Employee training begins the moment your new talent signs on the dotted line. With so much to learn about a new position, companies take employee education seriously during the first weeks and months of a new hire’s tenure.
But when should employee training end? Perhaps the best answer is “never.” Having employee training programs in place for current employees, not just newbies, is a great way to provide consistent growth throughout a company and to form a culture of continuous learning and self-improvement.
Employee training programs are commonly seen during the on-boarding process of a new employee. Naturally, these shouldn’t go by the wayside. They are extremely important and valuable in a company.
These programs allow a business to acclimate a new employee and help guide him or her in a direction the leaders would like to see the company grow. But beyond these programs, there is so much more.
Consider employee training programs that aid your current employees in following the career plan they may be interested in. It’s also important to consider employee training programs that focus on the employee bettering him or herself in the general area of your industry.
Although training programs take time, as does taking the initiative to improve them, they are an investment that businesses should make for the future of the company. Here are 20 ways to improve your employee training program that is currently in place.
1. Identify Your Company Goals
Identifying your company’s goals is the first step in understanding what type of training your company needs. Ask yourself, and your leadership team, these questions.
Where do you want to see your company in the long run?
Is it your goal to grow globally? Maybe you have ideas of creating a top-notch customer service program. Maybe you’d like to see the efficiency grow or even open up a new branch. This is the time to think big.
What is your company all about?
Does your company provide a service? Is your company faith-based or community-based? To whom does your company market? It is important to identify the theme and feeling of the company in order to decide what the goals will be.
Asking these questions will help you dictate how to start your program development. Identifying your goals will ensure that your employee training classes are aligned with the direction you envision the company going in.
2. Increase the Length of the On-Boarding Process
Many companies fail to realize the importance of the mentoring process for new employees. They may give a quick overview of the company and stick the new hire with a seasoned employee who is now in charge of sharing the ins and outs of company culture with a fresh, wide-eyed employee.
Some companies focus solely on house-keeping issues. According to certain studies, the on-boarding process should last for a minimum of 90 days.
A long period of acclimation will allow for employees to adjust, understand the company, their role and provide value. A singular mentor is a valuable idea.
Following this route, it’s important for leaders to identify experienced employees that embody the spirit of the company. Look for someone with a positive attitude that buys into the company’s goals.
This type of attitude can be passed on to your new employees! Be sure to check-in with new employees every few weeks.
If you don’t hold one-on-ones with your current employees, be sure to create the time to do this with your new ones. This builds trust and morale with your new employees in addition to ensuring they have the proper skills to complete their new job.
3. Ask for Feedback
Successful leaders are not only open to feedback, they encourage it. Identify your “newish” employees. Who was hired six months or a year ago?
Ask these employees what training they wished they had received when they were first hired. These employees can help you better understand exactly what support new hires would want when first brought on board.
Consider expanding this feedback request to include all employees, asking them what training programs they would like to see in the future and what motivates or interests them. This will ensure the success of future programs.
Of course, if employee training programs are already in place in your company, be sure to ask for feedback after each of the training sessions to see what can be further improved upon. Make sure to listen to this feedback and make changes according to them. Asking for feedback and then ignoring it is never a good idea.
4. Make Information “Bite-Sized” with Micro Learning
It’s become very clear that attention spans are diminishing. It’s no secret we live in a “now” culture, people require answers immediately and quickly move on to the next thing.
This needs to be considered when training employees as well. It is easier for employees to grasp information and remember it with quick, short and informative pieces.
This allows for continuous learning as well. Consider a daily snippet or weekly newsletter. Provide constant snippets that offer information helpful to the professional growth of your employees.
Many leaders require their employees to sit through day-long employee training classes. There is no longer a need for this. In this age of information, it’s more effective to have continuous learning become the culture of the workplace.
5. Encourage Engagement during Training
Think back for a second to your old college lecture halls. Your 8 a.m. class was sure to put you back to sleep as the professor droned on.
Leaving college doesn’t make a person any more likely to pay attention to boring lectures. During trainings, be sure to get employees involved in what’s happening. By involving the employees, it helps to keep them focused and engaged.
Ask questions and wait for the answers. Encourage discussions. Make the training fun and use humor to bring people in. All of this can help your employees truly remember the information that was taught.
6. Identify the Areas That Need Improvement
Your employees all have very different levels of need when it comes to employee engagement. Be aware of these levels and of the learning gaps between them.
In addition, be sure to offer the necessary resources for your employees to continue learning. Provide a coach, classes, or a specific training on their areas of need. Think about what skills your employees need in order for them to do their jobs.
In what areas are many people having trouble? Identify these and begin by creating programs in these areas. Your employees will then have the skills needed to improve and grow, rather than sitting through a training on an area that is not beneficial.
7. Let Employees Know What the Training Will Cover
In leadership, communication is key. Be sure to share what the topic and purpose of a training session will be. Don’t let employees walk into a training session blindsided.
Ideally, leaders would outline what a training session will cover, giving a detailed agenda out ahead of time. Doing this allows employees to come in with the right mentality and may even encourage them to prepare for the training beforehand.
8. Keep the Material Interesting
When talking about employee training, boring material is inevitable. However, it’s important to find ways to make the information interesting. This is the career path your employees have chosen for themselves.
The content, though not as intense and interesting as Game of Thrones (for example), is important to them and valuable to their everyday life. Make sure to make it count. Appeal to their intrinsic desires to grow within their field.
9. Find a Motivating Trainer
Thinking back to your school days, you likely remember the classes of the teachers you enjoyed the most. Research shows that students enjoy and remember the material they are taught by someone they have an emotional attachment to and to whom they admire and like.
This doesn’t go away for adults. They also need someone who can keep them captivated and interested in the material they are learning.
As a leader, it’s important to make sure the instructor can communicate properly. This is extremely important. A facilitator that mumbles, stutters, or slurs words can be very distracting.
Someone with noticeable nervous habits while speaking is also a poor choice for a speaker. The leader needs to be able to keep the audience engaged. They can do this through humor, through engaging content, or through emotions.
Whatever the trick of their trade, it should be enjoyable to listen to. Needless to say, the speaker should be knowledgeable on the information they are presenting. It’s immediately obvious to an audience when the instructor is not truly an expert on the subject at hand.
Finally, an effective employee training speaker must have patience and be flexible. Often, a session will need adjustments based on the audience. When this happens, a quality speaker should be able to go with the flow and meet his or her students needs.
10. Enforce What Is Taught Immediately
Resist the pit of providing employee training and then expecting things to just change. This isn’t likely to happen. Unless your employees are physically practicing the skills that they’ve learned, the programs will not be effective.
Have your employees apply exactly what was just gone over. Provide trials for them to put their new information into practice. People learn by doing, not just hearing about it.
Check in with your employees to see specifically how they are using their new techniques. It’s also extremely important to encourage them through your own learning and practice of the material.
11. Have Follow up Sessions
After you’ve had your employees complete their training, follow up with them. Ask them how they have applied what was learned. Look for specific examples.
Ask if they found the training useful, informative and clear. This goes along with asking for their feedback.
Is there anything they would like change about the training? Use this as a way to improve any programs in place. Always look for ways to support your team.
12. As a Manager, Get Involved in the Programs as Well
Show that you buy-in as well by becoming involved in the employee training. It can be encouraging and will show your employees that you aren’t just making them take these training sessions for no reason.
It confirms the importance of what they are learning as well. It’s no secret that productivity and work related behavior trickles down from the top.
Managers can be a positive influence on how successful the programs become. It can also help managers understand what their employees are involved in on a day to day basis, providing them with valuable information.
13. Encourage Employees to Teach Their Peers What They’ve Learned
Set up systems that allow employees to bring back what they’ve learned to others on their team. This not only helps them to better remember the information, but also apply it.
In addition, it allows them to demonstrate that they truly understand the material. As a natural bonus, this will continue to spread the blanket of learning across the company.
14. Create a More Organized Schedule
Employee training programs should happen on a regular schedule. Making the time for this very important part of your employees professional development should be a priority.
Think about employees that have different needs and different schedules. Some of your employees may have a hard time going to training sessions during work hours, or may not be able to stay late to attend them. Offer training during work hours and also in the mornings and evenings to accommodate each individual’s schedules.
15. Accommodate to Various Learning Styles
Ask anyone in education and they’ll tell you there are as many learning styles as there are learners. It’s important to understand this and to adjust to it when planning employee training. Use different tools, offer unique opportunities and ask what will work for your employees.
16. Keep Track of Results
Use numbers to keep track of the effectiveness of your employee training. Identify increases in job performance. Take note of employee engagement.
Check the morale and offer surveys. How has the quality of your employees’ work increased? This will tell you what is working and what isn’t.
17. Practice Recognition
Give credit where credit is due by acknowledging those that are going above and beyond in their employee training. Some people may not think it’s worth it, but the short amount of time it takes to do so can really go a long way.
If employees feel recognized and appreciated, it will encourage them to continue learning. Recognition could even involve adding a monetary value as an incentive!
18. Provide Cross Training
Many of your employees work in a specific field or area and have their own needs regarding employee training. However, cross training can be beneficial even in these instances. By learning about other areas it can help them become an even more valuable asset.
It will also allow them to grow their skills in different areas. No doubt, this will challenge them and your best employees will love a valuable challenge.
19. Provide Mentors
As mentioned earlier, employee training isn’t always an long hour gig. It’s ideal to give your employees a mentor to turn to even when they’re not in training.
Some of the best type of knowledge is received from just speaking to someone with more experience. This gives them some sort of guidance and someone to whom they can turn to on a personal level.
Another option is to get a coach to mentor a larger group of people. This would be someone whose sole job description is to help your employees improve their craft.
20. Allow Employees to Learn at Their Own Pace
Although training may be provided at work, it’s also important to give employees the option to do it on their own. You can provide articles or promote book clubs.
You can suggest mobile training apps that will allow them to learn at home or wherever they feel most comfortable. A similar option is implementing online training.
These are sources that give them somewhere to reference back to and allow your employees to learn when and where they most feel comfortable.
Whatever ways you decide to implement employee training in your office, remember that there are always ways to improve them and different methods to use. Keep in mind it is extremely important and valuable no matter what stage of learning your employee is in – or how long they’ve been there!
Each dollar spent will come back in improved engagement and effectiveness. It’s a valuable way to increase your numbers and meet your company goals.
