Human resources are a company’s greatest assets. Of course, the quality of the product or service is important, however, the quality won’t matter if you don’t have a talented team that works together to deliver high results. Training is crucial for building a highly qualified team, but you don’t want the types of training sessions that’ll bore your team to death. Sitting through one of those is like listening to someone scrape their nails against a blackboard…absolute torture.
It’s no surprise that Karla Gutierrez, in an article published on Shift, states that 74 percent of the 4,300 workers who participated in a study felt that they weren’t achieving their full potential at work. She also states that about 70 percent of employees are more likely to stay with a company if there’re training and development opportunities. Your team members are craving thought-provoking and engaging training opportunities that help them improve their skills. Here’re 3 ways you can create the best employee training.
Do A Needs Assessment
Training shouldn’t be based on what you think the needs are. Needs change over time and it would be foolhardy to think that all employees need the same training. Feedback from department heads and team leaders can help you get a clear picture of the weak areas that need to be strengthened.
It also helps to know all employees’ strengths so that they’re placed in areas where they can thrive. StrengthsFinder is a powerful tool developed by Gallup that provides the most comprehensive assessment of people’s strengths and weaknesses. This information can prove invaluable for grouping employees in the right teams and providing strength specific training opportunities.
Do Training in Context
Assessing needs is the first step in the process. Those needs will guide the content, structure, and participants in the training programs. One of the pitfalls of employee training is that it’s often too general for employees to apply to their work contexts. Any training you plan should keep the context of the workplace at the fore. You’ll lose your trainees if it’s too abstract.
Use Technology and Gamification
Appealing to the needs and interests of learners is a pivotal aspect of effective training. We too often forget that people are diverse; one mode of delivery won’t work for everyone. You must appeal to the visual, kinesthetic, auditory and verbal learners.
Technology provides one solution. For instance, you can create online courses that have a mixture of videos, games, interactive quizzes, and resource material. Participants can complete the course in their own time since it’ll be available to them wherever they have internet access. Seeing a variety of instructional media also helps keep them more engaged.
Gamification is an application of technology in education that’s also useful. Simply put, gamification is the application of game elements to encourage engagement. Think about those educational games you’ve seen children play on heir tablets. They earn points and level up when they correctly answer questions. Well-developed games will keep them hooked for hours as they try to compete and make it to the highest level.
Creating course-specific games for your training sessions will be a welcomed surprise. Points earned could even be tied to incentives such as gift cards. The aim is to get your employees to be excited about learning and have a better chance of retaining the information.
These 3 strategies can help you create workplace training sessions that work. Also, remember to be consistent with these sessions and ensure that they’re truly meeting the needs of the organization. Otherwise, it’ll be a wasted effort.
