate in training actively.
The more the employees enjoy the training program, the more they are likely to learn and implement their knowledge in real-time.
5 – Engage With New Employees During Training
The involvement of executives and other leaders of the organization in the training program is important. It boosts the employees’ confidence to fully grasp training.
Additionally, you can give rest to the trainer and conduct training yourself for a day. It will help you know your new employees and take one-on-one feedback. This way you can assess the training program in real-time and take decisions that will improve the results.
Doing this will help drive the importance of the program. It will also make them feel that you care about them and hence, they are more likely to live up to your expectations i.e. learn and implement the skills efficiently.
6 – Analyze the Performance and Optimize
Last but not least, analyzing how employees use your training will help you evaluate its effectiveness. You can either do it at the end of the training or in between the training (after a major concept ends).
Assessment during the training will help you analyze if they understood the recent modules and if the content was adequate for them or not. Assessment after the training will help you see if any particular questions/topics are consistently answered incorrectly.
You can then organize special classes to reteach those topics. In the end, don’t forget to ask employees for feedback to see where training could be improved.
Note: Never use this as a weapon to force employees to learn.
Final Thoughts
Creating effective employee training programs not only helps you reach your business goals quickly, but it also saves you a lot of money. Establish training goals and explain your objectives to the trainer and make sure you both are on the same page.
Analyze knowledge gaps and divide employees into different segments and then create personalized training programs for each group. Also, take an assessment to evaluate the effectiveness of the training program. Happy employee training!