An organization’s best assets are its employees. Given their importance, training managers must do well to ensure that they are happy and productive by providing them with training and growth opportunities.
Sadly, the majority of training programs are viewed by managers and employees alike as boring or unnecessary. With this in mind, training managers should endeavor to create training modules or courses that will not only motivate their workforce but also engage them for the duration of said training.
A brief overview of six training methods is provided in this article.
Training Methods for your Workforce.
Classroom Training
This method, also known as Instructor-led Training, is the traditional type of training that includes an instructor, usually the subject matter expert, presenting and explaining the subject or topic to the employees.
It allows for immediate answers to employees’ questions as well as a way to explain difficult topics and understand others’ opinions and concepts of the topics.
This type of training is great as long as it remains interactive. However, not everyone finds it interesting and it isn’t usually necessary for some topics. Also, organizing and implementing such training may take a lot of time and cost as there are venues, travel, and catering to consider.
Mentorship
This type of training usually involves a superior, that is, an experienced professional in the organization working one on one with an employee to guide them on particular job responsibilities. Both in-person and virtual training can be conducted through this method.
However, it can be a little stressful for the mentor as they have to invest a significant amount of time in their mentees while still going about their organizational responsibilities.
Hands-On Training
Hands-On Training, also known as On-the-job training, is exactly what its name implies. In this method of training, employees learn through active involvement. As it is usually done on the job, employees get to participate in real activities about their job role.
This method ensures that they learn quickly because they are thrown directly into the flow of work. However, faulty training might take place if the supervisor fails to devote the necessary time.
Roleplay
This training method is the process whereby employees act out potential work scenarios on various aspects of their job roles. This allows employees to consider different points of view as well as gives them practice in handling difficult situations.
Although unnecessary for simple topics, it has been said to boost employee engagement. It is ideal for customer service staff.
Simulation
Simulation for employees is usually presented through a virtual reality device or computer. It is usually implemented for employees working in high-risk fields such as doctors, pilots, or engineers. This is not to say that this training method isn’t useful for employees in less risky fields.
While going through this method of training employees are allowed to make mistakes and made to understand the consequences of such mistakes in a risk-free environment.
Sometimes though, employees may develop a faulty sense of safety due to desensitization.
E-learning
Also known as online training, eLearning is one of the most preferred employee training methods by organizations. This is because it allows for paced, on-the-go learning for employees. It also includes a combination of activities such as games, scenarios, storytelling, role-play, and quizzes which engages and motivates employees while also improving their knowledge retention.
One of the major benefits of eLearning is its effective measurement of success through the calculation of return on training investment the Learning Management System (LMS) provides.
A downside of this training method is the amount of time it takes to design training materials and keep them updated.
No worries though because here at Codva, we design interactive, scalable training materials which will improve your employees’ knowledge retention and will ultimately increase employee productivity in your organization.