The training program is defined as an activity or activities that include undertaking one or a series of courses to boost performance, productivity, skills, and knowledge.
What is a Training program?
Training programs are considered an integral part of development for human resources. It is an organized tool for the development of specific skills to the desired standard with the help of information, instruction, guidance, and practice. Employee training programs are in the rage both in start-ups and established business entities as it brings a fresh perspective on the thinking process of an organization. More and more people are giving credence so as to include it in the workplace because it will boost development opportunities and promote employee retention.
Characteristics of training programs
1. High-quality program management
The person in charge of the training program is responsible for planning and implementing training initiatives. He should be open-minded and motivated so that he can help the employees in reaching their potential
2. Identify the needs of an organization
It is important to identify the needs of an organization and build a training program that will take the company forward
3. Evaluating adult learning benefits and shortcomings
It is vital that emphasis is given to the fact that adults are fast learners and they already have a strong base of existing knowledge
4. Identifying training objectives and evaluate training
Identify the objectives of employee training and evaluate them to create an effective program.
5. Alignment
It is vital to align organization initiatives with needs to address all issues
6. Easy access
An important feature of the employee training program is that it is vital to have easy access if a company wants to implement a successful training program.
Types of employee training programs
1. Instructor-led training
The most popular and traditional employee training method is an instructor-led training program. It is conducted by a professional trainer with the help of prescribed materials and tools and is especially effective for complex topics.
The trainers are in the driving seat and answer particular questions; nudge employees towards the use of necessary resources and implements training style and level in a manner that the employees are able to undertake.
This type of training has its own limitations as it is both time-consuming and expensive and is not suitable for concise topics.
2. Mentoring training
This is a type of hands-on employee training program with an emphasis on the relationship between trainee and trainer, who can be a coach, mentor, veteran employee or supervisor.
The advantage of this type of employee training program is that it enables the trainee to discuss and sort any issues that he may not be comfortable sharing during group training. Its drawback is that it is expensive as hiring a trained coach or mentor costs money.
3. Hands-on training
This type of training puts its onus on the individual needs of the trainee. This is experimental training and is implemented on the job itself to make the workforce fit into their role. The only drawback is that it is time-intensive and is applicable only when the firm has enough resources to support it easily.
4. Management specific activities
This type of employee training program puts its onus on the needs of the manager and includes eLearning, role-playing, brainstorming, team building and simulations. This is done to address the additional needs of managers separate from other employees.
How to build an employee training program?
- Identify the needs
Take a step back and assess the situation in your firm. What are the areas where you need to focus so that you can achieve set targets easily? The success lies in being honest and writing down a set of needs that can be overcome by offering suitable training programs and thus will help you in future endeavors.
Identify business goals like minimizing waste and costs, boosting efficiency and implementing a new product. Now think what the firm will have to do so that the employees can achieve the target. Is there a performance gap that is keeping the employees from doing the work and are they in need of any training activity to do that work is an important question that needs to be addressed.
Finally, determine the type of training program that will be most useful for the employees, for instance, should it be anything specific or general, computer-based or theory-based and self-guided or through a trainer. Remember it is important to determine beforehand the employees you want to give training to. A firm cannot offer the training program to every employee as it is an expense that it has to bear.
All these choices should be made before you decide on the particulars of a training program model.
- Keep learning principals in mind
Keep learning principals in mind if you are interested to build your first employee training program. Make sure that the employee is interested in taking part in the training program and is coming to the field with certain knowledge and experience.
When you have a relevant employee training program in place that is a task and goal-oriented the experience becomes doubly valuable.
- Develop learning objectives
Create a list of learning objectives before you build a training program. It will help the employees to know about the things that they can do after the training is completed so that they can understand how it is going to have an impact on their personal and professional life.
A learning objective includes things that a learner can know, understand and perform and which are apparent to everyone and of course achievable.
- Design a training program
You have completed your preliminary work and now is the time to design your training program. Focus on the learning needs and create content that is aligned with the learning objectives. Make sure that you incorporate a hands-on practice session to make the learners proficient in their training.
Interaction is an important part of the learning process and makes sure you are hiring a trainer who believes in open and clear communication channels. Sometimes a task looks like a mountain but the easiest way to accomplish it is by setting small goals and that too in a systematic manner so that the learner can breathe easily and take one step at a time.
- Developing a training program
After designing the next stage is taking help of training materials to develop and build a training program. There are numerous options available to you like PowerPoint projections, computer-generated graphics, Flip-Charts, Excel and Word hence take its help to create an outline.
It is important to align with the latest technologies to make the task easier and of course relevant to changing times.
- Roadmap your success
Create a roadmap for the onboarding phase by starting with an orientation program and nudging it towards complex stages.
- Developing feedback culture
Feedbacks are an important part of all training programs hence see that there are opportunities for feedback during and after the program. This feedback can be both positive and negative make sure that the employees are taking it in a constructive manner.
Trainers and mentors should offer regular feedback and trainees must make sure to act on the answers they are getting to boost performance levels.
- Encourage monthly or weekly reports
One of the most useful techniques to build and boost the training program is to incorporate the culture of weekly and monthly reports. It should be compulsory for both trainee and trainer to write these reports so that any discrepancies can be addressed.
- Evaluating the training program
None of the training programs is perfect at their initial stage. It needs regular evaluation to know about the issues and sorting them out in a timely manner. It is important to know whether the program has been at par with the expectations hence keep a note of the employee reactions.
Did they like it, consider it useful and are satisfied with end results are some important things to look at.