4 Quick Tips to Help You Plan Your Corporate Training in 2010

For many being, responsible for solving their organization's training needs can be a challenging proposition.  If you're responsible for best solving your organization's training needs, using the following tips can get and keep you on track, on budget, and on time.

 

Do a needs analysis.

You do this to determine whether you really have a training need or some other type of need. People and corporations dealing with technology as either the topic itself and/or mechanism for delivering training, often fail to ask and answer vital questions at this stage, and they can waste precious time and resources because of it. The kinds of questions you need to ask are:

• What educational needs do you have?
• What resources are available?
• What are your learners like?
• What is the time frame?
• How cooperative can the subject matter experts/training partner be?
• What training methodologies and tools will do the trick to educate your staff?

The second stage of a needs analysis is to determine the learning gaps of each individual and subsequently the organization as a whole.  Instead of offering bulk training to anyone who wants' it, doing a organization/department wide skills assessment will help determine who actually has a business need for training as well as what exact training they need.  Determine the right education for the right needs. This will allow you to target just the skills gaps of the individuals in your organization and save time and money.

 

Create a training plan.

Put your questions and answers to the aforementioned questions into your plan. Any plan is better than no plan.  As the old saying goes "Those who fail to plan, plan to fail!"

 

Consider the latest research into how people learn.

If you don't know what the "personalization principle" or "modality principle" is, you're behind the times. Research, especially since 2000, shows that saying "you" and "we" either in synchronous (live) or asynchronous (recorded/materials) training is better than depersonalizing your training. In fact, in four out of five studies done by Moreno and Mayer, subjects did 20-46 percent better.  So look for training options providers that offer personalized learning plans and training for your staff.  These options provide a greater learning experience for your staff and greater Return on Investment for your organization.

 

Blend your training.

The best cooks do it, so why don't your training efforts do the same? When learning software or something visual, it's better for learners to hear audio as they're shown the software, than to have them view the software and simultaneously read text in text boxes. Having simultaneously competing visual sources for one visual channel is not as effective as using one visual source for one visual channel and a concurrent auditory channel to hear explanatory verbiage of the visual. A Mayer study in 2005 shows a median effect of .97 of a difference, which is a large effect.  So search for training solutions that use more than just one tool to deliver the training.  Look for a solution that provides a blend of video, audio, books and hand on experience to deliver maximum results for your staff.  Many organizations have had both positive and negative experiences with e-learning, traditional classroom training and one-on-one consulting, look for a solution that combines the best of all these methods as see the difference this blended solution can make.

 

Want to learn more training tips on how to make your next training event a success, drop us a line at info@acend.com and we will be glad to assist you.