Every leader with a storied career has faced an employee training failure at some point; acclimating new workers to your office environment can be an extraordinarily stressful and difficult task, so the occasional mix-up or error is only to be expected. Nonetheless, good managers know they should always be striving to do better. Still, many are confused from the get go, and don’t know where to begin when it comes to producing a stellar training program.
So, what should determined managers and business owners do to overcome their training jitters, and create a smoothly-running program that gets your employees up and working on their own in no time? By going over some common mistakes to learn what to avoid, and by relying on tried-and-tested methods of success, you can fix your training fails in no time, without breaking the bank in the process.
Setting the foundations for long-term success
Far too often, managers in charge of developing employee-training programs focus too much on the initial experience workers will endure when they join a new office, and fail to help them adjust in the long-term. While it’s obviously crucial that your training program equips your would-be workers with the tools and skills they’ll need to make it through that grueling first week, it’s equally important to consider how you’ll retain these employees and keep them productive in the long run.
One of the greatest challenges of creating a successful training regime is determining how to keep your employees entertained and engaged throughout the entire process. Out of the most common mistakes made by business leaders when it comes to detailing their training program, making things too boring or not interactive enough is one of the most frequent.
To solve this issue, employers should plan their programs around the employees in question, having them ask and answer questions continuously throughout the process, and perhaps even investing in digital tools to enable them to learn at home. If your employees aren’t excited to learn new skills or how to navigate around their new office, you can’t expect them to retain much information, let alone be content and productive workers.
Blending online training, such as that powered through mobile applications or computers, with in-person training is a great way to foster greater levels of engagement and avoid this problem. Pairing your prospective employees with a veteran of your company is another great way to build interpersonal relationships among your staff while also ensuring they’re being exposed to the critical experience they’ll need to thrive in the workplace.
Inspire your teachers as well as your learners
Another vital part of building a successful training program that’s often overlooked is the importance of inspiring those doing the teaching as well as those receiving it. Even the wisest and most patient of managers can quickly grow exacerbated with a training program if they feel they’re not getting the support and materials they need to succeed from company executives. Getting your chief offices and even the business owner involved is a good way to avoid such calamities, and make sure your teachers have what they need to do their jobs. You can see a good example of this in the film industry. Sites like fmovies showcase many film studios that employ this strategy.
You shouldn’t be overly focused on drilling your employee’s over and over with the same information, either. Rather, equipping your employees with the critical thinking skills they need to problem solve on their own as well as learn independently in their off-time is the route that will bring you the most success.
Almost one in four employees don’t trust their managers – a shocking statistic and a wakeup call to managers who feel as if their role in the company hierarchy can be easily shirked. If you don’t hold your trainers up to the highest standards, and support them so that they can foster trust between themselves and their future employees, your program will be doomed from the start. Engaged leaders make for engaged employees, which ultimately helps you develop a happy and productive company.
You should be aware of the different learning styles that will be prevalent in your workforce, too. What works for one employee won’t necessarily work for another; your training program needs to be flexible, capable of rolling with the academic punches as they come and adjusting to the unique demands of every employee.
Whether you’re leveraging digital tools like social media or creating a more friendly and cohesive office environment for them to learn in, your employers will take note of and appreciate earnest, well-funded efforts from management’s end to help them fit into the office. Nobody starts off a new job entirely confident, or completely sure of what demands their new responsibilities will impose on them. By focusing on avoiding the most common errs made by lazy managers, and embracing the digital learning style of the 21st century, however, you can build a motivated workforce capable of propelling you to the top of the marketplace.
