Is Your Training Effective?
July 15, 2016
Officially published in DAWN Advertiser written by Zeeshan Lakhpaty
Is Your Training Effective?
Training is one of the most important HR functions because it plays a significant role in improving employee and organisational performance. Yet, although organisations invest heavily in employee training programmes, they sometime do not get concrete results.
In order to get effective results from training sessions, HR departments should keep the following steps in mind.
1. Identify the organisation’s training needs. Before implementing a training programme, it is imperative to ensure that the training objectives match those of the organisation. This can be achieved by conducting a training needs assessment; this will help determine which areas need to be addressed and which training programmes will be the most beneficial. The assessment can be done through various methods including in-depth discussions with line managers, conducting employee focus groups and surveys, as well as by identifying and/or analysing performance appraisal results, job descriptions and departmental goals.
2. Customise training sessions. Every organisation has challenges, training needs, employees and culture that are different. Therefore, it is important to ensure that the training programme is customised according to the organisation’s requirements. The more the training is customised, the higher the chances are that the organisation will achieve its desired results.
3. Facilitate effectively. It is important to make sure that the trainer facilitates the training programme in the best possible way by encouraging group discussions, conducting role playing sessions, and showcasing case studies and practical tools that can be implemented by participants. This will ensure that the attendees focus on the training session and do not view it as a recreational activity, or simply a day away from the office.
4. Have a post training mechanism. The most common way to evaluate the results of a training session is by compiling the results of the participants’ feedback forms. However, while this is a good way to evaluate a trainer, it does not assess the impact of the training on the employees’ performance. Therefore, it is important to have a post training mechanism in place to gauge the difference in employees’ behaviour, skills and performance after the training programme has been conducted.
– Zeeshan Lakhpaty
The writer is a professional corporate trainer. zeeshan@peopleexcellence.biz
First published in the Careers Section of The DAWN National Weekend Advertiser