Here's how you can design a successful problem-solving training program for your employees.

Identifying pain points is essential for developing a successful training program. Your own organization's metrics can be a useful tool for this process. What does feedback from your customers tell you? What expense issues exist on your operating statement? A huge metric is your turnover rate. Losing employees is an expensive proposition, and inadequate training is routinely cited as a cause for departure. Finally, your employees can often identify weaknesses in your operation that improved training can rectify. The adage, "knowing the problem is half the solution" could apply here, but I would also suggest it might be closer to 80%. Foundationally, you must first have a very clear picture of the issues in order to build the right solution.

Identify gaps between existing and required skills. Set the SMART objectives. Decide trianing method/model. Develop Content (use of case studies and personal experience). Arrange the required infrastruture and material to conduct training. Keep entire session participative and interactive through role plays, experience sharing, doubt sessions, assignments. Encourage critical and analytical approach towards assignment given during training sessions. Take comprehensive feedback to analyse the effectiveness of the program.

For continuing development training, your goals and objectives must be directly correlated to identified problems in your organization. They should be clear, concise, and measurable. Don't overthink the problems. Goals should each be stated in a single sentence so that people undergoing the program have a clear idea of the intent. And don't go crazy with a large number of objectives. Simple and clean will keep your training program much more manageable.

The methods you choose obviously depend on your identified needs. For many functions, a virtual or e-learning system can be ideal. The benefits of e-learning are low cost, consistency, and measurability. Everyone gets the same message in a virtual training environment, and online testing can ensure the trainee has learned the content. It also allows a supervisor to monitor real-time activity, even remotely. For live or in-person training, a combination of one-on-one training should be supplemented with group discussions and daily supervisor follow-up.

This is where some organizations struggle. One common mistake is that, for on-the-job training, some managers select their most efficient or "best" employees for the job. This can be a huge mistake, as your best employees are sometimes not your best trainers. Instead, look for your best communicators and those with the patience to fully follow the training protocol and explain processes to the trainee. It would be best to employ a "train the trainer" philosophy before using any employee in a live training scenario. If your trainers do not understand the goals and objectives, they cannot properly do their job.

Evaluating the effectiveness of your training programs can be performed via a couple of specific methods. The first, obviously, is improving the metrics used to develop the training. Has turnover been reduced? Are targeted expenses improving? Has customer feedback improved? The other method I strongly recommend, one that is useful beyond just verifying training, is the concept of "Management by Wandering Around" or MBWA. Get out of your office. Walk around. Talk to people. And do that on a regular basis. You'll be amazed at what you learn about your operation.