Corporate training is a lot more than anything simple. A trainer while training and organisation while arranging a corporate training program must ensure that all the employees get ample benefits from this training.
The most important thing is that the corporate training should be very well planned. The paperwork is very important. Sometimes the organisation even hires famous trainers to have few sessions with their employee. This could, however, be very expensive. So, companies need to plan properly.
Corporate training is an artistic way to train the employees and teach them how to be fruitful for the company as quickly as possible. Listed in this article are the main requirements of a good training program. The focus will be on 10 characteristics of the top employee training programs.
Characteristics of Great Employee Training Programs
1. Need-Based Program
One of the most important requirements of the top employee training programs is that it should be need-based or specific.
Thus a properly planned and well customised training programs is a must for successful. Look at the following in order to curate need based corporate training programs.
- Personalise training programmed based on job description
- Know the strengths and weaknesses of the employee
- Align the training in accordance to the requirements of the team
- Mix group vs individual learning
- Take inputs from employees for the training support they need
Employees must be specifically trained according to the needs of the job. The extra training is a waste of time and resources for the employees as well as the company. Thus, to finish the training quickly and effectively the trainer needs to design a need-based program.
2. Align The training with Company Values
The program should align with company values. The employee needs to learn that how this training program is related to the company and its values.
This type of training helps in creating an inclusive work culture. Managing work culture for a productive work environment is crucial in driving employee engagement. One of the TEDX talks explains this importance in an excellent way. You can listed to the talk in the video given below.
The more the employees understand the culture of the company based on a training session, the more he/she will learn about the method to grow quickly in the organisation. Therefore, the training must align with the company values.
3. Feedback and Assessment
Feedback and assessment are very important factors of top training programs for employees.
The training program should be organised in such a way that at the end of the session the trainer and the company must be able to assess the situation related to the level of improvement in the employees. This is called the assessment matrix by many.
The assessment matrix output based on all the employees that were part of the training reveals the improvement level of the employee. Assessment also helps companies evaluate what employees can bring to the table in the shorter and the longer term.
Feedback is another important characteristic of a top employee training program. It helps the program improve using the inputs from the participants and thus is crucial.
4. Adaptability
The skills are becoming better and better day by day. The methods and approaches are improving. Now there are multiple tools to solve one issue or to finish the job quickly.
The training must be capable of introducing the new tools and techniques for the employees.
This is important because many organisations that were once leading organisations couldn’t survive due to a lack of adaptability with time. Therefore, to keep the organisation in the best shape the training should be adaptable.
Remember “Survival of the Fittest” rule applies to organisations of today more than ever.
5. Entertaining and Engaging
Normally training sessions keep running for a few hours and at times are full day or even multiple days in length. If they are boring and disengaging, it would mean a lack of connection with the employees.
This will lead to unsuccessful training without much benefit to the company. It is thus very important that a trainer must have a good sense of humour. The person should be able to crack a joke to keep the interest of the employees as well as keep asking the question during the session randomly so that everyone remains involved.
6. It should include Project Management
The backbone of the corporate training program is called project management. Thus, all employee trainings must include project management. This teaches an employee how to manage various projects for the company based on the needs and goals.
The right employee at right time for the right work is the key point in learning project management. Without project management corporate training at times can be likened to a toothless tiger that’s not worth the whole investment.
7. Creativity
The whole purpose of these training is to improve productivity of the employees. Creative acumen is not only a trait by birth as has been proved now. A lot of companies use multiple ways to promote innovation and creativity within their organisation.
The training must enable the employees to use their creative ways to finish their job. This can be achieved by showing different examples of people from the past who did wonders with their creative thinking.
There are multiple tools to enhance creativity within organisation. However, all employee training programs must not rely on copybook activities enhancing creativity. Remember, creativity must start with preparing the training program and should be integrated thoroughly within the whole exercise.
8. Immediately Relevant
It is just like the need-based, however with a key difference. The effectiveness of employee trainings can be judges more by short terms success. Thus, these programs must start showing some results immediately.
The term ‘immediately relevant’ in the context of training means that the skills that are part of the training must be related to the work that employees can implement immediately.
This is so important if the training focus is on some need-based skill that will be required after a few months, then the employee may not be able to apply it very quickly. However, if the training includes the immediately relevant skills the employee will implement them quickly and get used to them over time for peak performance.
9. Focus on Communication and connection Skills
The training program must be able to give the employee the confidence to never stop trying. This is most relevant for people who are related to Sales and Marketing, customer facing roles, hospitality industry job roles, key account management and more.
How you communicate with the client is crucial to problem solving and sales. The whole process starts with the right connection with the prospective client.
The employee must know that he should not get disheartened if he cannot resolve some issue. Thus, the training must teach how to communicate inside and outside the organisation in both verbal and written ways. Better communication is a step forward towards success.
10. A Good Trainer is a prerequisite
Last but not the least, a good training program for employees is only as good as the trainer himself/herself.
A good trainer with a skill of teaching both technical and soft skills while keeping the interest of the employees is very important.
The organisation must be able to provide its employees with a good trainer for better results. An average trainer may not be able to do justice to even best curated training programs.
CONCLUSION
A top employee training program should always be need-based, must be creative, engaging and should include project management. The program should be able to keep the interest of employees during training and it must include a very good trainer to teach both technical and soft skills.
Here you go, 10 key characteristics of an excellent training program. All organisations have their own targets, needs and employee pool. It is thus crucial for these ups killing camps and learning programs to be designed based on the needs and goals of the organisation while taking employees into the feedback mechanism.
