By Brian Winterstein
In yesterday’s Advisor, Brian Winterstein, vice president of human resources for Liberty Tax Service, provided insight into how companies can make training count in an intergenerational workplace. Today Winterstein provides more steps that employers can take toward this goal.
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Explore the Options
Get outside your company and your environment to find out what other HR managers are doing to build effective training programs. Take a good look around and benchmark. Ask what others inside and outside your industry are doing. Be curious. Find out what has worked and why.
You may find new solutions or ideas that will help make your training even more effective. Go back to your needs analysis and see if you may be able to add some of these new options to your training menu.
Make It Scalable
The structured learning environment has its place, but so many companies have become boundary-less so it is critical to have a variety of training tools and learning options. Add to that the challenge of finding training that works across five generations with different learning styles and different competencies. These realities make a scalable training program necessary.
Some employees will want and need to access the full training program; others may find parts of the program suit their needs and their time constraints. When your training is scalable, it is available anytime and anywhere, so the company doesn’t need to stop for the training to be implemented.
Instead, training works in conjunction with the workforce. Scalable training programs also take into account the many different learning styles of employees and offers options to accommodate those different styles. The options could include online training, video training, microlearning sessions, virtual reality training, and more.
Recycle and Refresh
The suggestions above will help you build an effective training program, but to keep your program strong, you will need to evaluate and update it every year. Provide employee surveys, and seek input from stakeholders about the training program so that you can gauge its effectiveness. By analyzing the feedback, you can identify any new or additional needs for your training program.
Effective training programs are not difficult to create, and they don’t have to be costly. They do, however, require two things: a clear company mission and knowledge of what employees need to fulfill that mission. The companies that are successful in creating such programs will be rewarded with retention of their most valued employees who understand their investment in the company and the company’s investment in them.