Published on Wednesday, Jul 04, 2007
Motorola calculates that for every $1 spent on training, there is a $30 productivity gain within three years!
Well, we are not here to belie the sweeping effects of employee training. In fact, the rapid changes in work demands and markets call for new competencies. These are necessitating ongoing learning. But the million-dollar question is, can just any type of training programme achieve such superlative results?
The answer is ‘No’. Ill-conceived training is simply worthless! Facilitating employee training does get the workforce to the next level of performance efficiency and prepares them for future projects. For this to happen, organisations must first determine the kind of training employees actually need. No wonder, most training programmes fail!
Instead of randomly selecting training plans, companies need to preface their decisions with an exercise in training needs assessment. This entails determining employee and organisational requirements apropos the type and scale of training.
Fine-tuning training plans with these criteria in mind will help the manifold rewards of successful training like increased productivity, motivation, loyalty and retention. As employees constantly seek to develop their careers, such opportunities for skill enhancement will foster lasting loyalty and can serve as a gratifying reward for performance too.
The essentials
Simply put, training needs assessment implies any tool that helps in identifying the educational courses or activities that should be provided to employees to improve their productivity.
Employers can choose from various techniques like:
• Company review – Study relevant literature like company goals and mission statement to understand direction of company growth and change. This will highlight what employees will be expected to do in the future and following from that, the specific areas where they will need training. As noted writer, Denise Ruggieri outlines, “A brief review of the company’s past and where they are headed for the future reveals valuable information for training”.
• Observation – An unobtrusive scrutiny of employees as they perform specific jobs or of their work samples will bring areas needing training to light.
• Discussions with supervisors – People in key positions like supervisors and managers who organise projects for employees and interact with them on a day-today basis are well aware of the true level of staff abilities. Consultations with them in the vein of specific things they would like to see people do, but they don’t/can’t will shed light on respective training needs.
• Talks with employees – Sit down with individual employees and ask frank questions about their struggles, problems, what can make their work easier or the skills they feel they require. Steer clear of confrontational overtones during the face-to-face session, as employees will shy away from revealing their deficiencies. Non-challenging queries like, “What do you think you need to meet the performance standards?” or “Where do you feel the need for new skills to improve productivity?” just might get the suggestions rolling.
However, ascertain that you stick to employees’ needs and not what they ‘want but do not need’! To elicit actual training needs, solicit related experiences and examples that support the expressed opinions.
• Surveys – Organising employee surveys is another non-controversial way to gain input on training needs. A top training provider shares this tip for the questionnaires, “Include some questions using a Likert scale of 1 to 5 and some open-ended questions”.
• Also, ask them to list specific proficiencies that need improvement like interpersonal communication, team building, and conflict resolution. Focus groups too can bring people’s thoughts, feedback and ideas regarding training needs to the fore.
• Performance appraisals – Study the contributions, accomplishments and weaknesses of employees revealed in performance reviews to gain a true picture of staff strengths and learning needs. Examining optimal behaviour (required competencies) vis-À-vis actual behaviour levels will reveal performance needs as well as the gap between staff skills and skills needed for business success.
Select the appropriate tools for assessing training needs from the available options. Then, carefully analyse the collected data to pinpoint actual training needs. Ascertain that training can solve the performance problems. Make sure that organisational issues that require employee counselling, job redesign, organisational change, amending management style or alterations in work environment are not mistaken for training needs.
Accordingly, develop a customised training plan that sets out the requisite type of training (courses, seminars, on-the-job training or job simulation), time lines, budgets and improvement measures. Also, ensure that employees know what learning opportunities are available to them and encourage maximum participation.
Bottom line- provide the ‘right’ type of training and watch your staff transform into an excellent workforce.
Well, we are not here to belie the sweeping effects of employee training. In fact, the rapid changes in work demands and markets call for new competencies. These are necessitating ongoing learning. But the million-dollar question is, can just any type of training programme achieve such superlative results?
The answer is ‘No’. Ill-conceived training is simply worthless! Facilitating employee training does get the workforce to the next level of performance efficiency and prepares them for future projects. For this to happen, organisations must first determine the kind of training employees actually need. No wonder, most training programmes fail!
Instead of randomly selecting training plans, companies need to preface their decisions with an exercise in training needs assessment. This entails determining employee and organisational requirements apropos the type and scale of training.
Fine-tuning training plans with these criteria in mind will help the manifold rewards of successful training like increased productivity, motivation, loyalty and retention. As employees constantly seek to develop their careers, such opportunities for skill enhancement will foster lasting loyalty and can serve as a gratifying reward for performance too.
The essentials
Simply put, training needs assessment implies any tool that helps in identifying the educational courses or activities that should be provided to employees to improve their productivity.
Employers can choose from various techniques like:
• Company review – Study relevant literature like company goals and mission statement to understand direction of company growth and change. This will highlight what employees will be expected to do in the future and following from that, the specific areas where they will need training. As noted writer, Denise Ruggieri outlines, “A brief review of the company’s past and where they are headed for the future reveals valuable information for training”.
• Observation – An unobtrusive scrutiny of employees as they perform specific jobs or of their work samples will bring areas needing training to light.
• Discussions with supervisors – People in key positions like supervisors and managers who organise projects for employees and interact with them on a day-today basis are well aware of the true level of staff abilities. Consultations with them in the vein of specific things they would like to see people do, but they don’t/can’t will shed light on respective training needs.
• Talks with employees – Sit down with individual employees and ask frank questions about their struggles, problems, what can make their work easier or the skills they feel they require. Steer clear of confrontational overtones during the face-to-face session, as employees will shy away from revealing their deficiencies. Non-challenging queries like, “What do you think you need to meet the performance standards?” or “Where do you feel the need for new skills to improve productivity?” just might get the suggestions rolling.
However, ascertain that you stick to employees’ needs and not what they ‘want but do not need’! To elicit actual training needs, solicit related experiences and examples that support the expressed opinions.
• Surveys – Organising employee surveys is another non-controversial way to gain input on training needs. A top training provider shares this tip for the questionnaires, “Include some questions using a Likert scale of 1 to 5 and some open-ended questions”.
• Also, ask them to list specific proficiencies that need improvement like interpersonal communication, team building, and conflict resolution. Focus groups too can bring people’s thoughts, feedback and ideas regarding training needs to the fore.
• Performance appraisals – Study the contributions, accomplishments and weaknesses of employees revealed in performance reviews to gain a true picture of staff strengths and learning needs. Examining optimal behaviour (required competencies) vis-À-vis actual behaviour levels will reveal performance needs as well as the gap between staff skills and skills needed for business success.
Select the appropriate tools for assessing training needs from the available options. Then, carefully analyse the collected data to pinpoint actual training needs. Ascertain that training can solve the performance problems. Make sure that organisational issues that require employee counselling, job redesign, organisational change, amending management style or alterations in work environment are not mistaken for training needs.
Accordingly, develop a customised training plan that sets out the requisite type of training (courses, seminars, on-the-job training or job simulation), time lines, budgets and improvement measures. Also, ensure that employees know what learning opportunities are available to them and encourage maximum participation.
Bottom line- provide the ‘right’ type of training and watch your staff transform into an excellent workforce.
PAYAL CHANANIA
No comments:
Post a Comment