Employee training isn’t simply a nice-to-have element of human resources management—it’s a must-have. From training on your company’s vision and mission, to compliance training, to soft skills training such as time management, the knowledge of your staff is directly linked to the success of your business. Follow these ten basic employee training principles to make sure you’re doing it right.
Employee Training Principles for HRM
#1 – Train Every Day
The most important principle of employee training is to view training as an ongoing process, not a single event. When you train every day, in one form or another, it becomes part of your culture. This doesn’t mean sitting your employees down in front of a computer to take 30 minutes of training each day – there are a lot of ways you can incorporate training into your daily routines. Create daily training tips that can provide current information or reminders, share relevant articles, encourage employees to sign up for webinars, initiate discussion on training topics; even just five minutes a day can help promote a culture of learning within your organization.
#2 – Create Learning Objectives
Learning objectives define what your employees will be able to do when they complete a training program. Objectives are multi-tiered. You should have objectives for your overall training plan, for broad training topics, for individual courses, and for sections within those courses. You can also set individual objectives for each of your employees. Discuss these objectives with employees and get their feedback on what they feel is realistic as well as what objectives they would like to work toward to improve themselves. When employees are aware of your expectations and the objectives they’re working towards, they’re more likely to apply themselves and do well.
#3 – Address Skills Gaps
Often, it’s easy to know where to apply your employee training principles. Compliance training, for example, is a given. In other instances, you need to conduct a thorough gap analysis to identify specific areas where employees lack the skills they need to be successful. Keep an eye out for obvious signs of a skills gap: poor performance reviews or employee incident reports, new technology or software adoptions, and staffing changes are all indicators that there is a gap needing to be addressed.
#4 – Deliver a Consistent Message
For training to transfer to the workplace, it’s important that all employees receive a consistent message. The right learning management system (LMS) will help you deliver that consistency. In fact, consistency is one of the main benefits of online training. It’s also important to ensure that managers, trainers, and mentors are delivering a consistent message during on-the-job training. Checklists, templates, and manager sign-offs within the LMS can all be utilized to ensure that all topics are being covered during on-the-job training.
#5 – Blended Learning Methodologies
There is no single right way to train. Everyone has a different learning style, which is why the list of basic employee training principles includes delivering training in different ways. When you implement blend learning methodologies, your training will be more effective overall. Blended learning can take multiple forms – including mixing online training modules with opportunities for role playing, on-the-job training, or classroom training where applicable. There’s no right or wrong way to build a blended learning strategy, so seek out the learning options that work best for you and your employees, and frequently evaluate those options to make sure they remain the best options.
#6 – Create Custom Learning Paths
While you’ll have many courses that are mandatory for all employees, such as sexual harassment training, overall learning paths can be customized for each employee based on their specific career development goals. You can also use custom learning paths as a way of upskilling or reskilling employees. Learning paths to consider include: an orientation learning path for all the training a new employee needs, a management track for employees demonstrating leadership potential, or a compliance learning path to schedule with annual refresher training and ensure employees are always up to date on mandated compliance training.
#7 – Evaluate Comprehension
Testing is only an effective principle of employee training if you have a solid plan in place to follow up on poor assessment results. Use testing as a way to determine which employees need further training and which are ready for more advanced content. Evaluating your employees is a great way to certify and advance them along their learning paths. Quizzes and certifications motivate employees to learn more and retain their knowledge while also providing them with a sense of accomplishment when they receive an actual certification at the end of their training.
#8 – Streamline Administration
Training administration is a common thread throughout all the employee principles. By streamlining important training administration tasks, trainers and managers have more time for critical follow-up interactions. A learning management system allows you to assign and track training in real-time. With most LMS platforms, you can even set up schedules to automatically assign training based on job role or status, saving administrators the time of going in and assigning training manually. The same can be done for specific training modules, such as compliance that needs to be retaken after designated periods of time. You can even automate reporting so a notification arrives in your inbox when a report is ready to view.
#9 – Engage Employees
An engaged employee is a happier and more productive employee. In order to increase engagement with training, employees need to know what’s in it for them. When you engage your employees through training, they’ll be more likely to implement what they’ve learned. Give them a reason to pay attention and care. Investment in a good training program is also an investment in your employees’ future with your organization; employees want to be trained and want to know you’re willing to invest. This alone will help increase engagement and productivity.
#10 – Reward Successes
When you’ve applied all the employee training principles correctly, there’s still one thing left to do: Let your employees know you appreciate the time and effort they put in to learning. Look for opportunities to reward training successes, both big and small. Everyone likes to know they’re appreciated, so rewarding your employees will go a long way towards increasing their loyalty.
Choose the Right LMS to Deliver Your Employee Training
Following these principles of employee training is easy with the right tools at your disposal. trainingGrid® is an LMS developed with you and your employees in mind. Its intuitive design makes learning management simple and allows employees to begin training with just a click. This flexible system comes with a variety of robust features customizable to fit your needs in addition to built-in reporting and certification tools that track your compliance documentation.
Request a guided demonstration of trainingGrid® today!
