As 2020 is knocking at the door, businesses can no longer use outdated, generic training methods and expect them to yield results. Here, we discuss how managers can leverage technology to personalize their training programs and provide their employees the attention they need.
Most people understand the importance of employee training, but few managers understand how to go about actually achieving results when training their workforce while keeping costs under control.
This is because far too many businesses are failing to personalize their employee training programs, largely because doing so demands time, money, and effort that they’d rather invest elsewhere.
The truth of the matter, however, is that employee training efforts which aren’t personalized aren’t worthy of your attention in the first place.
Here’s how to personalize your training regime, and why personalization will prove to be the future of employee training as we know it.
Your workers have to be engaged
If you want to achieve results when it comes to your employee training regime, you must find a way to engage your workers from start to finish.
A classroom full of uninterested students will never enjoy excellent test scores, and a business environment full of uninterested workers will never reap the rewards which can be derived from a thorough training program which gives them new skills and insights to work with.
The only guaranteed way to engage your workers from the start of the program until its end is to personalize it and make it accessible to employees who may otherwise tune out.
It’s long been argued that effective employee training must include personal growth initiatives, but many managers and business owners ignore this because they’re not entirely sure what it means.
They may ask themselves why it’s their responsibility to foster the personal growth of their workers, for instance, not understanding that doing so is the same thing as fostering their professional growth as capable employees.
Before you spend a time on fancy software or hiring an expert, you should be asking yourself “will this help my employees connect to the training they’re undergoing?”
Sometimes, investing in your employee training and the personal growth of your workers means investing in their personal lives. This means providing ample opportunities for workers to head home early if they’re sick and guaranteeing fair wages for hard work.
If employees have been treated harshly thus far, they have few reasons to eagerly engage with the training program in front of them – after all, what’s the point?
If you treat them right and show them that they can advance up the company hierarchy with effort, however, they’ll eagerly embrace training regimes as a means of bolstering their own immediate prospects.
Avoid the silly mistakes
You can’t engage your workers in a stellar training program if you’re continuously stumbling and making silly mistakes. That’s why managers should spend some time learning about why employee training fails, as only by being aware of the hurdles to come can you truly surpass them.
Permitting managers and senior executives to skip lengthy training programs is one of the most common errors that too many businesses keep making.
Why should your employees be dedicated to improving themselves if their immediate superiors aren’t interested in doing the same? Once you’re aware of these pitfalls, you can avoid them all the more efficiently.
Another common mistake is to rely on tired, outdated methods which will alienate a youthful workforce. Properly digitizing your employee training program is essential if you want your workers to embrace it with gusto, as digital technology has become an ingrained part of the lives of most people.
Nevertheless, some managers refuse to invest in the digitization of their training regimes because they’re fearful of the obstacles involved in digital adoption. The truth of the matter is that you can’t afford to rely on outdated methods, as they’ll produce no meaningful results at all, and you’ll end up squandering your entire investment.
Digital training systems are inherently more personalized and useful than outdated training methods which were constructed in an era of standardization.
As you go forward, spend plenty of time thinking about how you’ll leverage digital technology to achieve your training goals, and don’t forget to think about how you’ll afford such tools in the first place.
Tapping into tech
Knowing that you need to tap into tech and knowing how to tap into tech are two different things.
Many managers and business owners who aren’t particularly tech-savvy themselves may naturally be resistant to embracing digital tools when it comes to training their workers.
If you’re incapable of modernizing yourself, however, you’ll never be able to modernize your business and ensure your workforce is up for the challenges provided by a 21st century marketplace.
Regularly performance assessments handled by managers should be digitized as soon as possible.
Similarly, employees should be given digital means of providing anonymous feedback to the company; if they can anonymously submit candid feedback about what’s working and what’s not, you can identify and bolster the better elements of your employee training while isolating and removing those lackluster elements which employees dislike.
Outside of tapping into tech, you should also be fostering cultural changes across the workplace that will encourage the habit of lifelong learning.
Foster lifelong learning habits
Only by understanding the importance of lifelong learning habits can you hope to steer your workers towards more productive pastures.
This is going to become particularly more important as time goes on, as lifelong learning is something which must be personally taught; try to educate a general audience on the importance of lifelong learning, and most of them will tune out or fail to receive the message even if they’re eagerly listening to it.
By approaching workers/learners individually and instilling the importance of being a lifelong learning within them, you’ll motivate them to be self-starters who go out of the way to learn new things and embrace strange perspectives.
This isn’t always an easy feat to accomplish, largely because there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to teaching people or instilling educational confidence in the ranks of those who approach learning with dread in their hearts.
If you’re struggling to connect with your workers and find your messaging efforts to be frustrated, don’t be afraid to slow down and spend extra time with individual employees.
Try to standardize the process of employee training too much and you simply water down the lessons to the point where they lack any useful information.
Personalization is set to be the future of employee training because it’s the only surefire way to achieve results in the digital workplace.
The digital economy has enabled us to collect and utilize data like never before, so don’t be afraid to embrace the power of technology when it comes to teaching workers new skills.
Similarly, permitting your workers to provide anonymous feedback will enable you to focus on what you’re getting wrong, ensuring that your future training regime is better than your present one.
Leverage technology to personalize your training programs
Love it or hate it, digital technology has already reshaped our marketplace and our society.
Managers who try to ignore the power of tech when it comes to training are letting both themselves and their workers down. Eagerly embrace the power of personalization while taking the time to listen to your workers and incorporate their feedback into future training sessions.
As we’re heading towards 2020, we understand that individualism is key to ignite employees’ wishes to succeed and grow whilst training. Personalization is no longer a recommendation, it’s a must.
