Training Industry Quarterly - Fall 2011 - (Page 22)

DON’T BE SURPRISED IF A WINNING TECHNIQUE FOR ONE REGION DOESN’T EARN UNIFORM PRAISE IN ANOTHER employee units are stripped down, pressed for maximum output. Skill refinement becomes a low priority. That’s why training leaders that can find innovative approaches to acknowledging and addressing these concerns remain highly valued at companies today. In addition, training industry leaders must identify the right course content and deliver it when it’s needed and where it’s wanted, ensuring the effective transfer and retention of knowledge and skills and reinforcing learned skills and behaviors after training. Think of how challenging it is—even in geographically close-knit organizations—to follow up on well-received training sessions months later to gauge whether “best practices” learned are being appropriately carried out. Let’s face it: Pressing deadlines and daily “fires” will emerge and all of the initial “buzz” of a well-received training effort may start to wear off, and the lessons learned will fade. This is why the significance of strong reinforcement cannot be understated. Now add the complexity of attempting to incorporate these requirements of training within a global company structure, and that’s when transfer, retention, and reinforcement get much more difficult. Given this scenario, there are five key components to consider for a successful training structure within a global framework: 1 Flexible approaches. New training platforms—such as a “hybrid” version that combines in-class and online learning— can accommodate tight travel budgets and other logistical limitations. This helps execute training in a timely fashion, as priority projects shouldn’t be delayed just because all company team members can’t be in the same room at the same time. Face-to-face classroom instruction still dominates, accounting for 58 percent of all training hours consumed, but virtual training is growing rapidly. That’s because tech-enhanced training programs offer participants the ability to have geographically dispersed teams train together. For example, an event facilitated from Washington, D.C. at 11 a.m. local time can be attended by someone in Seattle over their first coffee of the morning (8:00 a.m. PT) and another participant in London (4:00 p.m. GMT) who’s winding down the day. When an instructor can train dispersed team members in one event at the same time Do You Know Your Training Partner? 10 Questions to Ask What deﬁnes great training—and a great training provider—is how much more eﬀective employees are when they return from their training course or program. Ultimately, training should energize and inspire attendees, as well as provide them with the skills and knowledge they need to do their jobs successfully, while making their organization stronger and more competitive. At a high-level, a training provider should be able to answer key questions about their training methodology, the relevance of their training content, the scope of their content, the expected results, partnership with industry associations and alignment with industry certiﬁcation standards training. Ask the following 10 questions of your training provider, whether current or prospective, to ensure that you realize all the beneﬁts expected from your training investment. Scope • Can you develop a training program that’s scalable and can be successfully delivered, regardless of size? • Can you support a training program that has regional, national or even multinational requirements? Results • How can I be sure your training will increase my staﬀ’s productivity? • How do you measure attendee satisfaction and respond to the results? • How do you guarantee my satisfaction? Professional Development • Are your courses eligible for college credit and professional certiﬁcation? Methodology • How do you keep your learning environment and instructional methodologies current with—and relevant to—today’s realworld workplace? • What are your instructors’ qualiﬁcations, and how are they trained and evaluated? Relevance • Is your course content original and free from vendor bias? • How often do you update your course content to ensure relevancy? 22 A great training provider will be able to address your unique business challenges with the most relevant solutions for your organization’s structure—whether the best solution for you is training delivered as instructor-led, classroom-based; live, online in a virtual environment; or on-site at your preferred facility and limited to your employees. In the end, what matters most is that the training provider can deliver the content you need, when you need it, where you want it. Training Industry Quarterly, Fall 2011 / A Training Industry, Inc. ezine / www.trainingindustry.com/TIQ http://www.trainingindustry.com/TIQ

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Training Industry Quarterly - Fall 2011

Training Industry Quarterly - Fall 2011
From Where I Sit: Back to the Basics
Table of Contents
Ad Index
The Learning GPS
Work that Stretches: The Best Teacher
The Promise and Peril of Social Enterprise
Technical Training: How is it Different?
Companies Press 'Play' on Training Games
Redefining the 'e' in e-Learning
Essential Components for Effectively Training a Global Workforce
Five m-Learning Considerations for Your Talent Management Strategy
Instructional Design: Learning Meets Technology
Improving Training: Thinking Like a Game Developer
Casebook: Pfizer: Moving Product Sales Training Online
Why is Mobile Learning Not More Popular?
Tweet Suite
Company News
Closing Arguments: The Three T's

Training Industry Quarterly - Fall 2011