INVENTORY: QUESTIONS & SOLUTIONS

July 7, 2014

As trainers, we often spend too much time with implementation. Yet, choosing the “right training” for our trainee population should be our major focus.

With that thought in mind, today’s blog will examine a series of “planning questions” and “best solutions” that should always be considered before embarking on any new training initiative.

The following are some of the key questions you should ask yourself before implementing your training programs:

1) Is your organization growing both its revenues and its profitability? (For example: “If applicable, is the export/import ratio shifting in a positive direction?” “Are your organization’s earnings increasing?” “Is productivity increasing?”}

2) What is happening to the “training function” within your organization? (For example: “Is the traditional ‘trainee/teacher’ relationship changing?” “Is the role of “technology in the classroom” increasing?” “Is the training function getting more corporate management attention — and, dollars?”)

3) Which of the following means the most to your organization? Examples: (ROI? – Share Price? – Growth? – Earnings? – Market Share?}

4) What effects could “change in performance” have on any of your answers to Number 3) above? Examples: (Decreased Downtime? – Less Scrap? – Decreased Absenteeism? – Less Overtime? – Additional Benefits Knowledge? Better Selling Skills? – Enhanced Communication?)

After answering these questions, only then should you look at possible training solutions. And in doing so, the following will give you some insight into the “positive prescription to re-direct performance” that state-of-the-art e-Learning can make for you today.

1) Today’s training should be “Performance-Based!”

a. The content is “Job-Oriented!”
b. The primary focus is on “Performance Objectives!”
c. The training is “User-Controlled” with built-in practice!

2) Today’s training should be “Learner Oriented!”

a. It is rooted in “Multi-Sensory Media” instruction!
b. It has “Optional Full Audio Support” for poor readers!
c. It has an “Intuitive Interface!”

3) Today’s training should be “Accountable!”

a. It has “Integrated Testing!”
b. It provides for “Automatic Record Keeping!”

4) Today’s training should be “Customizable!”

a. It provides for “Facility Specific Information!”
b. It allows for “Customized Testing!”

Informed planning and execution will be your path to success. The questions you ask before implementation, combined with the characteristics of effective learning, are always where you should begin. Training initiatives that ignore these truths are doomed to fail.

Effective training and learning must be more than the organized teacher-led group environment we’ve known in the past. It must become a process that fully accommodates the uniqueness of individuals. And it will only achieve that goal when “intimidation,” a natural by-product of group instruction, has been erased. Multi-sensory media instruction, that is both user-controlled and educationally interactive, is uniquely positioned to serve as that ultimate eraser.

Above all, the training you provide must serve your organization’s interest.

More on Wednesday – – – – –

— Bill Walton, co-Founder, ITC Learning
bwalton@itclearning.com

“THE WORLD RELIES ON THE HANDS OF ITS MEN AND WOMEN”