MikeSmith-HR.com : Training

Training

Training is an important organizational function. It has a major impact on the organization's ability to become and stay competitive. It also is the way that employees develop and grow. That is why the availability of training or learning new skills is always one of the top 5 reasons employees give regarding what motivates them. Training is also one of the main reasons why they are likely to stay with their current organization.

When there are performance problems, management often says "they" must need training. However, most of the time (as much as 80% of the time) training is not the problem. It is lack of or ineffective direction, lack of or ineffective feedback, conflicting priorities, a lack of resources, or an imbalance in consequences (wanted behavior is punished or ignored or unwanted behavior is rewarded. The best source for determining whether training is the problem is the book "Analyzing Performance Problems" by Robert Mager and Peter Pipe. It is a classic and should be read by anyone who has to determine whether a performance problem is a lack of knowledge or one of the other causes mentioned above. You can get the book from http://www.amazon.com/ or from The Center for Effective Performance in Atlanta Ga. Their url is http://www.ceppress.com/

For a six year period in my career I was the Training Director for a group of Environmental Engineering companies. Most of the training I developed and conducted was "soft skills" training. These are skills like making effective presentations, time management, negotiations and sales. During this six year period I evaluated the training using follow-up evaluations. This is training evaluation at the third and forth levels. {Most training is evaluated at the first level-Reaction-Did they like it? The second level is Knowledge-Did they learn what was taught? The third level is Application-did they apply what was learned on the job? The forth level is Worth or Value-was the training worth the time and money resources spent on it? What was the ROI?}

During that six year period we sent post-course evaluations to all the participants and asked them if they used what they had learned and what was the monetary value of their application of what they learned (when it was something like a better negotiation or obtaining new sales).
They reported back savings, improvement or new sales of $6,000,000. This was a 470% ROI. Training that is well done CAN make a difference. The following paper was accepted by The Society for Human Resources Management in their White Paper series. It outlines how to evaluate Management (soft skills) training.

Article: Six simple ways to evaluate management training.

Sample: Summary Evaluations: For those that want more details this summary is the results of follow-up evaluations for 12 different courses.

Sample: Training ROI: As I stated in the Evaluation article above, Management training CAN be evaluated. The total costs and returns for training work I did as a one-man Training Department for an engineering company with 2500+ staff in 12+ locations (over a 5 year period) is on the download Training History. If I could achieve a 470% ROI, so can others.

Article: On the job training (OJT) OJT is frequently the "training method of choice" for many organizations. However, OJT vs. formal classroom training is not always the best choice as you will see in this article.

Article: Training (Develop or Buy?) For those who are considering whether to DEVELOP OR BUY TRAINING There is a lot to consider and this article will take you through the decision process.

Article: Trainer InfoPak: This 22 page file contains information useful for new and old trainers. It contains a variety of forms, information and checklists for trainers. Included are Handling Classroom Situations, Feedback for New Trainers on their use of demonstrations in training (for hard skill trainers), Demonstration Problems to Avoid, Types of Questions to Ask, Trainer Listening Self-Assessment, Effective Use of Questions in Class, Question Dos and Don’ts, Trainer Feedback Form, Participant Feedback Form and References.

Training Evaluation: Job Aid: For training course developers the level of knowledge about evaluation varies from person to person. Therefore, I put together a job-aid for evaluation. The first seven pages are some rules of thumb for course developers and subject matter experts who develop training (including a brief treatment of tests). A set of detailed guidelines for course developers to design knowledge based tests follows beginning on page 8, with some sample tests starting on page 22. {{This was written for hard skills course developers. The process is the same for any training course, regardless of content.}}

Article: Myers Briggs explanation: The Myers Briggs Type Indicator is a widely used and quite useful instrument for determining one's own "style" or preferences and predispositions. It is not easy to understand but once understood many people have found that they can understand themselves better and better "tolerate" other's differences. There are many publications available; this is just a brief explanation you can use to decide if you want to learn more about the MBTI.

Article: Pilot Course Evaluation Format: This is an example of a Training Pilot course evaluation. (It was a technical course. You just substitute your own content.)

Too often people will use a common post-course evaluation when they really need different information-because it’s a PILOT! The first part is so you ask the participants whether the training material was new to them or not. If it isn’t, why is there a training course? It also makes it possible to test your assumptions about the level and extent of the participants’ entry level knowledge. The second part asks them about the Utility, Relevance, What should be changed and the Presentation of the course material. That’s what you want to know about a pilot, not just whether they think they learned or liked the experience.

Article: Ten Questions About Training New Managers: A magazine asked me some questions about training and I thought you might find the answers interesting. they are questions like:

What benefits do companies reap from training new managers?
When should new manager training be conducted (right away or three months into the job)?
Who should go through the training? Every new manager or just those who have had no previous management experience (from other jobs)?
Who should conduct the training? HR, an outside vendor, or a combination of both? Why?..........................

Form: Effective Presentation Feedback: When teaching employeees how to deliver effective presentations there are many things the presenter should be concerned about doing effectively. The EOP feedback form is helpful when giving feedback to people learning how to present effectively. It also can be used by them to get specific focused feedback by having listeners give them feedback when they do dry runs of their presentations. To paraphrase something Vince Lombardi once said "It's perfect practice that makes perfect execution".

Article: Guidelines for demonstrating-job aid: How many times have you been shown a software (or piece of equipment) by someone who seems to assume that you already knew what to do and zips through the demonstration. This job aid is for folks who need to make such demonstrations or Managers of people who give demonstrations to show them what is expected, as them help others learn the software.

Article: Role Clarity: This is a short but effective structure for working with a individuals or a group where they are to work together but their roles are not clear and that is interfering with work that needs to be accomplished.

Negotiations Lessons Learned: This is a list of the things former participants in a negotiations course say they learned. They are the types of things you would want your participants to say. They represent how they internalized the course and now think and act differently. If you do not get things like this as a result of your negotiations course-you need to revise the course.