Contents
Introduction …………………………………………….
Main Objectives of Training & Development program ….
Stages of a Training and Development program …………
Types of Training and Development Programs …………..
Best Practices to make Training and Development
Program a success …………………………………….
Conclusion …………………………………………….
Bibliography …………………………………………..
Introduction
“Take care of your employees and they will take care of your business. It’s as simple as that.” – Richard Branson, the founder and CEO of Virgin Group.
The difference in the economic development of countries depends not only on the availability of natural resources but also on how they utilize their human resources. In today’s world, the shift from industrial economies to knowledge economies has made the role of Human Resource Management even more crucial.
The fast-changing world not only requires training of future workers but also continuous up-skilling and development of the existing workforce. According to Puliapa Subba Rao, HRD, from the organisational point of view, is a process in which the employees of an organisation are helped and motivated to acquire and develop technical, managerial, and behavioural knowledge, skills, and abilities and mould the values, beliefs, and attitudes necessary to perform present and future roles by realising the highest human potential with a view to contribute positively to the organisational, group, individual and social goals.
How are Training and Development related?
Training encompasses the process of enhancing the knowledge, skill levels, and competence of employees. Development focuses on improving and honing the existing skills and the overall growth of employees. Both training and development initiatives are undertaken to ensure that employees develop skills to improve their performance at work.
The main objectives of any training and development programme are:
- Enhancing skills and knowledge
- Increasing productivity
- Reducing time waste
- Putting safety measures in place
- Supporting successful management
- Boosting employee retention
- Building a leadership pipeline
- Empowering employees at the workplace
- Enhancing workplace engagement
- Increasing workplace collaboration
- Improving job satisfaction
- Strengthening company culture
Stages of a Training and Development Programme
Any training and development program follows a particular process or pattern. The main stages are as follows:
- Needs Assessment
Before the commencement of any training and development program, a thorough analysis of the organization by HR professionals is a must to identify the skill gaps and learning requirements of the employees. Job analysis, performance data, employee surveys and consultation with the managers will give HR an understanding of the key areas where training employees will make the most impact. The first stage of any training program is assessing the needs to reach organizational objectives and individual career development. - Training Design
The second step involves developing a tailor-made training program based on the assessment results. The training program includes setting learning goals, choosing suitable training formats like workshops or online courses, and creating training materials that will appeal to the trainees, address the skill gap, and support the overall individual and organizational goals. - Training Delivery
The next stage is the training delivery or the start of the training process. Scheduling training sessions that don’t hamper work routines, setting up training environments which can either be in-office or virtual, providing materials to the trainees which will update and prepare them to align with the program objectives and facilitate interactive sessions. HR should ensure that the training process caters to various learning styles and levels. - Evaluation
After the training is over, HR should collect feedback from participants to evaluate the success of the training program. Surveys, tests, and performance reviews are done to check what the trainees have learnt and how it affects their performance. - Follow-up and Support
To reinforce learning and ensure that the newly learnt skills are applied in their day-to-day activities at work, HR professionals should offer the trainees refresher sessions, mentoring programs and additional resources. This step helps employees not only to seamlessly integrate their new skills in their work but also address the challenges faced while doing so. - Continuous Improvement
Training and development is a continuous process. Regularly analysing the training process gives HR an insight into how much the training program has achieved and the areas that would require improvisation. Taking feedback from the participants and their seniors will give HR an idea about how much the training program has made an impact on the performance metrics. Based on these insights HR will design future training and development programs which will align with the changing needs of the organization.
Types of Training and Development
HR conducts different types of training depending on the requirements of the trainee and organization:
- Orientation Training
- Promotional Training
- Refresher Training
- Skills Training
- Internship Training
- Cross-functional Training
- Team Training
- Creativity Training
- Diversity Training
Orientation Training: A newly recruited employee undergoes this training on joining. He is made to undergo an induction and orientation program. The basic objective of this training is to help the new employee settle down and familiarize with the new work environment. Make the employee aware about the procedures, rules and regulations followed by the company. He is given an in-depth knowledge about the company background, organisation structure, products and policies. An employee is also introduced to his superiors and juniors. This makes the new joiner motivated, comfortable and at home in his new workplace.
Promotional Training: In an organization some employees are identified to handle larger roles in future. These employees are trained in various job roles that they might have to cover after their promotion.
Refresher Training: The world economy is changing fast. There is a constant change in the dynamic fields of technology, procedures and policies of state and society as a whole. Old ways of doing things become obsolete at a rapid pace. To stay in the race companies need to upskill and upgrade their employees. The basic objective of the refresher training is to upskill and train the existing employees to follow and adopt new and improved procedures, policies and latest technological developments to face the upcoming challenges confidently and stay ahead in the competition.
Skill Training: When a company adopts a new technology, a new machinery, a new policy and if there is a gap between the skills required for successful completion of a job and the skills possessed by the employees, there arises a need for training. A training program is planned and the content is developed to meet the training objectives. An effective method of training is selected which could be a lecture, coaching, special courses etc. These skills could be as basic as reading, writing, communication skills, interpersonal skills etc.
Internship Training: Internship programme is offered to students by an organization for a short period of time. The students on the verge of completion of a particular academic course work alongside the employees of an organization and gain hands on experience of working in a particular field. Apart from skill development and gaining practical experience, freshers get to connect with professionals in the particular field and understand its challenges and dynamics. Internship training enhances employability and job prospects for the particular candidate. The organization also gets a chance to induct exceptionally talented candidates into their organization.
Cross-functional Training: Cross-functional training is a practice where the employees are given opportunities to learn skills and knowledge that aren’t part of their current job description. This practice enables skill development and builds powerful working connections between team members. The meaning of cross training at work is a sort of job rotation in which an employee moves from one department to another in an organization. Cross-functional training helps in employee retention, and builds future leaders, highly motivated and trustworthy managers of the company.
Team Training: The National Research Council defines team training as the process of teams improving their teamwork and task work through gaining new skills, know-how and values. The main goal of any team training is to boost the overall performance of the employees as a whole. Through the process of team training, an organization develops a strong relation between the co-workers and an environment of compassion and collaboration within the company. Team training ensures faster sharing of ideas and knowledge, participation of every worker in the process of training and giving equal opportunity to each participant to develop leadership qualities.
Creativity Training: Creativity through the ages has always been the major source of inventions, innovation, growth and adaptability. Thinking out of the box or honing on the innate skills of a man is the need of the hour in a fast dynamic world. Apart from developing basic skills and job related competencies companies today view training as a way to create intellectual capital to stay ahead in the race.
This training enables an employee to share and creatively use knowledge to modify the product or service keeping in view the changing demands of the customers. There is no definite typology in creativity training. These training programmes emphasize idea creation, problem finding, conceptual combination and idea generation.
Diversity Training: Diversity training in the workplace aims to imbibe within the employees the spirit of tolerance and respect towards a fellow employee who might be coming from a diverse background, culture or subtle discriminatory behaviours. The training helps in fostering all-inclusive environments in the workplace.
These programs teach people how to work together effectively despite their differences. Diversity training programs aim to create a positive working environment. These environments empower employees, improving productivity, innovation, and problem-solving abilities.
Best Practices To Make Any Training & Development Program a Success
With the fast changing and competitive world, training and development of the employees have become an important determining factor in the success of an organization. Learning and development of an organization needs to be dynamic to cater to the needs of fast changing technological advancements, multi-dimensional work environments like the hybrid and remote work models, multi-generational workers etc.
Ten best practices to make any training and development program effective are as follows:
- Embrace Personalized Learning Pathways: Different individuals react to an external stimulus in different ways. They have their own way and pace of taking in and processing information. Personalized learning is the key today. In an organization different employees have different skills, experiences, and career goals. Analysing an employee’s needs and goals of an organization, training program modules are tailor-made to make learning more relevant and impactful. Learning Management Systems are used to create dynamic learning paths and check employee’s progress.
- Leverage Micro-Learning Techniques: Micro-learning involves breaking up the whole training content into small bite-sized modules. Short, engaging lessons are easier to understand and retain, making them ideal for professionals. Complex topics are broken down into tiny learning sessions under 10 minutes and can be delivered via videos, e-books, audio clips etc. to enhance learning. This not only reduces learner fatigue, but is also cheaper and faster to deliver.
- Incorporate Gamification: Gamification of the training process means integrating game–like elements in the training module. This helps to make the learning process more exciting and fun. Gamification involves taking concepts from game design like rewards, recognition, competition, leaderboards and story-telling and integrating them in the training modules. From e-commerce and sales to health, industries are applying gamification to their training and development programs to enhance productivity, retention and engagement.
- Prioritize Soft Skills Development: Soft skills are character traits and interpersonal skills that support the pursuit of personal and organizational goals. In the workplace soft skills complement hard skills which refer to a person’s occupational skills. In the complex work environment of today soft skills like good communication and interpersonal skills, leadership, teamwork, problem-solving skills, time management, empathetic approach towards fellow-workers and emotional intelligence are equally critical. These skills may be developed by a combination of methods. Incorporating soft skills training into development programs ensures a well-rounded workforce, where trust develops through positive interactions and productivity increases.
- Adopt a Blended Learning Approach: Blended learning or hybrid learning is a combination of online/web-induced learning and traditional face-to-face learning. In an age where workers are from diverse age, cultural, educational backgrounds and work in different environments like in-office, online workplace and hybrid mode of work, training them in blended environments becomes important. Structuring the training modules in a combination of online and in-person approaches provides flexibility, personalization and a more engaging learning experience. Balancing digital learning including virtual reality and augmented reality with hands-on workshops caters to diverse learning preferences.
- Measure Training Effectiveness: Organizations need to continuously evaluate their training programs. Pre- and post-training assessments, surveys and performance metrics measure the impact of the training programs on employees and identify areas of improvement. Tracking key performance indicators like retention, skill application and employee satisfaction helps to improve future training programs.
- Foster a Culture of Continuous Learning: Learning is a continuous process. Encourage employees to undertake training for professional growth like promotions, increments, recognition of achievements etc. This will develop a culture of continuous learning among the employees of an organization. Self-growth leading to organizational growth becomes the motto of employees. This improves employee commitment towards their work and the organization. This ensures a positive impact on retention as employees feel valued and cared for.
- Obtain Management Buy-In: Training programs should have management backing to make them a success. Management participation in the training programs ensures that employees take these programs seriously. With management support training initiatives become a part of company culture. Management backing also ensures employees that management is committed towards their development and growth.
- Define Metrics: Many consider training as expensive and that the results are negligible. Defining metrics helps to achieve tangible results, make continuous improvements and justify the cost incurred in training. The data points and insights can be used to align the training with organizational goals. This also shows the company’s commitment towards employee growth and development and significantly raises retention among employees. Metrics also help to identify skill gaps by providing knowledge of where the company is lagging behind.
Conclusion
The attributes of any modern workplace are productivity, creation and innovation, where technological and scientific changes and advancement in all aspects of life play an important part. Skills, knowledge and the right attitudes are the basics for the efficient running of a business. The human resource department of an organization not only chooses the right candidate for the right job but also ensures that employees grow along with the growth of the organization in a healthy work environment.
Human resources today is the key determinant of whether the goals and objectives of an organization are met. To survive in the race, every organization must continuously enhance the capabilities of their employees and foster a culture of continuous learning. Training and development is now an invincible strategy for the growth and success of any organization.
It is provided to fill the gap between skills and future needs and opportunities. Investment in the upgradation of its employees by providing them with effective training and development programs increases the value of any organization.
