Business training whether it be, for process improvement or technical applications, comes brought to you by adult learners right? Sure, so understanding how the adult learns will improve your current business training programs makes sense. First let’s take a look at the senses that are used or what I refer to as "the basics of adult learning theories":
• Human senses: adult learners receive input that is interesting (key here is interesting - use of war stories as example. or fun - study games & group activities as example). Most information during the sensory phase does not reach short-term memory but the information is there and can be acted upon if necessary.
• Short - term Memory: information that can be retained for up to 20 seconds or more if rehearsed repeatedly. It can hold up to seven items of information effectively but the capacity can increase if material is gathered into meaningful parts. As an example, most training manuals or materials should be broken up in sections and thoroughly engaged before moving onto the next item. Also using visual aids to maximize the capacity of information items.
• Long - term Memory: this is the information stored for long-term use. It has an unlimited capacity for information items. Some information can get there by being forced (rigorous repetition). However, the most productive way is by linking old and new information for successful retention. Example in this case would be: each training course should build upon the prior course and the information overlays from one course to another. To this end we affect long-term memory in a positive way by repetition and processing old/new information.
• Audio + Visual + Interactive (combination senses): this is implemented at every stage in the classroom model. Learning can be facilitated by either memory sense on its own merit. However when combined these memory senses with multi-media you can get a more stimulating and engaging program.
Key Training Tools you might want to consider in addition to your classroom and OJT:
• WBT - E-learning can be a very valuable tool that can save you expense in the long run. It gives your business the ability to reach learners across multi states or globally, at a fraction of the cost in lost productivity, expense with travel, equipment, and entertainment. It can be an exceptional tool to aid in new process training, new program rollouts, and a general reference guide. You can intertwine clasroom training and online training as well as hosted video seminars to develop a blended learning approach. With today's simple to use authoring tools, any old classroom instructor/trainer can turn into a flash programmer without having to learn complicated coding. So what are some key areas to implement web-based training? Here are just a few examples of where e-learning can be implemented with less expense than traditional classroom training:
• Process change
• New Product launch
• Safety Training
• Soft Skills Training
• Anything and everything that can be put onto a slide presentation
Other Business Training functions that pack a powerful punch:
• Leader team building ventures - could be done in local areas and budgeted per quarter, annually, etc... (Good for any internal departments). This is leadership development at its finest (author’s opinion).
• Hosted Learning Management System - to evaluate progress and work in conjunction with HR records. This system facilitates and identifies talent for succession planning and strengthening A-player employees. Training management solutions are very functional and easy to implement quickly.
Friday, August 31, 2007
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Web 2.0 And E-Learning - What Do They Mean To Me Or My Business?
Does e-learning and web 2.0 sound complicated or hard to really picture if you are not familiar with the terms? Sure they sound complicated if you are new to the lingo, but get used to them because they are going to be around for a while! The reason the business world needs to get use to these two terms is because of the popularity and ranking of each. I challenge you to “google” both and see how many results come back.
Today’s high school and college graduates as well as the pace of technology are moving extremely fast. Most twenty something's are entering the workforce expecting to have online training and hosted software at their fingertips. Why? Well, because they use these tools to study with, to research with, to socialize with and they are a part of their everyday lives. So what do they really mean to business?
Lets look at what “wikipedia” has to say:E-learning: is a general term used to refer to computer-enhanced learning. It is used interchangeable in so many contexts that it’s critical to be clear what one means when one speaks of “eLearning”. In many respects, it’s commonly associated with the field of advanced learning technology, which deals with both the technologies and associated methodologies in learning using networked and/or multimedia technologies.
Web 2.0: Is a phrase coined by O’Reilly Media in 2003 (and later popularized by the first Web 2.0 conference in 2004) in reference to a perceived second generation of web-based communities and hosted services – such as social networking sites, wikis, and folksonomies – which facilitate collaboration and sharing between users. O’Reilly Media titled a series of conferences around the phrase, and it has since become widely adopted.
Although web 2.0 is a newer “coined” phrase hosted software is not all that new but both e-learning and web 2.0 are growing at an incredibly rapid pace. Research suggests that the growth rate of hosted online learning trends, are on average 25% a year. This indicates that businesses (small to large) need to really do their due diligence with respect to how popular integrating a web 2.0 training strategy is and how their newer ranks “expect” it as part of an organizations training program. Not only do your younger employees expect it, so do your younger consumers!
The twenty something generation “expect” web 2.0 training at their jobs because they use social media tools that are hosted everyday and so do those customers. The new and future customers “expect” to see a product demonstration online before they buy. The new and future customers “expect” to go online and see and hear a step-by-step guide on how to build their 2 year old's new play kitchen (believe me I could have used that last Christmas!). So you see how web 2.0 (fancy catch phrase for hosted online solutions) and e-learning (web-based training) are the way of our future employee training and customer service? If this makes no sense to business owners and executives out there please let me know how you intend to retain an aging staff and customer while still bringing in a return for those aging salaries, benefits and old customer service programs.
Today’s high school and college graduates as well as the pace of technology are moving extremely fast. Most twenty something's are entering the workforce expecting to have online training and hosted software at their fingertips. Why? Well, because they use these tools to study with, to research with, to socialize with and they are a part of their everyday lives. So what do they really mean to business?
Lets look at what “wikipedia” has to say:E-learning: is a general term used to refer to computer-enhanced learning. It is used interchangeable in so many contexts that it’s critical to be clear what one means when one speaks of “eLearning”. In many respects, it’s commonly associated with the field of advanced learning technology, which deals with both the technologies and associated methodologies in learning using networked and/or multimedia technologies.
Web 2.0: Is a phrase coined by O’Reilly Media in 2003 (and later popularized by the first Web 2.0 conference in 2004) in reference to a perceived second generation of web-based communities and hosted services – such as social networking sites, wikis, and folksonomies – which facilitate collaboration and sharing between users. O’Reilly Media titled a series of conferences around the phrase, and it has since become widely adopted.
Although web 2.0 is a newer “coined” phrase hosted software is not all that new but both e-learning and web 2.0 are growing at an incredibly rapid pace. Research suggests that the growth rate of hosted online learning trends, are on average 25% a year. This indicates that businesses (small to large) need to really do their due diligence with respect to how popular integrating a web 2.0 training strategy is and how their newer ranks “expect” it as part of an organizations training program. Not only do your younger employees expect it, so do your younger consumers!
The twenty something generation “expect” web 2.0 training at their jobs because they use social media tools that are hosted everyday and so do those customers. The new and future customers “expect” to see a product demonstration online before they buy. The new and future customers “expect” to go online and see and hear a step-by-step guide on how to build their 2 year old's new play kitchen (believe me I could have used that last Christmas!). So you see how web 2.0 (fancy catch phrase for hosted online solutions) and e-learning (web-based training) are the way of our future employee training and customer service? If this makes no sense to business owners and executives out there please let me know how you intend to retain an aging staff and customer while still bringing in a return for those aging salaries, benefits and old customer service programs.
Coaching to Lead in Corporate America
So what is the definition of a coach? Well some leadership books or guru's define something like; "To train or tutor or to act as a trainer or tutor". That seems like a reasonable definition and certainly works to make some people's point. I like to define it a little more in detail though; "A leader who influences and trains others by providing interaction and sharing experience, knowledge and skills of their own".
Why is it so important to enhance our coaching skills in the leadership ranks of business? The easiest way to answer that is to ask a question: “How often do we counsel, conduct performance reviews and measure results of our staff members”? You most probably answered “often” or “on a regular basis” or something along those lines I’m sure. There is a difference between these activities and coaching. Although coaching is related, it differs in that it is the day-to-day hands-on process of helping employees recognize their opportunities to improve their performance and their capabilities.
This is a topic we could go all day discussing and use a tremendous amount of examples like in the sports industry. For the purposes of getting right to the point we’ll just discuss a few key skills of an effective coach. Interpersonal communication skills and Teaching are two of the most effective skills and are effective ways of interacting and coaching others. Interpersonal communication is plain old interaction with folks (and I’m not talking about cursing and screaming at your employee because they did it wrong like a high school football coach – although some teenagers might need that from time to time as it builds character) and effectively communicating verbally, with your body language and with your tone of voice. Research shows that body language is approximately 55% of all human communication, tone or voice inflection reflects 38%, and the words you actually use represent 7% of communication.
Have you ever asked someone “how are you today” and they answered “great, thanks for asking”, but you knew right away that they were one “how are you today” away from flying off the handle because their face was so clenched that they answered you through their teeth? Or maybe you were on the phone with someone and you asked the same question and they replied with the same words, but you could tell that they were so tired that they would probably fall asleep during your call because they said it so lazily and softly then the big “YAWN”? What about the email you read from your employee and immediately jumped up and walked over to ask “what the heck’s wrong with you?” only to see that they were in a great mood but very busy and didn’t have time for smiley faces or eloquent words?
Observing body language, paying attention to tone of voice and reading or actively listening to the words can effectively enhance your interpersonal communication skills between you and your employees, co-workers, superiors and most importantly your customers. Don’t read into things and react before you realize!
Teaching is an art that can be learned. Why is teaching an everyday must? Well think about an elementary school teacher for a second. If they didn’t teach everyday how the heck would you be where you are today? Teachers help by challenging, so give your employees some problem solving tools, such as determining pros -vs- cons of various options. Teachers also ask their students to identify options and make a recommendation as to which option they like, and then analyze the consequences of each option. Teachers ask good probing questions and stay open minded if the student’s answers aren’t exactly their answers. Teaching boils down to being there daily, sharing your experience as a leader while communicating with all your employees, and being able to influence them to become successful.
Now in the capture line near the heading I wrote “It’s not a soft skill, it’s a leader skill”. The reason I state that is because most of us think of coaching in a business environment and all this leadership stuff is all about soft skills and that we all have to be lovey-dovey to be effective coaches. That is absolutely not the case. Sometimes hard knocks come into play with effective coaching whether it’s in a sports environment or a business environment. Coaches MUST know when to make a “cut” and have the intestinal fortitude to execute the “cut” for the greater good of the TEAM!
Good luck with enhancing your coaching skills – just don’t out coached by the competition!
Why is it so important to enhance our coaching skills in the leadership ranks of business? The easiest way to answer that is to ask a question: “How often do we counsel, conduct performance reviews and measure results of our staff members”? You most probably answered “often” or “on a regular basis” or something along those lines I’m sure. There is a difference between these activities and coaching. Although coaching is related, it differs in that it is the day-to-day hands-on process of helping employees recognize their opportunities to improve their performance and their capabilities.
This is a topic we could go all day discussing and use a tremendous amount of examples like in the sports industry. For the purposes of getting right to the point we’ll just discuss a few key skills of an effective coach. Interpersonal communication skills and Teaching are two of the most effective skills and are effective ways of interacting and coaching others. Interpersonal communication is plain old interaction with folks (and I’m not talking about cursing and screaming at your employee because they did it wrong like a high school football coach – although some teenagers might need that from time to time as it builds character) and effectively communicating verbally, with your body language and with your tone of voice. Research shows that body language is approximately 55% of all human communication, tone or voice inflection reflects 38%, and the words you actually use represent 7% of communication.
Have you ever asked someone “how are you today” and they answered “great, thanks for asking”, but you knew right away that they were one “how are you today” away from flying off the handle because their face was so clenched that they answered you through their teeth? Or maybe you were on the phone with someone and you asked the same question and they replied with the same words, but you could tell that they were so tired that they would probably fall asleep during your call because they said it so lazily and softly then the big “YAWN”? What about the email you read from your employee and immediately jumped up and walked over to ask “what the heck’s wrong with you?” only to see that they were in a great mood but very busy and didn’t have time for smiley faces or eloquent words?
Observing body language, paying attention to tone of voice and reading or actively listening to the words can effectively enhance your interpersonal communication skills between you and your employees, co-workers, superiors and most importantly your customers. Don’t read into things and react before you realize!
Teaching is an art that can be learned. Why is teaching an everyday must? Well think about an elementary school teacher for a second. If they didn’t teach everyday how the heck would you be where you are today? Teachers help by challenging, so give your employees some problem solving tools, such as determining pros -vs- cons of various options. Teachers also ask their students to identify options and make a recommendation as to which option they like, and then analyze the consequences of each option. Teachers ask good probing questions and stay open minded if the student’s answers aren’t exactly their answers. Teaching boils down to being there daily, sharing your experience as a leader while communicating with all your employees, and being able to influence them to become successful.
Now in the capture line near the heading I wrote “It’s not a soft skill, it’s a leader skill”. The reason I state that is because most of us think of coaching in a business environment and all this leadership stuff is all about soft skills and that we all have to be lovey-dovey to be effective coaches. That is absolutely not the case. Sometimes hard knocks come into play with effective coaching whether it’s in a sports environment or a business environment. Coaches MUST know when to make a “cut” and have the intestinal fortitude to execute the “cut” for the greater good of the TEAM!
Good luck with enhancing your coaching skills – just don’t out coached by the competition!
Sunday, August 19, 2007
Blended Learning
It doesn’t have to be so technical, or expensive!
Classroom Instruction. It is the cornerstone of all business training and development – it is very effective and conducive to almost any topic. By allowing learners, or “human capital” (the newest buzz word for people) to interact with the instructor, students are enabled to ask questions and receive immediate answers from the instructor. Likewise, the instructor can facilitate group activities or discussions to get creative juices flowing. Learners have the advantage of being in an environment that allows peer-to-peer counsel, providing the opportunity for people to draw on each other’s experience. Overall, classroom instruction is clearly an effective way to train and educate your management, staff, investors and even your customers.
However, there are drawbacks. Classroom training is typically expensive, thereby impacting your operating expense dramatically. Even more difficult is trying to quantify the costs of the classroom training in relation to the benefits gained. In fact, it is so difficult to track, that many companies do not even attempt to monitor the expense or control the costs. It is important to remember that there is a lot more associated with in- person training than just the salary of your training staff. There are costs involved in procuring/producing training materials, costs of developing and maintaining a training facility, as well as travel and hotel expenses of employees who come from out of town for training. But perhaps the biggest and hardest to measure cost is that of reduction in productivity while your employees are seated in the classroom.
Internet or On-line Training. Internet training is gaining momentum. It is running a close second behind classroom training. As the business world continues to evolve and integrate more technology and fast pace business applications, the value of the online training solution becomes more and more apparent. On-line products can deliver training without the traditional associated expenses of classroom instruction. It can allow associates to complete training on their own time and you lose less in productivity. On-line training is a more effective distribution method for certain types of training and it opens up a global marketplace and outlet for training materials, which your company has already produced. On-line training is certainly the future and will continue to become more interactive and allow for more self-paced learning applications. It is a great option, allowing you to reach a larger audience for less!
Manuals & Reference Guides This is good old self-study, a tried and true method that will likely be around forever. We will never lose the need to document all the various processes and methods utilized in our businesses and we will always need a clearing- house for these materials. Examples of this genre of training range from “New Hire” pamphlets to “Employee Handbooks” and desk reference manuals. These guides are an important part of initial and continuing training and should be maintained in a readily accessible, well organized form such as a physical library or an online catalog/database.
Some company libraries will include training aids contained in non-traditional media such as video and web-casts. While these are very effective ways to train on
certain systems or processes, they are also typically the more expensive ways of distributing information to learners. Most companies do not have a media engineer or video production expert on staff, but don’t worry and don’t rush out such persons, as there are alternatives. Today, authoring tools are making it easy for company management or trainers to produce high quality multimedia training aids. Anyone who is competent with PowerPoint can produce a visually impressive presentation without having to be a media professional and without having to learn to write complicated programming code. These authoring tools also allow your business unit leaders to manage and produce their own internal training without having to get IT involved in the entire training project.
Training management. This can be a large and daunting task depending upon the size of your organization. How do you track the progress of learners? How many different ways is ongoing education being managed in your organization within different business units? Is one type of training being produced, provided, tracked and maintained one way, and other training in a completely different manner?
My advice to you is: Invest in a Learning Management System (LMS)!
These systems allow you to track and manage all of the blended training mentioned above with the click of a mouse. It is a must have for any company using numerous delivery methods to facilitate training.
An LMS can be installed on your own servers or hosted remotely. Installed systems on your servers allow your IT department to manage problems, but hosted systems allow you to basically rent space on the vendor’s server without the IT hassles. Both installed and hosted systems allow you to manage the content, users, and information. The major difference between the two systems is who is responsible for performing the maintenance. The costs vary between the two methods and you must decide which solution works best for your business.
I bet you’re thinking an LMS sounds wonderful, but very expensive? Well quite the opposite is true depending on how you look at your ROI for training management. Remember, to compare the LMS to traditional methods. Remember we have already established that classroom training is expensive and it is difficult to place figures on the costs. To really determine how much your training program is costing and benefiting you, an extensive audit would be needed (and this involves even more expense). For the sake of blending it all together, we will review and analyze two expense scenarios - one demonstrating a non-effective training program and the other exhibiting an effective blended training program:
Training Program with Opportunity Areas:
Company ABC: Insurance Company
Training needs: Sales training, Claims training, Leadership training, Customer Service training.
Current training program deliver methods:
Ø Classroom training
Ø Training Emails
Current training management system:
Ø Paper
Ø Claims has a database
Current training staff:
Ø Sales has 1 trainer per 60 remote offices (avg 2 agents)
Ø Claims has 1 trainer per 189 adjusters
Ø Customer Service has 1 trainer per 550 reps
Ø Leadership training is facilitated by 2 trainers for 300 employees
Manuals and libraries:
Ø Each department has their own method
Ø Some departments have 4 or 5 different places to access manuals
Ø Each sales location has 1 manual
Ø HR department has an online information site to access some employee benefits information as well as some sales agent information
Effective Blended Training Program:
Company DEF: Security Company:
Training needs: Safety training, Policies training, Leadership training, Investigations training.
Current training program deliver methods:
Ø Classroom training (initial 4 week program)
Ø On the job training (shadowing 1 week)
Ø Online internal training to facilitate enhanced company procedures
Ø Step by step guides and manuals (centrally posted and accessible from anywhere on secure network)
Ø Online training program through vendors for investigation techniques, continuing education and enhanced corporate training (including HR).
Ø Testing path and progression program (online interactive testing)
Ø Online and classroom leadership training along with succession plan evaluations.
Ø Classroom Leadership training (quarterly – by vendor service)
Ø Training Emails
Current training management system:
Ø Hosted through a secure network. Each district training manager monitors, updates and manages the employees in their region. Track pass/fail rates and quality of the training they develop through an interactive easy to use authoring tool.
Ø Back up everything on paper quarterly to submit to HR department on compliance.
Current training staff:
Ø Corporate Security has 1 trainer per 50 employees
Ø Community Security has 1 trainer per 50 employees
Ø Industrial Security has 1 trainer per site
Ø Home office has 2 instructional designers for course development
o One trainer travels and does worksite / job duty analysis
o One trainer develops courses through an authoring tool and posts to a hosted LMS. Both of these trainers manage access to all online training and assist the training manager with other duties
Manuals and libraries:
Ø Each department has their own access to all digital manuals posted online and all manuals are posted on this one site.
Ø Home office has a physical library room with all training, reference and legal information organized in a catalog system.
Ø Each location has an emergency manual as well as company contacts and procedures
As you can see, a well-developed, blended training program makes a great deal of sense and can have a very large impact on your company’s productivity and success in today’s business environment. A key factor in a successful training program is an LMS, which gives you greater flexibility and real-time management of your training needs.
Information about the author:
Richard Hull is founder and CEO of The Instructor Group, LLC, which provides hosted Learning Management Systems, online training courseware, classroom training on demand, training consulting services, and custom developed training solutions. The company is a leader in corporate and continuing education training, with an unprecedented commitment to customer service. TIG’s philosophy on training and employee development is based on determining the needs of its customers and developing custom-tailored solutions that grow with your business. The LMS and training solutions environment is undergoing significant change based on the available software on the market. The Instructor Group believes that an on-demand hosted training solution to compliment traditional training delivery methods is the best practice for effectively delivering and managing your corporate training needs. Mr. Hull and his company believe, “A total enterprise learning program can reduce your operating expense and improve your learning curve for the successful growth and development of your company”.
Richard Hull
www.theinstructorgroup.com
Classroom Instruction. It is the cornerstone of all business training and development – it is very effective and conducive to almost any topic. By allowing learners, or “human capital” (the newest buzz word for people) to interact with the instructor, students are enabled to ask questions and receive immediate answers from the instructor. Likewise, the instructor can facilitate group activities or discussions to get creative juices flowing. Learners have the advantage of being in an environment that allows peer-to-peer counsel, providing the opportunity for people to draw on each other’s experience. Overall, classroom instruction is clearly an effective way to train and educate your management, staff, investors and even your customers.
However, there are drawbacks. Classroom training is typically expensive, thereby impacting your operating expense dramatically. Even more difficult is trying to quantify the costs of the classroom training in relation to the benefits gained. In fact, it is so difficult to track, that many companies do not even attempt to monitor the expense or control the costs. It is important to remember that there is a lot more associated with in- person training than just the salary of your training staff. There are costs involved in procuring/producing training materials, costs of developing and maintaining a training facility, as well as travel and hotel expenses of employees who come from out of town for training. But perhaps the biggest and hardest to measure cost is that of reduction in productivity while your employees are seated in the classroom.
Internet or On-line Training. Internet training is gaining momentum. It is running a close second behind classroom training. As the business world continues to evolve and integrate more technology and fast pace business applications, the value of the online training solution becomes more and more apparent. On-line products can deliver training without the traditional associated expenses of classroom instruction. It can allow associates to complete training on their own time and you lose less in productivity. On-line training is a more effective distribution method for certain types of training and it opens up a global marketplace and outlet for training materials, which your company has already produced. On-line training is certainly the future and will continue to become more interactive and allow for more self-paced learning applications. It is a great option, allowing you to reach a larger audience for less!
Manuals & Reference Guides This is good old self-study, a tried and true method that will likely be around forever. We will never lose the need to document all the various processes and methods utilized in our businesses and we will always need a clearing- house for these materials. Examples of this genre of training range from “New Hire” pamphlets to “Employee Handbooks” and desk reference manuals. These guides are an important part of initial and continuing training and should be maintained in a readily accessible, well organized form such as a physical library or an online catalog/database.
Some company libraries will include training aids contained in non-traditional media such as video and web-casts. While these are very effective ways to train on
certain systems or processes, they are also typically the more expensive ways of distributing information to learners. Most companies do not have a media engineer or video production expert on staff, but don’t worry and don’t rush out such persons, as there are alternatives. Today, authoring tools are making it easy for company management or trainers to produce high quality multimedia training aids. Anyone who is competent with PowerPoint can produce a visually impressive presentation without having to be a media professional and without having to learn to write complicated programming code. These authoring tools also allow your business unit leaders to manage and produce their own internal training without having to get IT involved in the entire training project.
Training management. This can be a large and daunting task depending upon the size of your organization. How do you track the progress of learners? How many different ways is ongoing education being managed in your organization within different business units? Is one type of training being produced, provided, tracked and maintained one way, and other training in a completely different manner?
My advice to you is: Invest in a Learning Management System (LMS)!
These systems allow you to track and manage all of the blended training mentioned above with the click of a mouse. It is a must have for any company using numerous delivery methods to facilitate training.
An LMS can be installed on your own servers or hosted remotely. Installed systems on your servers allow your IT department to manage problems, but hosted systems allow you to basically rent space on the vendor’s server without the IT hassles. Both installed and hosted systems allow you to manage the content, users, and information. The major difference between the two systems is who is responsible for performing the maintenance. The costs vary between the two methods and you must decide which solution works best for your business.
I bet you’re thinking an LMS sounds wonderful, but very expensive? Well quite the opposite is true depending on how you look at your ROI for training management. Remember, to compare the LMS to traditional methods. Remember we have already established that classroom training is expensive and it is difficult to place figures on the costs. To really determine how much your training program is costing and benefiting you, an extensive audit would be needed (and this involves even more expense). For the sake of blending it all together, we will review and analyze two expense scenarios - one demonstrating a non-effective training program and the other exhibiting an effective blended training program:
Training Program with Opportunity Areas:
Company ABC: Insurance Company
Training needs: Sales training, Claims training, Leadership training, Customer Service training.
Current training program deliver methods:
Ø Classroom training
Ø Training Emails
Current training management system:
Ø Paper
Ø Claims has a database
Current training staff:
Ø Sales has 1 trainer per 60 remote offices (avg 2 agents)
Ø Claims has 1 trainer per 189 adjusters
Ø Customer Service has 1 trainer per 550 reps
Ø Leadership training is facilitated by 2 trainers for 300 employees
Manuals and libraries:
Ø Each department has their own method
Ø Some departments have 4 or 5 different places to access manuals
Ø Each sales location has 1 manual
Ø HR department has an online information site to access some employee benefits information as well as some sales agent information
Effective Blended Training Program:
Company DEF: Security Company:
Training needs: Safety training, Policies training, Leadership training, Investigations training.
Current training program deliver methods:
Ø Classroom training (initial 4 week program)
Ø On the job training (shadowing 1 week)
Ø Online internal training to facilitate enhanced company procedures
Ø Step by step guides and manuals (centrally posted and accessible from anywhere on secure network)
Ø Online training program through vendors for investigation techniques, continuing education and enhanced corporate training (including HR).
Ø Testing path and progression program (online interactive testing)
Ø Online and classroom leadership training along with succession plan evaluations.
Ø Classroom Leadership training (quarterly – by vendor service)
Ø Training Emails
Current training management system:
Ø Hosted through a secure network. Each district training manager monitors, updates and manages the employees in their region. Track pass/fail rates and quality of the training they develop through an interactive easy to use authoring tool.
Ø Back up everything on paper quarterly to submit to HR department on compliance.
Current training staff:
Ø Corporate Security has 1 trainer per 50 employees
Ø Community Security has 1 trainer per 50 employees
Ø Industrial Security has 1 trainer per site
Ø Home office has 2 instructional designers for course development
o One trainer travels and does worksite / job duty analysis
o One trainer develops courses through an authoring tool and posts to a hosted LMS. Both of these trainers manage access to all online training and assist the training manager with other duties
Manuals and libraries:
Ø Each department has their own access to all digital manuals posted online and all manuals are posted on this one site.
Ø Home office has a physical library room with all training, reference and legal information organized in a catalog system.
Ø Each location has an emergency manual as well as company contacts and procedures
As you can see, a well-developed, blended training program makes a great deal of sense and can have a very large impact on your company’s productivity and success in today’s business environment. A key factor in a successful training program is an LMS, which gives you greater flexibility and real-time management of your training needs.
Information about the author:
Richard Hull is founder and CEO of The Instructor Group, LLC, which provides hosted Learning Management Systems, online training courseware, classroom training on demand, training consulting services, and custom developed training solutions. The company is a leader in corporate and continuing education training, with an unprecedented commitment to customer service. TIG’s philosophy on training and employee development is based on determining the needs of its customers and developing custom-tailored solutions that grow with your business. The LMS and training solutions environment is undergoing significant change based on the available software on the market. The Instructor Group believes that an on-demand hosted training solution to compliment traditional training delivery methods is the best practice for effectively delivering and managing your corporate training needs. Mr. Hull and his company believe, “A total enterprise learning program can reduce your operating expense and improve your learning curve for the successful growth and development of your company”.
Richard Hull
www.theinstructorgroup.com
Corporate Training Made Easy?
Training made easy? Well yes it can be as easy or as hard as you want it to be. There sure is no shortage of "Expert" guidance and input on corporate training related topics and advice. There are so many topics that an easy forum can be made complicated just by discussing with so many different experts and opinions on the various forms of instructional design, blended training programs, classroom vs online, outsourced vs staffed, etc...Here is the forum where we believe that Corporate Training Programs should be made easy. Easy in the sense of new hire training, career path programs, advanced custom training, and management of the entire training process. Building future leaders can be a relatively simple process if your training solutions are made easy. Oh, and it doesn't have to be so expensive either!Stay tuned for more training topics made easy as we kick off this blog and add fun simple and inexpensive solutions to make training not only effective, but make it more enjoyable! Also please feel free to share your easy training solutions and don't forget that "Training that is fun Gets Done"!
Richard Hull
CEO / FounderThe Instructor Group, LLC
www.theinstructorgroup.com
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