5 Steps to Building an Effective Employee Training Program

By Lakeisha Robichaux, CEO of Chief of Minds

Providing adequate training is one of the best ways to prepare employees for long-term success at your company. A recent survey indicates that 40 percent of employees who receive poor job training leave their positions within the first year. You can avoid this by starting to build more successful training programs today.

Of course, there’s no one right way to build a training program, but there are steps you can take to ensure it is engaging, sustainable, and highly effective.

Here are the first five steps you should take:

1. Define your goals

What would you like to accomplish in your training? That’s the first question you must answer. Every great program has definable goals that will add value to the company. When considering your list of goals, think about the current stage of your business, the demands of your employee positions, what it takes to be competitive in the industry, and the values of your company culture. Keeping your goals at the forefront of your decision-making will create a program yielding the desired results. Even further, you can develop benchmarks to evaluate your progress toward reaching your goals.

2. Create a consistent schedule

Consistency is key. This lightens the burden on your company and raises a team of employees committed to ongoing learning. As you plan ahead, figure out how long your employee training will be and consider compartmentalizing topic categories. You can dedicate a few hours at the end of each week or spread it out throughout the month. It’s better to train gradually than to overwhelm your employees with information. Unloading too much on them at once can quickly backfire, making them less motivated to participate.

3. Find a trainer

Excellent training creates great employees. I think recruiting a credible trainer whose expertise aligns with your objectives is essential for many reasons. This person will develop and coordinate engaging programs, guide team members, observe employees’ success, and bring specialized experience, must-have resources, and timeliness. Their skillful ability to lead, lecture, mentor, answer complex questions, and give quality feedback is needed to effectively educate employees over time.

4. Communicate to your employees.

Hold a brief meeting or send an email ahead of time explaining what you have planned. Informing your employees of scheduled training and what is expected will help them mentally and physically prepare before they arrive. This clear communication also shows employees that it should be taken seriously.

5. Get feedback

To determine how successful your employee training program has developed, you must get feedback through an electronic survey or just ask during an open discussion. Ask specific questions about the engagement, information provided, if objectives were met, and what could be done better. After a few months, follow up to see if the training was helpful for their work and if they’d like training in other areas.

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If you’re ready to integrate effective training into your company’s culture, contact our team at Chief of Minds. We are here to help. We offer extensive training programs that focus on sexual harassment, teamwork, leadership development, customer service, change management, conflict management, HR 101, performance management, and more. Contact us here to learn more and get started.

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To learn more about Chief of Minds, visit chiefofminds.com