Having employees who understand the latest tools and technologies is vital to staying competitive — but training employees is costly. To get the most from training, focus on three important things:
- Hands-on practice. Active learners perform better than their passive peers. It’s one thing to grasp the “big picture,” but it’s another to implement skills or new knowledge.
- Accountability. To justify the investment, ask your training group what the learning objectives are and how students are measured. Be wary of programs that don’t offer rigorous assessment and accountability mechanisms.
- Breathing room. One of the most common pitfalls of corporate training is not giving employees enough breathing room to complete the training and learn the concepts. It’s tough to learn new skills while keeping up with a full workload. Relieving trainees of work duties signals a commitment to an employee’s career growth that can reap benefits in terms of long-term employee loyalty.
Adapted from "The 3 Things That Make Technical Training Worthwhile," by Michael Li
