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10 Tips for Training Employees

Posted November 26, 2013 & filed under Hiring Resources

10 Tips for Training Employees

The effects of unproductive employees can plague the overall costs and efficiency of a company, which is why ensuring that your employees are up-to-date on their skills is essential to turning a profit. A lazy employee can be fired but if the source of the problem stems from a lack of skills, it is essential that you bring your employees up to speed through training.

There is no secret that serves as a one-size-fits-all solution for training employees, but following these tips can help you increase employee productivity.

Know your team
Do you have more visual learners on your team? How about auditory learners? Or does your team learn new skills kinesthetically (by doing)? Not everyone learns the same way and it behooves you to get to know your team’s learning capabilities as soon as you can. Doing so will allow you to tailor training sessions to make them as effective as possible.

Hire diverse skillsets

Your team will become much more versatile by bringing on a diverse group of employees equipped with different skillsets. Plus, you will have the opportunity of spreading each employee’s expertise in different subject matters to other employees.

Encourage mentoring

Senior members with years of industry experience are great resources for training junior level employees free of charge. Plus, one-on-one mentoring is generally a far more effective method of training than group-based education.

Cross-train

Immerse your employees in as many departments as possible. Employees who are able to cross into other departments are far more productive than those who are stuck to only one area of expertise. If you can successfully train all of your employees in multiple areas, you will create a synergetic team that knows no boundaries.

Look outside for help

Sometimes you have to concede that you are not as experienced in a certain areas as you are in others. Paying for professional help from consultants or attending seminars, classes, and conventions may seem like a costly means of training but it usually pays off in the long run.

Apply it straightaway

If you are planning on training employees in a certain skillset that will not be used until a later date you run the risk of wasting your time and funds. Failing to apply what you have learned in the immediately future could result in the loss of retention of that information. Save those skills training classes until you are ready to implement them.

Apply small doses

If you take the route of training employees yourself, remember that people can burn out when they are forced to take on too much at once. Make sure that your team fully understands each topic before you move on to something else.

Keep it fresh and interesting

No one wants to be bored with dull and repetitive material. If you are providing on-the-job skills training for your employees, make sure to present the material in a fun and engaging way. That way you are not boring your employees to sleep with drab presentations.

Get feedback

Every good teachers wants to know whether or not their students are actually learning from their style of teaching. Blindly training employees without determining whether or not what you are doing is efficient, effective, and time worthy is a surefire way to waste both time and money. Talk to your employees after each training session to find out what works and what doesn’t before repeating the same methodology.

Keep it going

The tech used by the industry can change at a rapid clip. Make sure you and your team are keeping up with the new innovations and methodologies. Just because you went through skills training earlier in the year doesn’t mean that those skills will hold up come year’s end.

By Kevin Withers

Image courtesy of Tatiana12 via Flickr