Training and Development

Training and Development
is Essential
for Survival and Growth
so we recommend
developing a training program

Training and development is essential for survival and growth in today's competitive marketplace. Here are twelve points to consider for single-course and ongoing training programs.

Training Goal

Specify the goal before developing the training and development program

• conduct initial training
• orient new employees to their jobs
• teach new employees about over-all operation
• upgrade employees
• do present tasks better
• reduce accidents and increase safety
• improve attitudes about waste, spoilage, materials handling, production delays
• retrain for changing job assignments
• prepare for promotion
• newly developed or modified jobs
• teach new workers in an expansion program
• required or specialized training such as
  • Diversity Awareness Training
  • Crisis Intervention Training

What Your Employee Needs to Learn

Determine the subject matter for your training and development in terms of duties, responsibilities, and attitudes

• break job down into steps for training
• teach standards of quality
• teach specific skills and techniques
• teach specific safety practices, hazards, materials handling techniques, best ways to operate equipment, knowledge of secure areas like tool cribs
• teach specific performance metrics
• attitude improvement, product knowledge, knowledge of other departments

Type of Training

Different types of training and development support different goals or objectives. Consider each type of training in relation to the objective or goal

• On the job
• Classroom
• Combine on the job and vocational classroom
• Combine on the job and correspondence /distance courses

Who Attends

Employees should be selected for training and development on the basis of the goal of the program as well as their aptitudes, physical capabilities, previous experiences, and attitudes

• training of new employees to be a condition of employment?
• prefer trainees with previous experience in the work?
• present employees who need training?
• employees presently in lower rated jobs who have the aptitude to learn?
• training to be a condition for promotion?
• should employees displaced by job changes, departmental shutdowns, automation, and so on be given the opportunity to be trained in other jobs?

Cost

You must budget sufficient costs for training and development and use this budget to keep costs in line. Budgeting and costing raise questions

• Should you change the training and development program for the space, the machines, and materials used?
• Will the wages of trainees be included?
• If the instructor is an employee, will his or her pay be included in the costs?
• Will the time you and others spend in preparing and administrating the program be part of the costs?
• If usable production results from the sessions, should the results of it be deducted from costs of the program?

Method of Instruction

For example, lectures are good for imparting knowledge, and demonstrations are good for teaching skills

• lectures
• follow up with discussion sessions
• demonstrations
• simulate operating problems in a classroom?
• can instructor direct trainees while they perform the job?

Audio-Visual Aids in Training and Development

• job instruction sheets
• outline
• textbook / printed material
• video, film - are they available to show basic operation?
• drawings / photos that can be enlarged
• miniatures or models of equipment

Physical Facilities

Type of training and development, method of instruction and the audio-visuals will determine the physical facilities. Which determines location. For example, if a certain production machine is necessary, the training would be conducted in the shop.

• production floor, conference room or a lunch room
• off the premises
• necessary tools, such as a blackboard, lectern, film projector and a microphone if needed
• sufficient seating and writing surfaces
• equipment for each trainee

Timing

The length of the training and development program will vary according to the needs of your company, the material to be learned, the ability of the instructor, and the ability of the trainees to learn.

• full or part-time
• during or after working hours
• predetermined period of time

Instructor

The success of training and development depends to a great extent on the instructor. A qualified one could achieve good results even with limited resources. On the other hand, an untrained instructor may be unsuccessful even with the best program. You may want to use more than one person as instructor.

• owner
• personnel manager [time and ability]
• supervisor or department heads
• skilled employee
• who trains the instructor?
• qualified outside instructor

Checks or Controls

The results of the training and development program need to be checked to determine the extent to which the original goal or objective was achieved. Consider if you can:

• check the results of the training and development against the goal or objective
• establish standards of learning time against which to check the progress of the trainees
• develop data on trainee performance before, during, and after training
• keep records on the progress of each trainee
• test trainees on the knowledge and skills acquired
• have instructor rate each trainee during and at the end of the course
• have a supervisor or department head follow up the training periodically to determine the long-range effects of the training
• personally check and control the program?

Publicity

Publicizing the company's training and development program in the community helps attract qualified job applicants. Publicity inside the company helps motivate employees to improve themselves. Consider if it is appropriate to:

• announce the program to employees before the program starts or during the program
• take pictures of the training sessions for bulletin boards and in local newspapers
• award certificates
• present certificates at a special affair
• invite family when awarding certificates
• invite local newspaper, radio, and TV people to the "graduation" exercises

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