Have you been tasked with developing an
employee training program? Are you interested in identifying training costs and
the criteria for an effective training program?
Read on as we provide answers to some of the
most common training program questions, including a detailed overview and
useful tips. Whether you’re conducting a training program yourself or simply
learning more about the subject, we hope you find it helpful.
Table
of Contents:
What is a
training program?
A training
program is designed to train employees in the specific skills they need to grow
in their career. These programs are usually over a duration of time and based
on organizational
competencies. Since there are different employment skills needed
throughout a career, the employee development programs will also vary to match
the specific skill sets.
What’s the
purpose of a training program?
The purpose of a training program is to serve
as a guideline for employee development. When employees are empowered to grow
and learn, they are more likely to remain with the employer.
What’s the
difference between training program and workshops, webinars, facilitation and
keynotes?
Workshops, webinars, facilitations and
keynotes are all tools used within a training program. They are sometimes used
as one-off events; usually, they are combined to create a diverse learning
structure over time.
Below are general guidelines of what to expect
for each tool:
- Workshops: half day to multiple days, in
person, interactive, ranging from 20-50 people, with the objective to
interactively learn information
- Facilitations: half day to multiple days, in
person, interactive, ranging from 20-50 people, with the objective to
bring group consensus and decisions amongst the participants
- Keynotes: 45-60 minutes, in person,
minimal interaction, ranging from 50-2000 people, with the objective to
share knowledge (often referred to as ‘Sage on a Stage’)
- Webinars: 60-120 minutes, online (with or
without video), varying interactivity, ranging from 10-1000 people
(depending on the platform), with the objective to interactively teach
information to a remote audience
For example, if you are tasked to create a
coaching employee training program, where all 500 employees know the basics of
coaching and use coaching skills consistently, you could facilitate a half-day
session with the HR team to create alignment with the coaching objectives and
organizational mission. Once that is clarified, a 9-month developmental program
could be devised that included one keynote for all employees to understand the
macro concepts of coaching, followed by 10 workshops for 50 people to learn how
to coach. Follow up webinars would be the next step, to help people reinforce
the skills they learned in the coaching workshops. At the conclusion of the 9
months, all employees would have heard a macro keynote on the topic, been
trained in the workshop and had time to reinforce the lessons learned through a
webinar, creating coaching skills to be used consistently within the
organization.
What is a
management development program and a leadership development program?
Management
development programs (MDP) and leadership development programs (LDP) are
similar to the training program described above. The difference is the
specificity of the audience (management or leadership team) and the identified
topics needed to become an effective manager or leader. In addition, the cohort
stays together throughout the entire time; for example, if an organization has
10 managers, that group of 10 managers will meet together in the workshop or
webinar throughout the entire duration of the program. Finally, MDPs and LDPs
often include a capstone exercise where small groups within the cohort need to
develop a solution to an organizational problem, using the skills they learned.
Watch the video here to
learn more about our Performance Leadership Program.
How do I
determine which topic is best for my organization?
For effective training, we must know what the
employee needs. This need should also be aligned with the organizational vision
and mission, which requires foundational work. And in order to do that work,
competencies must first be established.
Sometimes referred to as ‘KSA’s, competencies
are the things people need to know (knowledge), do (skills) and have
(abilities) to be successful in a specific role. Competencies can be grouped
into technical, foundational and leadership areas. They are defined by specific
behaviors that describe what that competency would look like if someone was
using it effectively. These behaviors are often laid out across a proficiency
scale so the employee can clearly assess her current behaviors and understand
what behaviors are needed for the next level.
Some examples of competencies are
problem-solving, conflict management, technical skills and speaking up. While
some competencies will be applied to every employee, others are role dependent.
The CEO of a large organization likely won’t need to have specific technical
competencies, and a coder on the tech team likely wouldn’t need to be competent
in sales communication.
Once competencies are defined, the next thing
to do is identify five clearly defined proficiency levels. For example, for
problem-solving skills, level one might be, ‘asks questions and looks for
information to identify and differentiate the symptoms and causes of every day,
defined problems’. Level five might be, ‘anticipates problem areas and
associated risk levels with objectivity; uses formal methodologies to forecast
trends and define innovative strategies in response to the implications of
options; and gains approval from senior leadership to solutions of
multi-faceted problems’.
After competencies and proficiency levels are
clearly defined, the next steps are:
- Determine the expected
proficiencies by job position.
- Assess the employee’s
competencies using a standardized process, on a regular basis. Competing
an assessment will help the leader know which competencies to focus on for
future leadership training.
- Aggregate the identified
competencies and assess which ones are best for the cohort in mind.
- Develop a training program based
on those competency topics.
- Track progress using
accountability measures in the leadership development training.
Read in depth
about each step here.
Using this process will prevent your training
program from failing. You’re developing training programs because you are
invested in employee development. If you’re willing to make that investment,
it’s worth doing the foundational work necessary to create effective training
that elevates your employees.
Do I need to hire
an outsider to do the workshop or do I need to train myself?
It depends. Do you have in-house talent and
capacity to complete steps 1-5 above? If you do, then build a plan and
allocate resources to do the work. If you don’t, then an outside vendor may be
what you need to complete the work.
Is training
better in person?
Again, it depends. In person training programs
might be best if the skill being developed needs to be verbally practiced with
other people, such as coaching, giving feedback, or crucial conversations.
However, small group sessions can be just as effective using video technology,
avoiding travel costs.
What’s the ROI of
an employee development program?
Simply put: a better prepared employee is a
more productive employee. According to the Association of Talent Development
(ATD), companies that invest in training employees see a 218% higher income per
employee than companies that don’t.
We know that a manager cannot motivate an
employee to improve; that has come from within the employee. However, managers
can create the learning environment for employees to grow. How? The first step
is to take an inventory of the current staff, using a consistent assessment
tool such as a 360-degree assessment, with an objective lens to collect skills
data. This full assessment will provide two sets of data in one assessment:
strengths and areas to grow. This 360 view lets managers begin to leverage the
strengths in their staff; it also shows the delta between the strengths and
weaknesses, so you can create the best strategy to improve the team.
The next step is to understand how adults
learn. The 70/20/10 model (pronounced – seventy, twenty, ten) for employee
development is one effective tool to leverage the current talents of your staff
and build stronger teams, which increases the organizational bottom line.
What’s the
70/20/10 model?
Before we explain how the 70/20/10 model can
help you develop career goals, let’s look at three types of learning
strategies: pedagogy, andragogy and heutagogy. Pedagogy, known as
“teach-centered”, is typically used where the student learns from one
direction: teacher to student. Andragogy, known as “student-centered”, is when
the student learns from two directions: teacher to student and student to
student. Finally, heutagogy, known as “self-directed”, is how students learn
from multi-directional perspectives: teacher to student, student to teacher,
student to student, inside and outside of the learning environment; with
heutagogy, the student sets goals and expectations, based on their experiences.
The 70/20/10 model includes all three types of learning strategies.
Most of us
immediately think about the costs of going to back to school to learn new
things. The 70/20/10 model shows how you can learn something new, in many
cases, without spending a dime. The model says that the best learning uses
pedagogy, andragogy and heutagogy, where you spend 10% of your time learning
from a teacher, 20% of your time learning through others and 70% of your time
learning experientially. Click here to
learn more about this model.
What should I
expect when asking a vendor to help my organization?
At first, the vendor will likely ask for:
- Multiple conversations with the
organizational point of contact, so the vendor can better understand the
objectives and organizational culture.
- Up to three calls with an
organizational employee or stakeholder, so the vendor can better
understand the objectives and organizational culture.
- A conversation about material
preparation (slide decks, handouts, other supplies)
What are typical
topics a vendor could provide?
We provide keynotes and workshops on these
topics:
Coaching
- Coaching for
Managerial Success
- Career Coaching
- Coaching Skills to Motivate your Team for
Peak Performance
Communication
- Crucial Conversations
- Listening Skills
- Providing Feedback
- Presentation Skills
- Facilitation Skills
Diversity and
Inclusion
- Unconscious Bias and You
- Leading Diversity for Improved
Performance
- Engage Every Age
Human Capital
Management
- Workforce Transformation:
Oversight of Human Capital Strategy
- HR and People Analytics
Leadership
- Influencing without Authority
- Strength-based Leadership
- Leadership Development for
Supervisors
- Organizational Polarity
- Values Based Leadership
- Breaking the Glass Ceiling:
Empowering Women
- Workforce of the Future: Preparing
Leaders for the Workforce of the Future
- Problem Solving: Thinking
Differently to Solve Problems Faster
- Managing Conflict
Other
- Delegation
- Emotional Intelligence: Improve
Your Team’s EI to Improve the Bottom Line
- Energy Management and Stress
Reduction
- Mentoring
- Managing Constant Change
- Prioritization for Success
- Building the Teams of Tomorrow
Today
How far in
advance do I need to plan?
A brand new training program will likely take
1-2 months to develop, including clarifying objectives, identifying the cohort,
developing curriculum, creating the communications and designing each workshop,
webinar and other tools.
In general, training programs work best when
employees are fully present, so August and December are not recommended
training months. Often training programs run from September-June (skipping
December) or January-July. However, be sure to avoid busy times for your
organization such as January-April for tax accountants.
How do I know the vendor can provide what I need?
Training and development programs require
specific skills, including Instructional Systems Design (ISD), so ask about the
vendor’s ISD background.
In addition, ask for client references and be
sure to call those references. Finally, ask for case studies that include
specific measures of success.
How do I measure
success?
The objective of an employee development
program is to develop new skills and behaviors, which can be measured. Some
common metrics include:
- Absence rate
- Cost per hire time to fill
- Turnover costs
- Vacancy rate
- Human capital return on
investment (ROI)
- Training return on investment
(ROI)
How can I learn
more?
Check out our
free summary paper on training and development here. Or contact us here.
Let’s share
experiences. Leave a comment below, send me an email,
or find me on Twitter.
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