Training and Development - Start With Where You Want to Finish

Much of the training undertaken by business is quite reactive and carried out for some diverse reasons.

The glossy brochure which arrives at a time when Sally has been complaining about the job, or pay, or both. The leadership course which "seems like a good idea". Well, we always want to improve leadership. The reward for hard working staff. The idea that we had better do some training because successful companies seem to do it and we've read that good employees are likely to stay if we provide training.

While we would always be supportive of business developing staff, it seems that much effort and expense is misdirected. How can we avoid this mistake?

If we start with identifying what knowledge skills or behaviour we need after the training, then we are going to stand more chance of being on the right track. These training needs may arise from your business plans, performance management process, recruitment needs or even a systematic approach to identifying the training and development needs of the business. They may also arise from individual requests.

All too often they are listed as vague programs rather than specific outcomes. For example, many performance appraisals will list "Excel skills" as a training objective. A more effective way of addressing this is define exactly what is required e.g. "to be able to enter key statistical formulae and produce graphs showing sales trends by product"

The secret to making sure the training investment is worthwhile is to determine what it is you want to achieve. This is best done by spending time writing very clear training objectives.

These usually take the form of "At the end of the training/development program, the participant will be able to"

For example, a training need may be identified as situational awareness. The objective may then be written as: "At the end of the training program, the participant will be able to describe, in a systematic and objective way, a business situation and list the various factors impacting on it, and their possible consequences."

A training objective for "innovation" may be written as: "At the end of the training program, the participant will be able to use a number of techniques to draw together possible unrelated resources to develop solutions to problems or implement improvements."

Formal training courses are not the only option. Once a need has been clearly defined we may find there a are a number of ways to meet it. Enlisting the help of someone who already has the required skill and ability to coach the trainee is an often overlooked source of development. There are also inexpensive books, CDs/DVDs and other materials available including online courses that can be very effective.

A creative approach to training and development starts with defining what you want and being proactive rather than reactive.

It is also valuable to follow up some weeks or months after the training to review how the outcomes are being put into practice. This reinforces the value put on the training and helps assess how well a particular method has worked and judge whether to use it again to meet a similar need elsewhere.

SOURCE:
http://www.articlesbase.com/management-articles/training-and-development-start-with-where-you-want-to-finish-60031.html

Human resource development: Types of training and development programs

Organizations must develop their people. Organizations must provide training and development programs to groom the next generation of leaders. Without training and development programs, organizations will lose talent. The bottom line will suffer.

There are seven types of training and development programs.

The first type of training and development program is technical training. Technical training can take place in the classroom. However, most technical training sessions are practical training. On-the-job training is part of the technical training.

The benefits of providing technical training is to improve on work performance. Many organizations provide in-house technical training.

The second type of training and development program is quality training. Quality training includes customer service training. Quality training in a manufacturing plant involves knowledge of total quality management.

Quality training involves finding solutions to improve processes and products. Quality training is an on-going effort to instill the philosophy of continuous improvement.

The third type of training and development program is skills training. Skills training involves presentation, selling, languages, public speaking, negotiation, and languages.

Many organizations realize the potential of soft-skills training. They spend money to develop in-house soft-skills training program. They want their employees to develop creative-thinking skills, communication skills, and other skills essential to the long-term survival of the organization.

The fourth type of training and development program is the professional training. Organizations needs professionals in various departments. However, organizations generally do not have the expertise to provide professional training. They send their employees for courses to obtain professional qualifications.

The fifth type of training and development program is functional training. Functional training can take place as part of on-the-job training. Functional training includes diplomas or degrees in the respective field of expertise.

For example, a diploma program in purchasing and material management is a part time academic program.

The sixth type of training and development program is team-bonding activity. The organization pays money to engage employees in team-bonding activities. The purpose of this training is to develop leadership and teamwork. Team-bonding activity usually took place outdoor. Organizations use rock climbing, canoeing, and other outdoor activities as part of a team-bonding program.

The last type of training and development program is managerial training. Some organizations encourage their managers to attend expensive seminars as part of managerial training.

The purpose of managerial training is to learn from the best practices in the industry. The organizations want their managers to widen their networks, and steal ideas from the associates.

Organizations usually apply a top-down approach in administration of training and development program. Organizations do not encourage staff to use the company's resources to learn about cooking or other self-improvement programs.



SOURCE:
http://www.helium.com/items/1548575-training-and-development-human-resource-development