Effective training plays a vital role in your staff’s success. It allows you to identify any skills gaps and address them, so your team has the knowledge they need to perform their jobs. Learn more with these five ways to ensure your staff is getting proper training:
1. Develop a Comprehensive Plan
Training on the wrong subject matter or at the incorrect time is just as ineffective as providing no training at all. Develop a comprehensive plan for your staff training. Pinpoint exactly which topics you want to focus on and why, what time of year to hold training sessions, if it will be required or optional, how often to offer it, how it will be communicated to staff, etc.
2. Use a Hybrid Approach
Your employees are individuals with their own learning styles. Accommodate their styles by using a hybrid approach to your training and allowing them to pick what they prefer. Have a live in-person session conducted by a subject matter expert for those who prefer traditional, classroom-based group training as well as online modules for those who prefer to learn independently.
3. Encourage Employee Ownership
When training is treated as yet another task added to your staff’s workload, they are unlikely to be invested in gaining anything from it. For it to truly be effective, employees need to feel a sense of ownership and accountability. Highlight the benefits of their professional development, get their input during annual evaluation on what types of training they would be interested in, and allow as much autonomy as possible in signing up and completing training.
4. Be Cognizant of Barriers
Staff training can be challenging to implement on a large scale, especially if you are in a line of work that makes it prohibitive to train in groups, such as customer service or manufacturing. Be cognizant of the barriers your employees may face with training and make it as easy as possible on them. For example, stagger training sessions, so no area is left understaffed, bring in temporary employees for coverage, or let employees train at their own pace over time.
5. Be an Advocate
Prioritize ongoing training and cultivate the importance of it as part of your company culture. Be an advocate for training and communicate the value of it to your team. Acknowledge employees who excel at training and offer incentives to those who voluntarily seek out opportunities to develop their professional skills. As training becomes more ingrained in your company culture, employee engagement will likely grow and, in turn, make training more productive because they will care about it.
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