Ten Tips to Make Training and Development Work
By Susan Heathfield

How much money did your organization invest last year in training and development that failed to provide the results you sought? You are not alone if training classes rarely resulted in the transfer of immediately useful information to your workplace. Real employee behavioral change, based on the training content, is even harder to demonstrate in most organizations. Discouraging? You bet! So what’s an organization to do?

You can create a training and development support process that will ensure that the training you do works. You can make training and development more effective within your organization. The ten suggestions and approaches described in this article will make your training more effective and transferable; their application will result in measurable differences to your bottom line performance.

Creating Training Stickiness Before the Training Sessions

You can do the following in advance of the training session to increase the likelihood that the training you do will actually make a difference.

• Make sure the need is a training and development opportunity. Do thorough needs and skills analysis to determine the real need for training and development. Make sure the opportunity you are pursuing or the problem you are solving is a training issue.
  
  If the employee is failing in some aspect of her job, determine whether you have provided the employee with the time and tools needed to perform the job. Does the employee clearly understand what is expected from her on the job? Ask yourself whether the employee has the temperament and talent necessary for her current position; is the job a good skill, ability, and interest fit?
  
• Create a context for the training and development. Provide information for the employee about why the new skills, skill enhancement, or information is necessary. Make certain the employee understands the link between the training and his job. You can enhance the impact of the training even further if the employee sees the link between the training and his ability to contribute to the accomplishment of the organization’s business plan and goals.
  
  It’s also important to provide rewards and recognition as a result of successful completion and application of the training. (People like completion certificates, for instance. One company I know lists employee names and completed training sessions in the company newsletter.) This contextual information will help create an attitude of motivation as the employee attends the training. It will assist the employee to want to look for relevant information to apply after the session.
  
• Provide training and development that is really relevant to the skill you want the employee to attain or the information he needs to expand his work horizons. You may need to design a session internally if nothing from training providers exactly meets your needs. Or, seek out providers who are willing to customize their offerings to match your specific needs.
  
  It is ineffective to ask an employee to attend a session on general communication when his immediate need is to learn how to provide feedback in a way that minimizes defensive behavior. The employee will regard the session as mostly a waste of time or too basic; his complaints will invalidate potential learning. Whenever possible, connect the training to the employee’s job and work objectives. If you work in an organization that invests in a self-development component in the appraisal process, make sure the connection to the plan is clear.
  
• Favor training and development that has measurable objectives and specified outcomes that will transfer back to the job. Design or obtain training that has clearly stated objectives with measurable outcomes. Ascertain that the content leads the employee to attaining the skill or information promised in the objectives. With this information in hand, the employee knows exactly what he can expect from the training session and is less likely to be disappointed. He will also have ways to apply the training to the accomplishment of real workplace objectives.
  
• Provide information for the employee about exactly what the training session will involve, prior to the training. Explain what is expected of the employee at the training session. This will help reduce the person’s normal anxiety about trying something new. If she knows what to expect, she can focus on the learning and training transfer rather than her potential discomfort with the unknown. (When I offer a team building session, as an example, people invariably ask me if they will have to touch each other or “do group hugs”. They don’t, but this really drives home the point for me about letting people know what to expect prior to attending the session.)
  
• Make clear to the employee that the training is her responsibility and she needs to take the training seriously.
  
• She is expected to apply herself to the training and development process before, during, and after the session. This includes completing pre-training assignments, actively participating in the session, and applying new ideas and skills upon returning to work.
  
• Make sure that internal or external training providers supply pre-training assignments. Reading or thought-provoking exercises in advance of the session promote thoughtful consideration of the training content. Exercises or self-assessments, provided and scored in advance of the session, save precious training time for interaction and new information. These ideas will engage the employee in thinking about the subject of the session prior to the training day. This supplies important paybacks in terms of his interest, commitment, and involvement.
  
• Train supervisors and managers either first or simultaneously so they know and understand the skills and information provided in the training session. This will allow the supervisor to: model the appropriate behavior and learning, provide an environment in which the employee can apply the training, and create the clear expectation that she expects to see different behavior or thinking as a result of the training. An executive, who has participated in the same training as the rest of the organization, is a powerful role model when he is observed applying the training.
  
• Train managers and supervisors in their role in the training process. The average supervisor has rarely experienced effective training during his career. Even more rare is the supervisor who has worked in an environment that maximized transfer of training to the actual workplace. Thus it is a mistake to believe that supervisors automatically know what must happen for effective training to take place.
  
  You can coach supervisors about their role. Provide a handy tip sheet that explains in detail the organization’s expectations of the supervisor in support of effective training. At one General Motors location, the education and training staff provided a three-hour class called, The Organization and the Training Process. The session was most effective in communicating roles and responsibilities to supervisory staff.
  
• Ask supervisors to meet with employees prior to the training session to accomplish all I have recommended in this article. Discuss with the individual what he hopes to learn in the session. Discuss any concerns he may have about applying the training in the work environment. Determine if key learning points are important for the organization in return for the investment of his time in the training. Identify any obstacles the employee may expect to experience as he transfers the training to the workplace.
  
  

Reprinted from About.com

Susan Heathfield is a management and organization development consultant who specializes in human resource systems, issues, and opportunities. Susan's specialty consulting areas include management, personal and organizational change management, performance management and development, organization transformation, executive coaching, and group facilitation.

She is a professional facilitator, speaker, and trainer on topics including interpersonal relationships, organization effectiveness and development, management excellence, marketing services, communication, and leadership. Susan is also a writer. Prior clients, for various services, include Michigan State University, Pall Corporation (Gelman Sciences), Microsoft Corporation, ReCellular, Inc., Fisher-Barton, Aeroquip, Temple Israel, Western Michigan University, Michigan Modernization Services, and many associations.