Designing and Developing Effective Training Programs

Training programs play a crucial role in enhancing employee’s capabilities, upgrading his existing knowledge and help him acquire new skills and learnings. Effective training programs help employees to cope up with changes, think out of the box, survive the cut throat competition with a smile and contribute effectively to the success of organization.

Training programs need to be designed, keeping in mind the needs and requirements of employees. Training modules ought to be precise, crisp and informative.

Training programs should not be designed just for the sake of it. Find out whether your employees really need any kind of training or it is being conducted just as a mere formality?

Designing and Developing Effective Training Modules

Know Your Employees: Know your employees well before you begin designing training programs for them. Sit with them and try to find out where all they need assistance. Let them come up with their problems and what all additional skills would help them perform better. It is essential for managers to know the strengths and weaknesses of all his team members. Design your training program accordingly. Knowing employees well will help you figure out the skills you need to teach them. Training programs need to be specific if you expect your employees to benefit from the same.

Dividing Employees into Groups: One cannot design similar training programs for each and every employee. Divide employees into groups where employees who need to learn the same set of skills can be put into one group. You can also group employees as per their age, work experience, departments, functional areas and so on.

Preparing the Information: The next step is to prepare the content of the training program. The content needs to be informative but interesting. Include diagrams, graphs, flow charts, pictures to make your training program interesting so that individuals do not lose interest in the middle of the session. The information needs to be relevant and authentic. Teach them what all is necessary and would help them in their current as well as future assignments. Prepare your training program keeping your audience in mind.

Presenting the Information: You need to design your presentation well. Decide how would you like to present your information? PowerPoint or word helps you design your training program. It is absolutely up to the trainer to decide the software which he/she would like to use. Make sure there are no spelling errors. Read your presentation twice or thrice and find out whether it has covered entire information you wish to convey or not? Highlight important information. Make your presentation in bullets.

Delivering Training Programs: Select your trainers carefully. Remember, the right trainer makes all the difference. Training programs should not be a mere one way communication. As a trainer, you need to understand that you are speaking not only for the individuals sitting in the front row but also for employees sitting at the back. Be loud and clear. Do not speak too fast. The trainer needs to involve his/her audience and encourage employees to come up with questions and doubts. Employees should not attend training programs to mark their attendance. Try to gain as much as you can. Do not sit with a closed mind.