Mia
Well-trained employees are the building blocks of any successful company. In an age where a new working mode comes up every day, ensuring that your employees are equipped with all the skills to provide you with maximum productive output is essential.
However, most companies face significant challenges while creating a training and development program for their employees because the return on investment is not as expected.
Therefore, in this article, we will explore 2 broad challenges to employee training and development and their respective solutions.
What, How and Who-The Training basics:
Given the diversity of employees in most companies nowadays, developing the right training programs is challenging. So naturally, the one-size-fits-all method is proving to be inefficient. Therefore, it is important to first realize the objectives and goals of your training and then choose its components.
What: While developing a syllabus for your trainees, focus on what is crucial for your employees and meet their requirements and expectations. This would mean choosing modules that equip your employees with
a) the right skills and knowledge to use company software or apps.
b) proper communication, time management, leadership and planning skills which they can use to connect with senior managers in the company, and
c) any other necessary knowledge that will come in handy for their job and career.
Often, it is beneficial to train employees in skills that will be useful outside the company and in their careers. An elementary example would be Microsoft Office skills or basic coding skills.
Training resources you share with the employees should be easy to comprehend and practical. Too much theory never helps prepare for the real world. Make it simple, crisp and accessible for future reference.
How: After identifying the aims of the training, analyze the work environment in the market. Offline, online or hybrid, each method impacts how you deliver such training.
Begin with general principles, such as understanding the importance of smaller groups to train, one-on-one training and using modern learning techniques that enhance retention and practical experience.
Make use of a program fixed in efficiency but flexible enough to train employees in all modes.
Additionally, in online formats, it is hard to ensure attention, let alone learning, which is why, make use of a software that helps the trainers and trainees track progress. Provide the option of taking the training on one’s own time in case of online or hybrid setups while putting a mandate to ensure follow through. Keep all activities short but to the point. This helps maximize attention span and productive learning.
Furthermore, your training should be able to bridge the cultural and generational gaps. This would mean using inclusive methods such as multilingual resources, training older employees in new-age technology, and using younger trainees to share their knowledge with the older ones to facilitate colleague bonding and learning efficiency.
Who: This includes trainers and the audience. Depending on your training budget and resources, decide who will train your employees.
While some places would benefit from in-house trainers, it can also be objective to use the knowledge of outside trainers.
The ideal way would be to mix and match as per your needs.
For example, for new employees, use in-house staff to train them in old methods vital to the company and outside trainers for teaching new techniques and technology. For senior employees, call outside trainers to help them upskill and reskill for the upcoming working age.
Even in-house trainers can use new resources if they are cost or time effective. Either way, the idea is to promote efficiency.
Employee and Stakeholder Needs
Ideally, this should be the foundation of all your training programs. However, while receiving such training, most employees wonder what is in it for me.
The training program’s purpose is to deliver on the needs of the company and the employee. This can be achieved in several ways:
- Most employees feel the lack of completion of their training due to the absence of a feedback loop. By promoting training feedback, employees feel more confident in their strengths and weaknesses while also feeling like the training is to benefit them and not just the company.
- By providing employees with various ways to continue building on their skill set, you assure them of your interest in their growth. This can be done by providing regular training sessions in skills that employees in a company lack, should know, or struggle with.
To cater to the company, software subscriptions like Skillshare can be given to employees to develop additional skills, such as SEO optimization and graphic design.
- In a world of minimal attention span, it is crucial to make the training tempting. Therefore, provide certifications or additional benefits to employees who make the most of their training to get a return on your investment in them while also making them more inclined to invest in you.
Conclusion
Dealing with employee training challenges can prove tricky, given individualistic and other factors. Still, by committing to the process, most of them can be dealt with without much hassle.
