If you are to train staff efficiently it will need to be properly planned and in order to do these four main elements have to be considered:
1. Who is to do the training?
2. What is to be taught?
3. How is it to be taught?
4. How is it to be judged?
1. Who is to do the training?
We all know that some people can do a job very efficiently themselves but when it comes to teaching others they are no good at all. This is because to teach others requires certain characteristics which are additional to being able to do the job well. Anyone who is selected to teach others consequently will need to have certain characteristics.
These include:
1 Wish to help others
2 Sympathetic and patient manner
3 Competence in the job
4 Understanding of trainees’ needs and problems
5 A systematic approach to work
6 Knowledge and skill of teaching techniques
7 Ability to be self-critical.
As a principle, however, everyone who has to give some form of instruction or coaching during the normal working day should have or should develop some training skills. This applies, particularly to
very manager and supervisor.
2. What is to be taught?
Training in a business context is concerned with bridging the gap between an individual’s capabilities and the employer’s requirements. This gap is a training need. Put this way it sounds simple but in practice it can be quite difficult. This is because what a person needs to bring to a job is a mixture of:
• General knowledge
• Technical knowledge
• Aptitudes
• Attitudes Skills.
Training needs, apart from consisting of knowledge, skills and attitudes, occur at different times in the working life of employees and organizations.
For example when:
• A new employee starts
• Changes take place
• Things go wrong.
When a new employee starts, Of course, a whole range of things needs to be known. You should include items from each of the following:
• Relationships between staff and departments
• Hours and other conditions
• Safety and security practices
• Rules and regulations
• Methods of work.
When changes take place, A person needs training when the following occur:
• Changes in methods, products or standards of performance
• Changes in equipment
• Transfers and promotions.
When things go wrong (remedial training), A person may need training when any of the following occur:
• Unsatisfactory trading results or standards
• Customer complaints
• Breakages, waste.
3. What can be taught?
Some things, such as knowledge and skill, can be transferred to most reasonable trainees quite easily given adequate training expertise on the part of the trainer. Attitudes, on the other hand, are very difficult and in many respects, it is better to aim to select people with the attitudes you want rather than to attempt to ‘instil’ attitudes into unwilling employees.
If, for example, a person resents serving others, it is unlikely that you will have the time and psychological expertise to change his attitudes. Much better to avoid recruiting him in the first place.
It is apparent therefore that most training should be concerned with transferring knowledge and skills. To do this the trainer will need to examine his own knowledge and skill and break it down so that he is completely aware of what he has to put over.