How to create an effective employee training and development program
Over the past couple of years, it’s become more and more common for companies to train and upskill employees through online programmes. The benefits to the company range from a more skilled workforce to happier employees who increased their skill sets through a training program. To make sure that your organisation has an effective training and development program, employees at your organisation need to get the most out of their training.
What are employee training programs?
An employee training program is a collection of courses, materials and tools designed to help employees become more productive, efficient, and competent. To help you navigate the labyrinth of skill sets that employees might have, there are a few different types of training you can engage employees with.
1) Identify training needs
Identifying and assessing training needs is the first stage in establishing a training program. Employee training requirements may already be specified in the company’s strategic, human resource, or individual development plans. If you’re creating a training program from the ground up (with no predefined goals in mind), you’ll need to decide which areas to concentrate on.
To establish which training type will suit your training and development needs best, make sure that you understand exactly what type of training you would like employees to engage with. Any gaps in your present training programs and employee skill sets can be identified through a training needs assessment process. These shortfalls should be identified, prioritised, and translated into training goals for the company.
2) Categorise training needs
The ultimate goal of any training and development programme is to close the gap between present and intended performance/knowledge by creating a training program that prioritises business objectives. At the employee level, training should be tailored to the identified areas for development. Through the training needs assessment you can categorise the organisations shortcomings and choose an appropriate training type from the list below:
- Onboarding training
- Technical skills
- Soft skills
- Product or service training
- Compliance training
- Franchise training
- Managerial training
3) Develop an action plan
Once you’ve decided on the type of employee training, you need to develop a complete action plan that incorporates
- learning theories,
- instructional design,
- content,
- resources, and
- other training components.
It’s also a good idea to provide information about resources and training delivery techniques. The degree of training and the learning styles of the employees must both be addressed while piecing programs together. Many companies run pilot lessons for their training and development projects. This allows you to obtain feedback from staff members that are part of the trial before rolling out the program to the entire company.
4) Implement training initiatives:
The training program is brought to life during the implementation phase. Organisations must decide whether training will be conducted in-house or through a third-party provider.
Employee engagement and learning KPI targets should be considered throughout program execution, as well as meticulous preparation of training sessions and any relevant resources (facilities, equipment, questionnaires etc.). Once the training program is formally launched, marketed, and implemented, participants’ progress should be tracked during training to verify that the program is successful.
5) Evaluate and update training:
As noted in the previous section, the training program should be monitored on a regular basis. Finally, the complete program should be assessed to see if it was effective and satisfied the training goals. All stakeholders should provide feedback to assess the success of the program and instructors, as well as knowledge or skill gain. By combining this input with an employee performance assessment, the company will be able to identify any program flaws and develop a more solid Employee Experience Management (EXM) plan. If targets or expectations are not being fulfilled, the training program or action plan might be amended or re-evaluated at this time.
Conclusion
Ultimately, the employee training and development tools and methods you employ will have a lasting effect on the business. Through a thorough investigation, planning , preparation and implementation, you’ll be able to address key weaknesses in the business, improve employee performance, boost the company’s profile and reputation and increase creativity and innovation.