Estimated reading time: 5 minutes
There have been times in my experience that when the organization approved training, I needed to react quickly. If designing a training session started to take too long, well … I would get questioned about it. You know, “Why is this taking so long?” or “I thought you said this training was important. If it’s so important, why isn’t it happening?” So not only is it necessary to design good training, but it’s important to do it quickly.
For training to be effective, it must be delivered properly. This is where learning often gets a bad rap. Simply telling someone something isn’t learning. At best, it’s a conversation. At worst, it’s a directive. Here’s a five-step training model that organizations can use when they need to design employee training quickly. This can be used by human resources or operational managers. And it can be used for any size audience.
STEP 1: Introduction and WIFFM
The principles of adult learning say that adults respond positively to learning when they understand why the topic is important to them. The key word being “them”. That doesn’t mean that sharing the reason why the topic is important to the company isn’t also important. But if you really want to get an employee’s attention, tell them the WIIFM (What’s in it for me?).
This is also a good time to gain some understanding of how much employees already know about the training topic. It’s possible they already have some basic information. Or maybe they know outdated knowledge that will need some “unlearning” before the learning session can take place. Either way, it helps to know what the learners know and don’t know before moving to the next step.
STEP 2: Discussion / Demonstration
During this step, the person conducting the employee training will explain the information that needs to be learned, or they will show the group how to do the task. Which one you do is determined by the content. And it’s important to know if the topic is knowledge or skill.
Knowledge topics are theoretical or practical understandings of a subject. For example, if we worked in a restaurant, knowledge topics would be the menu items. In a bank, it might be the different types of checking accounts that a customer can open.
Skill topics are proficiencies developed through experience. Using the same examples above, a skill topic would be the ability to cook the menu items or the processing of a new customer account.
STEP 3: Testing / Practice
It might be tempting, as soon as the information or demonstration is over to say, “Okay, let’s get to work!” However, it’s essential to give employees a chance to practice and get comfortable with the learning.
When conducting a knowledge learning session, the manager will want to ask questions of the employee to confirm they understand the information. It could be done verbally. For example, the manager might say, “Tell me how you would describe the ingredients in a taco supreme meal.” Or “I’m a small business owner. What are my bank account options?”
For a skills learning session, the best way to confirm understanding is to have the participants demonstrate the task. The manager might ask employees to make the taco supreme meal or do a role play with a banking employee to set up a new account.
STEP 4: Feedback / Debrief
Again, once the employee training is over, resist the urge to push employees back to work. Take a moment to conduct a short debrief. According to Dr. Scott Tannenbaum, president of The Group for Organizational Effectiveness, teams that conduct debriefs outperform others by an average of 25%. Debriefs don’t have to be long or complex. I’m a fan of a two-question debrief, which can be very effective. Allow the employee to answer two questions:
- What did you do well?
- What would you do differently next time?
Emphasize that the debrief questions should be answered in this order. Sometimes people might want to gravitate toward all the things that didn’t go well. Make them focus on what they did well – because there are good things to highlight. Then they can talk about what they would do differently. Once the employee has offered their own feedback, the person conducting the training can add any additional comments.
STEP 5: Wrap-up / Close the Conversation
At this point, employees have learned what’s in it for them, the information they need to learn, allowed them to practice, and provided feedback. They’ve conducted a complete training activity. The only thing left is to answer any questions and set expectations for future performance.
Once the session is over, employees should understand what is expected from a performance standpoint and what will happen if they do not implement the learning they received. They should also know where they can go if they encounter any questions or need additional information.
Effective employee training sessions do not always have to involve charismatic platform skills and a bunch of fancy props. It does involve having a good structure and delivering the right information.
This five-step model is a perfect activity to include in the company’s management development or manager onboarding program. Managers can learn the 5-steps early in their careers, use them regularly, and deliver training quickly.
Image captured by Sharlyn Lauby while exploring the streets of Las Vegas, NV
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