How to Build a Strong Training and Development Program
As more companies face a talent crunch, learning and development programs are being revisited as a tool for retention. A report from the Society for Human Resource Management says 39 percent of companies reported an increase in training program budgets over the past year, while half said they would stay the same. The importance is especially high for younger employees: Gallup found that 87 percent of millennials say professional development or growth opportunities are very important.
Employees want training, and they want their employers to give it to them. Learning and development programs don’t just give your employees valuable skills and experiences; they help with retention efforts as well. And employees see development as a valuable benefit, so putting together a strong training and development program is a great way to attract and retain employees while ensuring they have the skills your organization needs.
"Today’s organizational reality is that just being competent is no longer good enough, so it is imperative that organizations have an effective and vibrant L&D program,” says management consultant David Kopp. “It not only ensures that the workforce is ‘expertise-seeking,’ but also drives succession planning too.”
Here’s how to build an effective L&D program at your organization.
Build Buy-In Early
Before you begin developing an L&D program, you need to set the stage for success. You’ll need support from company leaders and other stakeholders who believe in development and commit to providing resources to make it a success. “To build a strong L&D program, it has to come from the top,” says Suzanne Casamento, an instructional designer and training consultant. This means working with leaders to identify pain points, review possible curricula or trainers, and determine goals.
Beyond a well-educated workforce and retention factors, there are a couple of other ways to make the case to company leaders for increased training, says Nanette Miner, an employee training program consultant. There’s less panic and scramble when priorities shift in an organization, she says. “For example, many organizations have crunches at quarter-end or year-end, and a cross-trained organization can simply ask people to assist where they are needed instead of having people who only know how to do one job,” she says.
In addition, training can give people exposure to other parts of the organization, which helps to alleviate boredom, she says. She gives the example of an employee she knew who volunteered to travel and train people at offices associated with his company. “He didn’t get any extra pay, but he did get out of his ‘regular’ job about six times a year,” she says. “Training gives them the ability to see other opportunities for themselves, which often ensures retention, rather than someone who is bored or feels they are not growing their capabilities looking outside the organization for other opportunities.“
Working with top leaders helps ensure that your L&D program reflects the mission, vision and culture of your organization as well. Making the program a good fit for your organization will help it be a success. “An organization must ensure that its training and development program is tethered to the mission and vision of the organization,” Kopp says. “If not, even the best training and development programs will die on the vine.”
Educate for Knowledge, Not Tasks
To determine exactly what your L&D program should address, experts recommend performing a gap analysis to see what people know, determine what they need to know and identify how best to get them that information. Look at what the organization needs to grow, succeed, be profitable and beat the competition, Miner says. “The biggest mistake I think companies make when it comes to training is they focus it on the individual and a task.”
For example, if you work in accounting, you'll be further trained and skilled in accounting topics. But that limits where people can go and how much they can benefit your organization, Miner says. “We almost never let people out of their sphere. Instead, we have all these skilled and knowledgeable people in orbiting circles like planets. They might all keep their planets healthy, but the overall health of the universe, the organization, can suffer.” If the organization’s goals are to improve operationally, a person with good financial knowledge may be able to benefit operations, she says.
Miner recommends looking at a role or department, and rather than looking for ways to increase the competencies of the people in the department, instead asking “what competencies are needed by the organization, for our future?” Topics such as ethics, creativity, financial acumen and competitive analysis are the kinds of things that help an organization sustain itself and grow, but rarely are these things taught to everyone, Miner says. “Instead, financial acumen is reserved for people in the finance department, competitive analysis is reserved for salespeople and ethics is only taught after there has been a crisis. Make everyone smarter and the organization as a whole can only benefit.”
Engage Your Audience
Many of us have sat through a slideshow and followed along on a printout of the same slides, all under the guise of “training”; that approach is rarely effective. Learning and development need to be interesting and engaging, expert says. And because different people learn in different ways, organizations will need a robust learning management system to get everyone onboard.
Identifying individual learning styles might take a little trial-and-error. “Employers can offer the same topic in different mediums and see which types employees are most attracted to,” Casamento says. “For example, a company could create a course, ‘How to Establish Relationships With Buyers,’ and offer it in a classroom setting, e-learning and on a podcast.” Then, measure who completes the course in which medium and build subsequent courses according to employee preference. Employers can also create quizzes with scenario-based questions that evaluate whether employees are active, verbal, visual or sensory learners, Casamento says. She recommends an LMS that gave learners the ability to upload videos, links and discussion questions, along with access to training modules, e-learning and micro-learning to promote interaction.
Check in with your people to find out what they really need and how they want to receive it, says Quinn Haslinger, senior learning designer at Root, a management consultant company. “As you build your curriculum, make it varied to keep it interesting, offer specific trainings for specific groups, and leverage managers, as they can be the best ambassadors in motivating and inspiring your people.” Bite-sized pieces are always grasped and integrated more quickly than long stretches of information, and repetition helps solidify the knowledge.
Incentives or gamification can help boost participation as well, Casamento says. “Every time a learner logs on, they earn points for participating in discussions, rating user contributions, completing modules and passing certification tests. The point system fuels their competitive side and learning increases as a result.”
Sustain the Program
Once people acquire new knowledge, how long do they hold on to it? Unfortunately, in some cases, they forget it as soon as the class is over. “The bane of employee training and development is the forgetting curve: the rate info is lost when there’s no attempt to retain it. It’s steep,” says Joe Britto, interactive management consultant at Innate Leaders, a management consultancy. “The goal of any development program is long-term sustainable change, and that’s a big ask for skills-based training, regardless of resources.”
To avoid losing the knowledge your employees just gained, Britto says keeping information relevant and useful is key. “L&D programs that focus on skills have a hard row to hoe in terms of information sticking,” he says. “Unless the participant finds the information key or relevant to them, the likelihood is we’re fighting against the forgetting curve.”
Setting the stage properly can make a difference too. “Before kick-starting your curriculum, properly introduce it to your people,” Haslinger says. “By setting the experience up as a journey — not a series of one-off trainings — your people will feel informed and confident about how the program fits into their day, and how they are connected to organizational success,” she says.
In some cases, Britto says, making the information stick may be a less useful goal than helping a mindset stick. “Instilling leadership mindsets gives participants the skill to develop their own tools,” he says. “And because they’ve had a hand in the tool’s development, it’ll be more relevant to them, they’ll be more likely to use it and the tool is more likely to be effective.”
Conclusion
Employee learning and development represents a huge opportunity for employers. The benefits are numerous: A better-educated workforce, increased attraction and retention, and boosted engagement. It may take time and effort to put together a strong learning and development program that upholds your business strategy, but employees are looking for opportunities, and the opportunities L&D provides will help them and your organization build a bright future.
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