Top Training Lessons from NTA Winners
The National Training Awards are now in their 24th year. During the past few decades hundreds of businesses, organisations and individuals have been recognised for the outstanding success they have achieved through training.
Whilst training methods have changed and evolved in that time the purpose behind them remains the same: to equip people with the knowledge and skills they need for their job in order to maximise an organisation's performance.
We've trawled through our winners' stories to provide you with our top 10 training lessons:
Know your goal
You need to know what you want to achieve. Do you want to reclaim your market share or increase profitability? Or do you just want to inform staff of new legislation or introduce more environmentally friendly practices? By setting clear objectives you are giving yourself better odds of achieving the outcome you want.
One size does not fit all
Just because it is the latest training fad does not mean it is going to work for your business. What good is e-learning if your staff lack basic computer literacy skills? Tailor your training to your business needs.
Learning styles vary
Your training also needs to fit your staff's learning styles. One car manufacturer wanted to train practical, 'hands on' people to become team leaders so it provided 'on the job' training rather than classroom-based lectures. The more you understand how your employees learn and develop, the better results your training will bring.
Engage the experts
There are a whole host of training providers out there who can work with you to provide bespoke training packages. For instnace one aviation company outsourced its apprenticeship programme to a local college, to the benefit of both organisations. Contact a consultant or local learning provider which has the skills and expertise to develop or deliver the training programme you want.
Communicate with your staff
Remember to communicate your training plans to your staff. You know why the training is needed - but do they? People are more likely to be committed if they can see where they fit into the big picture and they share your goal.
Support your staff
Mentoring has become increasingly popular in recent years. It is particularly useful for people who are being trained in a leadership or management role. Being able to talk through issues that arise on the job can be a good way to consolidate learning and work throughits application in practice. Mentoring can also help young people who are coming on board in junior roles ina highly skilled profession.
Evaluate, evaluate, evaluate
Take a step back once the training is complete and ask yourself did the training achieve its goals? If you do not evaluate you will never know what you did right or wrong. Sometimes the results can be unexpected. An insurance company found that completing an entry form for the National Training Awards not only helped them evaluate their training but also identified further changes that needed to be made to improve their recruitment strategy.
Learning never stops
What is your organisation's training strategy? One off training only brings one off results. While this might be sufficient if your organisation needs to address a particular issue, it is important to take a long-term view of how you are developing and extending your staff.
Celebrate your success
Don't keep the good news about your training to yourself. Let people know! Put the story on your website or in the staff newsletter. Highlight it within your company magazine and enter the National Traingin Awards.
No-one is exempt from training
No one is too young, too old, too senior or too junior to learn. Do not overlook people because of their age or position. The aging population means the UK woprkforce will have an increasing proportion of older workers who will need to have up to date skills. And while it is often tempting to send more junior members of staff on training courses, what if it is your senior managemnet that needs the training? Don't be afraid to tackle this issue...
