How To Develop An Effective Training Program (2022)

Advancements in the virtual world have exceeded the pace of advancement in the physical world. Consequently, the virtual world has dominated all aspects of human existence, particularly the means of survival.

And that explains why the quick pace of virtual advancements is pushing the businesses of the present day to upgrade constantly. To win the market, each business has to keep up and constantly update itself with newer tools and skills.

Naturally, this new need of businesses is building up pressure on HR professionals. They do not only have to hire a solid team. But they also have to manage it such that it keeps up with upcoming changes and advancements.

Today’s post will cover the very subject. Here we have laid out some foundational concepts on how to develop an effective training program in 2022.

Understand The Purpose Of Training

Before proceeding any further, let’s bring a bit of clarity to your goals. Why do you wish to develop an effective training program?

If you answer this question with: to upgrade my team as per current industry trends, pause right there. That is a vague approach. And if you are to lead the team, it will fail you utterly. You ought to have super-specific answers to acquire the best of your training programs.

The training program that you design should address the needs in the following domains (specific to your business)

1. Increased Productivity

2. Healthy Work Culture

3. Increased Flexibility & Adaptability

4. Team Equity

You should aim to train your employees to maximize their productivity and thus, maximize success. The target of your program should be to yield the best of their skills.

Now, increased productivity could mean better engagement with the rest of the industry, recognition, increased profits, or anything else as per your business’s target for the year or quarter.

Training programs should also aim to promote a healthy work culture. And a healthy work culture is deeply associated with individual and collective growth.

According to Working Voices, 22% of millennial workers would rather work in a company where they can see themselves growing mentally and socially. Perhaps, that explains why fields of digital marketing are becoming known as far better career fields, as compared to degree programs in sciences. These fields involve loads of growth and keep employed individuals independent of their companies. They are working with the company and not for the company.

According to the same source, only 19 percent prioritized flexible work schedules, and only 14 percent wanted to take on a role with cash bonuses.  

By providing what most employees out there desire, your company would build a healthy work culture. It would not only keep your employees happy but mentally active as well. And this, in turn, would incite dedication. Another added benefit here would be a higher employee retention rate. Thus, it’ll grant you a stable, growing, and dedicated team.

The purpose of training programs is to upgrade the skill set. These programs should aim to break the old stereotype to stick with textbook knowledge. Instead, they should promote experiments, growth, and exploration. They should promote adaptability.

By definition, adaptability refers to the capability of changing approaches and work processes as per newer conditions. For example, a digital marketing professional might need to change the strategy for making a website rank on Google as many times as Google updates its algorithm. To have his team comply with the changes, the digital marketer will need to arrange training sessions.

By training your team, you also bridge the skill gap. At times, you might be hiring an individual who lacks the skills your company requires but has an impressive attitude. Once onboard, you cannot let this employee continue as he joined.

You would need to arrange training sessions to bridge the gap between the required skill set and the available skill set. Thus, bringing this new hire on the same page as other professionals in the team.

How To Develop An Effective Training Program?

Now, here’s a quick outline of how you can conveniently devise an effective training program. Remember, each step here is a general domain. When laying out a program for your very own team, keep these domains specific to your business needs.

1. Set Goals & Objectives

2. Opt for a Smart Training Mechanism

3. Arrange Training Materials

4. Implement & Monitor Performance

First, draft a plan of your goals. Determine what you wish to achieve with this particular training session? Do you want to generally boost employee performance? Do you want to teach new skills to your workforce? Is there a change in business goals that you wish to convey clearly?

Set up a highly specific goal. It’s best if you break it down on an individual level as well as an organizational level. Also, determine the period of this training session and the budget allocated for it.

Now, determine how you wish to implement this? What mechanism of learning would suit your employees best?

Some common approaches include:

• Online training

• Instructor-led face to face training

• Simulation training

Online training is the best means of training your employees because they can learn in the comfort of their homes. And hence, they can absorb more. Plus, it’s easy on a business’s budget as well. That's because it saves costs of arranging the session.

On that note, let us share another interesting prediction by Working Voices. In 2022, we expect to see online training take an even more interesting turn. The industry will move from videos to virtual reality and gamification. Training sessions for employees would become much more fun.

Next, you should arrange training materials. The training materials will depend on the training mechanism you chose earlier.

If you opt for online training, you can arrange virtual material like word documents, PowerPoint presentations, pdfs, recorded video lectures, live video lectures, etc. If conducting physically, you will need to get these printed. Just ensure that this material is concise, engaging, and demands input from your employees.

Once you have everything in place, it’s time to implement. Run the program and monitor results.

If you witness a lack of interest, offer perks to your employees for attending the sessions. It could be certifications, incentives, etc. Or even better, offer a salary raise to those who promise to achieve and acquire the best from this training session.

Final Thoughts

Summing up, developing an effective training program for your business is as simple as identifying your goals. Once you have the goals aligned, the consequent process becomes crystal clear.

Give it the time it needs to yield the results your business must accomplish!