Employers are always on a lookout for employees who are both competent and confident. But not all employers are lucky to get a workforce that has both these traits. So how can you build a workforce of such caliber in your organization? The best way is to establish an effective training program.
Importance of an effective training program:
An effective training program is critical for top notch employee performance. A good training program not only educates employees about the companies policies and expectations from them, it also helps in motivating the employees to work better and deliver more.
Tips on establishing an effective training program:
Use Variety:
Use variety to make your training program more effective. You may use many training methods and media to make this happen because the more ways you use to impart information, the more your employees gather and retain what they are learning. You should also remember to vary the style and pace of your training. Remember that though formal training is effective, informal training also helps employees learn more quickly as it fills in many gaps. Some tools for effective training are books, magazines, and on-the-job training (OJT).
Use repetition:
Repetition of training helps employees to remember crucial information for longer durations of time. You can follow up the training with semiannual or annual recertification.
Use Feedback:
Feedback is an important way to reinforce what the employees had learnt in the training. A good way of reinforcement is quizzing. It not only helps in reinforcing knowledge, employee gain more confidence and competence as they pass successive quizzes.
Spread out the program:
You should spread out the training program over a longer time rather than squeezing everything into a short period. People can “burn out” if they get too much training information in a short span of time.
Apply the knowledge instantly:
In order to ensure that the essence of training is not lost, you should try and apply the knowledge right away. When an employee returns from his/her training, assign him/her some work pertaining to that training.
Make it interesting:
Always remember to make the training interesting. If the training material is dry, it slips out of the mind very quickly. In order to make the training interesting, try to make it as interactive as possible.
Use matrix:
Using a matrix will help you to administer your training in an organized way. This will also give all the employees a chance to gauge their progress with their peers. This will have a motivating effect on the trainees.
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