Training employees is a must for any company that wants to keep its staff performing at their best. If you have staff members who need to be trained in certain skills, you’ll need to find an effective way to train them. On the surface, most methods of training seem pretty similar. That is, until you take a closer look at all the details.
Instructors and trainers will tell you that the most effective way to train is by tailoring each lesson to the individual. One of the best ways to determine how this should be done is by using an assessment solution for each of your employees. You’ll be able to find out what each person doesn’t know and what they want to learn. By doing this, the employee will be able to learn the specific ways that will help them succeed in the future. And that’s what makes up-the-ante training effective. It’s not just about teaching employees how to perform a specific task. Rather, it’s about teaching them how to be successful as a member of their team.
Here are three effective ways to train your employees.
Constructive criticism
What is constructive criticism? The theory is that if you want to train your employees on how to improve their skills, you will get better results by ‘boosting their self esteem’ by telling them what they are doing right, rather than only pointing out what they are doing wrong. The latter is just likely to put the staff member on the defensive, while the former will open them up to hearing about the things that they need to improve on.
It’s offering advice on how to improve skills that can help the employee succeed in the future. So, instead of yelling at them or giving them a hard time, explain why they aren’t performing the way they should. This ensures that the employee hears what they need to improve on, but doesn’t receive just a negative tone.
It’s important to note that constructive criticism is meant to assist, which in turn means that the method of delivery is key and can take some practice to get right. But once you have tuned your own personal method here, you can be sure that your constructive criticism will make your employees feel encouraged to improve.
On-the-job training
On-the-job training is one of the most effective ways to train employees. This is because employees learn as they go. Making mistakes is expected, but it is how these mistakes are pointed out and managed that is key.
What happens in on-the-job training? It starts off with the instructor explaining how the job is done. Next, the employee tries to do that job without help. Finally, the instructor explains what the employee did wrong. Then, the employee tries again. After a few attempts, the employee is able to perform the job on their own.
On-the-job training is effective because it’s real-life. That is, the employee gets experience doing the task. Plus, they are able to correct their mistakes. Another reason on-the-job training is effective is because it’s interactive. That is, the instructor explains the task while the employee performs it. This makes it easy for the employee to understand the steps of the task.
Virtual training
Virtual training is another effective method of training employees. This is because it’s similar to on-the-job training. In other words, employees learn by doing.
What’s the difference between virtual training and on-the-job training?
During virtual training, an instructor provides the steps for the task being learned. However, the steps are virtual and not real. That is, the employee doesn’t physically do the task.
That’s where the connection between virtual training and on-the-job training comes into play. During virtual training, the employee is performing the virtual steps while a computer program performs the virtual task. The connection between virtual training and on-the-job training is that both are similar in that the trainee attempts a task and the trainer helps them to perfect the outcome.
Games
Games are effective ways to train your employees. This is because they combine several methods of training.
What happens in games? Employees use games and exercises to train their brains. In other words, it is not a physical task, but a mental one. By using games and exercises to train their brains, employees will be more likely to retain the information they are learning. And, they will be able to use that information when performing their daily jobs. Games are effective because it’s all about training. That is, the goal isn’t just to play a game or complete a task. Rather, the goal is to learn something new.
Whilst there may be many games that your staff could play, escape rooms being one favourite, these sorts of ‘games’ are great for team building, but are not really relevant to the tasks and problems that your staff are likely to face every working day.
Where business simulations come into their own
People ‘learn by doing’, which along with appropriate feedback allows them to perfect the way they do their job, no matter what that is. In some cases this training occurs before the person actually does their job. Good examples of this are the Police and the armed forces. In both instances the trainee goes through an extensive training program, learning how to do their job (to some extent) before they actually hit the streets or battlefield. In essence they have been put through a series of simulations, be it on how to arrest a suspect or to clear a building of terrorists.
The good news is that there are simulations for businesses too. They cover areas like project management, leading change, decision making and dealing with crises.
Prendo’s simulations helps leaders address these key challenges by offering advanced simulations that provide accelerated experiential learning and the opportunity to explore cause and effect in a way that helps them develop the complex skills and deep understanding they need.
As with any simulation, the key factor is that ‘no one gets hurt’ (well, apart from maybe a loss of pride in some instances) while they learn and that the business itself does not suffer from a wrong decision being taken, as it would if it was indeed ‘real life’.
This is what makes Simulations such a cost effective way of building teams and honing the skills of your leadership team.
Which method of training produces the best results?
Training your employees can be a time-consuming process. It can also be expensive when you hire outside trainers and instructors. If you want to save time and money, you’ll want to use these three effective ways to train your employees. That is, constructive criticism, on-the-job training, and simulations / games.
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