Peer to Peer Magazine

31 WWW.ILTANET.ORG How to Accomplish Effective Workplace Training FEATURES The internet is liered with information on how to create effective workplace training programs, so it's very likely this isn't the first article you've read on the topic. There are data-rich infographics that show you how to drastically reduce turnover, anecdotal articles that explain how you can skyrocket employee morale, promotional videos that excitedly demonstrate how to half re-training costs — you can find it all, and all within just a few minutes of browsing the web. This access to such a broad and diverse array of material, most of which is completely free, is great for businesses and their employees. However, with an overload of ideas and methods, the overselling of benefits of different systems and strategies, and the lack of adequate support and guidance for implementation, choosing an effective workplace training program can still oen seem as difficult as ever. For this reason, we want to strip away all the fluff and give our two cents on the topic, based on what we've seen and found in our own established and dynamic practice. How Do We Achieve Effective Training? No maer how complex or large your training program, for it to be successful, clear goals and objectives must first be identified. One way to do this is by using the SMART principle. SMART goals are specific, measurable, aainable, realistic, and time-bound. It's also important to ensure they emphasize what you want employees to do (or do beer), while avoiding focusing on what they should not do. This second point is critical to success. Placing an importance in your coaching on positives rather than negatives will help encourage employees and avoid them feeling at an increased risk of failure. With this framework in mind, we can start to think about the training goals and the people behind them. Are the employees learning new skills, new technologies for old skills, or beer workplace behavior? Are the employees veterans in the workplace or fresh-faced new starters? When goal-seing for trainees, for example, it's paramount they understand the purpose of the training. Employees unclear on why they are asked to learn something new will not engage, and engagement is critical to retention. For long-term staff, it's more important they keep an open mind and are not intimidated or closed off from learning new skills and habits. In both cases, if you can create incentives, like Wilson's PRIDE program, badges, or other gamification, employees will be inspired by the sense of competition and be more likely to participate. What Are Challenges to Effective Workplace Training? One of the difficulties in training adults is that although they learn differently than children, trainers can default to teaching in the same way in which they learned as adolescents. For instance, adults are usually self-directed, goal-oriented, and come to the table with existing knowledge, experience, and opinions. Adults also vary generationally in the way they learn and process information. Effective workplace training, then, considers these differences and uses different teaching techniques and styles to reach a broader audience. But this raises another main issue in delivering effective training regimes: shortages of time, resources, and money. To combat this, consider providing training in intervals. Think of it like training at the gym: do sets of training until a skill is mastered and have trainees intentionally set aside time to practice. Digital methods like short videos, articles, and checklists allow employees to consume as much knowledge as they can in a small amount of time. Trainers should engage employees using interactive methods such as small group discussions, case studies, role- playing, and/or demonstrations. Employees that help each other and learn together are forced to think about what they are learning in a way that's simply not possible in an instructor-led course.

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