Customize Your On-the-Job Training
August 25, 2020
Training is an important part of getting the most out of your workers. But if you've taken a one-size-fits-all approach to your training, you may be missing a valuable opportunity. Specialized training shows employees that you've taken an active interest in their future career development.
It's an interest that's needed. With
85 percent of employees
reporting a lack of engagement in the work they do, the connection between training and engagement is notable. In fact, many employees state that if they were motivated to learn more skills, their interest in their work would increase.
That's where you come in. By developing a customized, individual training curriculum, you can give employees a newfound excitement about the work they're doing. Here are some tips to help you customize your training without a huge time investment.
Determine Employee Needs
The first step toward customized training is determining exactly what your employees need. Sit down with each team member and discuss job duties, ongoing challenges, and future aspirations. Using that information, create a training plan and refine it before rolling it out. There may be areas of overlap where you can repurpose areas of your content but customize it to the team member.
Consider Training Types
As you're developing the curriculum, think about how you'll train employees. As with the subject matter, the format of your training shouldn't be a one-size-fits-all approach. Some employees thrive in an in-person classroom environment while many others will prefer a video approach. One way to overcome this challenge is by creating a
blended learning environment
, which combines in-person and online learning. If you have a larger staff, you may want to provide multiple options for the same coursework rather than trying to customize your classroom format to each person's preferences.
Evaluate and Improve
Customized learning goes beyond that initial course development. You'll need to become a partner in each employee's training, checking in to determine how useful the course was and what you can do moving forward. Training should be an ongoing process, with each class leading to either a more advanced version of the same course or development in other topic areas.
As you're coming up with a training strategy don't forget about your leadership team. Express Pros
offers a variety of
seminars and webinars for supervisors and managers. We can also work with your hiring managers to ensure you have employees with the right skills for your job openings. Contact us at (615) 441-8898 to find out how we can help you create an engaged, talented workforce.