Maximising The Benefit Your Staff Gain From Training

If your company provides in-house training for your staff, how do they look at it? Perhaps it's not a question that's ever crossed your mind; after all, the raison d'etre of a training course is surely to train people, and with that done, what else do you really need to worry about? Get the training done, and move along.

Yes and no. What's the point in training - training that takes time and money - if it's not going to achieve anything? The hungry man will always get more enjoyment from a banquet than the man with no appetite, and anyone who attends a training course will benefit the most if they see a positive experience. On the other hand, should they interpret 'training' as either a waste of time or a lazy afternoon away from their proper duties, your training will not have anything like the desired impact.

By far the most effective means for ensuring that staff take an enthusiastic attitude to their training is to ensure that the course itself is enjoyable and clearly worth doing - so if they have another course, or find themselves talking to a colleague about the training, their positive experiences can be carried over into optimism and a keen interest in the upcoming course. Employees will benefit from the course they go on, and they or future attendees will gain from being more closely engaged with the training. So, how do we go about ensuring that it all comes across as time well spent?

Small classes

No-one is going to feel engaged with a training course if they're crowded into a room with twenty other people. With smaller classes - ten or fewer - it's easier for individuals to feel part of the group, and easier for them to be confident in asking questions and contributing. It all becomes a more personal process, and this can only make the course more comfortable for all concerned.

Discuss, don't lecture

And nor will they feel engaged if the trainer is simply standing at the front of the room, lecturing the group with a prepared lesson. The trainer needs to involve the group, to discuss the issues and encourage questions; given that the company needs its staff to be able to put their training into practice once they return to work, it's essential that any queries or doubts they have be answered. Plus, if they're encouraged to raise these matters, they'll feel that they're really participating in the training course, rather than simply watching it go on before them.

Technology

The look and feel of the training course are important too - and these can be greatly enhanced by utilising the right technology. The points being discussed will be far more effective if the trainer avoids simply reading them out, and instead makes use of software such as Microsoft PowerPoint or Apple Keynote to enliven the details with attractive and appealing slideshows. Similarly, whenever the group needs to be furnished with any written texts, it's best to create stylish documents with desktop publishing software (such as Microsoft Publisher or Adobe InDesign) to ensure that the end results are engaging and enjoyable to read.

Welcome feedback

Of course, there's always room for improvement - and one of the best ways to ensure that the training given by your company is of the very highest standard is to collect feedback from attendees. This will often be in the form of a short questionnaire handed out or emailed after the course, but it's always worth the trainer accumulating feedback during the course. How? Simply by watching the group, looking for signs of attentiveness (leaning forward, focusing on the speaker or presentation) or of boredom (leaning back, yawning, focus wandering around the room); this can help the trainer identify which parts of the course are a success, and which need a little tweaking.

Training can be beneficial for any company, ensuring that skills and knowledge remain up to date and helping your staff to be as productive as possible. It's worth considering a short training course for your trainer him- or herself, so that their own skills are also at their highest, giving you the confidence that the training your company needs is as successful and beneficial as it can be.