Organized activity that delivers information and/or instructions to improve the recipient's performance or to help him acquire a required level of knowledge or skill
Training is an educational process. People can learn new information, re-learn and reinforce existing knowledge and skills, and most importantly have time to think and consider what new options can help them improve their effectiveness at work.
WHAT IS TRAINING FOR?
The goal of training is to create an impact that lasts beyond the end time of the training itself. The focus is on creating specific action steps and commitments that will help people introduce new skills at work.
Top Reasons to Train your Employees
1. Increase productivity
If staff are aware of what they’re doing and are properly trained, the company’s productivity will increase with better quality service and more efficient staff.
2. Reduce employee turnover
Investing in your employees will make them feel that you are interested in developing their skills and they may stay with the company longer.
3. Increase ability to incorporate new technologies
Keeping up to date with technology is a constant battle. Ensuring that your employees are current with technology will not only enable them to do their job better but also make sure that your company is at the forefront when it comes to the competition.
4. Increase safety to decrease work-related injury/illness
This protects not only the employee, but also the employer when it comes to possible corporate manslaughter charges.
5. Help employees meet new responsibilities
Training for newly promoted employees is beneficial to both the company and the employee in terms of productivity, effectiveness and efficiency.
6. Increase job satisfaction, morale and motivation among employees
A happy workforce is a productive workforce. Training increases the well-being of employees and reduces absenteeism, mistakes and stress in the workplace
7. Enhance company image, e.g. conducting diversity training
PR is increasingly important in the corporate world. Gaining an accreditation such as IIP (Investors In People) can be prestigious in terms of promoting the company and ensuring that people would like to work for, and with the organization.
8. Enhance risk management, e.g., training about sexual harassment, diversity training
Training in essential areas will reduce the risks associated with employing people and potential legal claims afterwards.
Cognitive methods provide verbal or written information, demonstrate relationships among concepts, or provide the rules for how to do something. These stimulate learning through their impact on cognitive processes and are associated most closely with changes in knowledge and attitudes. These types of methods can also be called as off-the-job training methods.
Behavioral Methods allows trainee to practice behavior in real or stimulates fashion. They stimulate learning through behavior and are best for skill development and attitude change as on-the-job training methods.
How to make training effective?
1. Allocate major resources and adequate time to training.
2. Ensure that the training contributes to the strategy of the firm.
3. Ensure a systematic and comprehensive approach.
4. Make learning fundamental to company's development.
5. Create a system( questionary ) to evaluate the effectiveness of the training.
6. Ensure that specific needs of proper training like organizational, operational are provided.
On-the-job is a particularly good way of developing technical skills. During on-the-job training, a colleague or supervisor guides the employee through tasks and processes so that the employee knows how to perform the task.
• apprenticeship - the system of apprenticeship first developed in the later Middle Ages and came to be supervised by craft guilds and town governments. Apprenticeship is a training a new generation of practitioners of a structured competency based set of skills. Apprenticeships ranged from craft occupations or trades to those seeking a professional license to practice in a regulated profession.
• job rotation –Job rotation is a management technique that assigns trainees to various jobs and departments over a period of a few years. Surveys show that an increasing number of companies are using job rotation to train employees. There are both positive and negative effects involved with job rotation that need to be taken into consideration when a company makes the decision to use this technique.
• coaching – an approach to management that promotes learning and development oppourtunities in the workplace which lead to improved performance and increased employee capability and confidence.
• mentoring - is to support and encourage people to manage their own learning in order that they may maximise their potential, develop their skills, improve their performance and become the person they want to be. It helps in identifying weaknesses and focus on the areas that needs improvement
Off-the-job trainings include more general skills and knowledge useful for work, as well as job-specific training. Off-the-job training is particularly effective for non-technical skills, as employees can use these across different areas of the company.
• lecture - It is one of the oldest methods of training. This method is used to create understanding of a topic or to influence behavior and attitudes through lecture. A lecture can be in printed or oral form. Lecture is given to enhance the knowledge of listener or to give him the theoretical aspect of a topic.
• vestibule training - This training method attempt to duplicate on-the-job-situation in a company classroom. It kind of training is often imported with the help of the equipment and machines, which are identical with those in use in the place of work. This technique enables the trainees to concentrate on learning new skill rather than on performing on actual job. Examples of vestibule training include airlines that use simulators to train pilots and cabin attendants.
• case study – it is the study of a person, a small group, a single situation, or a specific ‘case’. It involves extensive research, including documented evidence of a particular issue or situation and the conclusion reached following the study. A case study may show a correlation between two factors, whether or not a causal relationship can also be proven.
• role playing – in a role-play exercise, trainees get to play or act various roles. Example: a manager might play a role of an employee to understand how such worker feel in a company, to find out more about working relations and morale among staff. A role play may be also design to simulate a typical situation the trainee will face in the work place, because such kind of training mainly helps to develop communication skills.
• computer-based training – in short CBT (Computer-Based Training), IBT (Internet-Based Training) or WBT (Web-Based Training) have been used as synonyms to e-learning. E-learning includes all forms of electronically supported learning and teaching techniques. Content is delivered via the Internet, audio or video tape. It can be self-paced or instructor-led and includes media in the form of text, image, animation and so on.
TYPES OF TRAINING FOR MANAGERS
Executive talent is the most important asset which a company can possess. Here are few training methods for managers.
Observation Assignment
Under this method, the newly recruited executive called "understudy" is made an assistant to the current job holder. He learns by experience, observation and imitation. If decisions are discussed with him, he is informed on the policies and theories involved.
Serving on Committees While serving on a committee, the executive comes to learn not only the various organizational problems, views of senior and experienced members, but also learns how a manger should adjust himself to the overall needs of the enterprise.
Assignment of special Projects
Sometimes, as a method of training some special project is assigned to a trainee executive. While working on such project, the trainee not only acquires knowledge about project's subject, but also learns how to work with and relate to other people holding different views – that can be challenging.
Conference and Seminars
Often an executive is deputed to attend a conference, seminar or workshop to receive a quick orientation in various areas of Management with which he might be unfamiliar. One advantage of this type of training is that all the participants coming from different organizations get an opportunity to pool their ideas and experience in attempting to solve mutual problems.
Incident Method
This method was developed as an outgrowth of dissatisfaction felt with the case method. In the usual case method the entire problem is presented to the students, whereas in the incident method only a brief incident is presented to provoke discussion in the class. The group then puts questions to the instructor to draw out of him the salient facts and additional information, needed to arrive at a reasonable solution or resolution of the case. This method draws the participants into discussion with greater emotional involvement.
Laboratory Training (or Sensitivity Training) (T group Training)
This type of training is designed to increase the managers understanding of himself and of his own impact on others. The training takes the form of a group discussion. During the discussion, conflict, hostility, stress and frustration may be purposely generated for they later on become motivations for growth.
Position Rotation
Case Study
Role Playing
Brian Tracy is Chairman and CEO of Brian Tracy International, a company specializing in the training and development of individuals and organizations. His main goal is to help people achieve their personal and business goals they have ever dreamt about. Brian Tracy has consulted for more than 1,000 companies and addressed more than 5,000,000 people in 5,000 talks and seminars throughout the US, Canada and 55 other countries worldwide. As a Keynote speaker and seminar leader, he addresses more than 250,000 people each year. He has studied, researched, written and spoken for 30 years in the fields of economics, history, business, philosophy and psychology. He is the top selling author of over 45 books that have been translated into dozens of languages. He has written and produced more than 300 audio and video learning programs, including the worldwide, best-selling Psychology of Achievement, which has been translated into more than 20 languages.