Studies show that companies spent an average of $1,075 per learner in 2017 in employee training. This is up from $814 per learner in 2016, showing an increase in businesses investing in initial and ongoing training. Depending on the size of your workforce, this can be a substantial overall figure. It’s essential that you make every effort to get the most out of each dollar allocated to your employee training budget.
Your staff has uncommon challenges and individual aspects to consider when planning employee education. Your company has unique needs, a distinctive culture, and perhaps even a rare industry or niche. There really is no one-size-fits-all approach that will allow you to meet your organization’s business or training goals.
Creating a custom training program is the best way to ensure that your team receives the most relevant information targeted to their needs. Delivering engaging, understandable content is vital to effective training. Determining the best way to combine and implement these components will ensure you get the best ROI from your custom training program.
Understand Needs
Start by thinking of who you’re training, what they need to learn, and why. Next, identify essential training requirements for specific employees like new hires, teams embarking on a project, or a department that will soon start using a different tool or process. Get clarity on the information staff members need by involving department managers and other leaders in training. You’ll also want to evaluate employees during the on-boarding process and during day-to-day operations.
To track progress, develop learning objectives based on the data you collect. Begin with a general overview of the content you want to provide and fine tune your plan to specify a detailed course or series that will enable employees to retain their training. From there, you can create development plans for departments and individual roles centered around this plan.
Prepare Employees for Training
Before going forward with implementation, make sure that you promote the training program to management at all levels. According to recent data, when a team’s manager is wholeheartedly engaged and excited, employee engagement increases by 23% on average. Encouraging supervisors to become involved and lead by example can result in significant gains.
The most effective way to stimulate managerial staff is by presenting them with the data that shows the benefits of ongoing training. Offer statistics on things like typical rates of advancement, salary increases, and job security. Discuss the outline and agenda planned for the training program and be sure to list clear expectations.
Work with managers to provide this information to their teams in smaller groups. This will enable them to give their team more thorough details, address any concerns, and answer individual questions. Ask them to distribute pre-training activities. Encourage them to ask questions and request opinions to collect qualitative data.
Prepare for Implementation
When all your planning and groundwork is done, you can begin to make arrangements for putting your custom training program into practice. Determine the best space for custom training. If possible, allocate a space just for job-related education. When employees meet in a designated training room, they will better understand the importance of the program. It indicates that the company values employee training, as well.
Next, choose the best platform for your team’s needs and their learning styles. Kinesthetic learners absorb knowledge through practice and direct experience. Auditory learners best acquire information when it is presented verbally. Finally, research shows that 65% of the population is made up of visual learners, who digest information most easily when it is presented in the form of images, such as diagrams or videos. A platform that delivers content in multiple methods ensures that your workforce will understand and retain the information they need to perform their respective jobs at the highest level.
It’s a good idea to determine the best days and times to train the staff. While your training schedule will involve many factors, keep in mind that experts say learning is generally most effective between 10:00 am to 2:00 p.m. and then again from 4:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m., with the lowest learning abilities typically occurring between 4:00 a.m. and 7:00 a.m.
Also, be sure to plan for unforeseen issues. It’s impossible to predict every interruption or obstacle. Factoring in make-up days and alternative options is a prudent course of action.
Deliver Training
It’s finally time to present your training program to employees. Be sure to present clearly and confidently, even as you’re familiarizing your team with your new Learning Management System.
Breaks are essential, so be sure to time them wisely and manage them effectively. Facilitate discussions throughout the training sessions. Plan time to open the floor to questions or, if employees are participating in self-directed learning, let them know they can approach you with questions.
Be sure to follow up with evaluations or questionnaires. Focus on tracking predetermined metrics, cultivating a culture of learning, and improving upon your current package. In a best-case scenario, the learning platform you use will provide the tools to simplify this process.
Putting It All Together
Choosing the right Learning Management System will give you the ability to create custom training eCourses. Instead of wasting energy on exhaustive preparation and integration, you can focus on ensuring your team receives the custom content they need.
WestNet believes that tracking employee training and certifications shouldn’t be hard work.
WestNet Learning is an all-in-one LMS solution to easily train employees, increase employee productivity, and address safety needs. Customizable eCourse builders, analytics, reporting, certification, and re-certification tracking will help you manage staff training and stay on top of what matters most. Unlike other systems, WestNet Learning integrates easily with most current platforms, streamlining on-boarding and decreasing the wait time between planning your course and training your employees.
To learn more about how to engage and train your employees to increase your training course completion rates, feel free to schedule a 1-on-1 strategy session now!
