We’ve had wall-to-wall meetings this week with clients, discussing improving their training and I realized there were some common themes. I thought I’d jot them down before the weekend when… well… you know what happens when you have a brilliant thought on Friday and wait until Monday to write it down!

10 Strategies to Improve Your Training

#1: Respect people’s time. If you’re going to ask people to spend the time and (possible) money to attend a training session, it should go beyond valuable to indispensable. Use the in-person format wisely.

#2: Utilize online learning. This relates to #1. Using online learning wisely allows you to make the most of your in-person training. Remember, there are four different types of learning: information delivery, knowledge application, skill development and performance mastery. The appropriate delivery method is based on this plus the topic plus the learner’s style and aptitude.

#3: Invest in an LMS. There’s really no excuse not to have an LMS. There are too many good, inexpensive options out there right now not to have one. Seriously, this should be #1, #1a, #1b and #1d. It can be that important.

#4: Don’t overwhelm. You know why M&M’s are great? Okay, yes there’s the chocolate but it’s also because you can eat 5 or 50. They’re so small that you can decide how much you can handle. Same with training. Break it into itty-bitty bits. If people want more, than can always combine bits.

#5: Spread it out. Related to #4. Eating a whole bag of M&M’s in one sitting might make you sick (who’s up for some hands-on research?!). A person’s skills build, so should your training.

#6: Be holistic. I don’t mean eating tree bark to cure a cold. I mean develop a strategy for your training based on your employees’ needs and create a curriculum plan utilizing multiple delivery methods. Don’t slap together several workshops from outside experts and call it a day.

#7: Speaking of outside experts, how about inside experts? You will be amazed, shocked and stupefied by how much your people know, if you just ask them. Trust me on this.

#8: Social media. Yes, you’ve been told that social media can cure every ill that ails your company but in the case of training, it is a powerful tool. That doesn’t mean it needs to be complicated. Do you know what social media is? Knowledge Sharing. Do you know what knowledge sharing is? Bob has a problem. Julie has a solution. Julie tells Bob the solution. Done. I’ve seen it in action and it’s amazing.

#9: Pick your projects according to the cost vs benefit. Said another way, what’s going to give you the most bang for your buck. You don’t have an unlimited budget, right? So the training you offer has to be carefully chosen. There are a whole bunch of factors to determine this including: the number of learners, the impact of the training, the volume of information, the delivery method, etc.

#10: Training should not be fun. I always get grief when I say this, but being successful in business is hard work and so should training be. I think what people mean when they say this is… Training should not be boring, agree. Training should be useful and relevant, agree. Training should be engaging and experiential, agree. If this happens to be fun, fine, and there’s nothing wrong with some levity. But I don’t see a lot of medical students or law students giggling in class.

There’s of course more to it than this but small bits, right? No go buy some M&M’s (and no I’m not a paid endorser of the M&M/Mars company).

Let’s face it… A company’s human resources or training department usually has too much on its plate. Rarely is there more budget than there are projects to complete; it’s almost always the other way around – you only have so much budget and so many projects that you don’t know where to begin.

I’d like to make the case to begin with onboarding as your next project for two reasons – one of which benefits the HR or Training professional, the other benefits the company’s employees.

The benefit to your company’s employees might seem obvious, a good onboarding program helps speed and increase productivity, employee satisfaction, reduces errors and generally makes everyone’s life – during what could be a very tumultuous time – a little easier.

But there’s more to it than that. Too many times, training departments are playing catch-up. You’re trying to take an employee who’s been at the company for 5-10 years and suddenly change the way you want them to do things. It’s an uphill climb.

Why not start at the top of the hill, or with a clean slate, if you will. It’s much easier to instill in new employees the desired behavior rather than trying to change the behavior of more tenured employees. Onboarding gives you that opportunity.

As for the benefit to the training or HR professional (besides the fact that you will look amazing with a smoothly-running, effective onboarding program), it’s a matter of prioritizing your projects.

Onboarding helps you uncover your organization’s true training needs. How? Because it touches all employees. Rather than fielding a training request that comes from one department in one location in one of your company’s divisions, onboarding allows you to tap right into the heartbeat of all your employees, and their needs will surface.

Not to mention the fact that onboarding is the new employees’ first impression of not only the company but of you and your department. If they feel the onboarding was well-done, the next time you hit them with some training, they’re much more apt to pay heed.

So next time you’re struggling with too many to-do’s and you’re not sure where to begin, start where your employees start – improve your onboarding program (or develop one if you don’t already have one) and build from there. It’s the foundation of employee performance.

Novita Training offer three solutions for improving your company’s onboarding, one for any size organization and budget. For more information, click here and also here.

Many employers have lofty visions for their employees… they craft vision statements and values; they long for their employees to be “engaged” and “2.0″, and spend hours deliberating the company “culture” that each employee should display.

So then why are so many employees not engaged, 1.0, go against the culture, and fail to behave in accordance with the values?

Because too many employers play “catch up” with their employees – meaning they wait to communicate such guidelines (or simply never communicate them) until it’s too late and the employee has been there long enough that their bad behavior is set, and will take twice as long to change.

Imagine saying to an employee who has been at your company for three years, “You are not acting according to our values.” In many cases, the employee’s response? “What values?” or “I’ve been doing it this way all along.” It’s like trying to introduce wedding vows at a 3-yr anniversary. Chances are you’ll be unsuccessful (if the marriage even lasts that long!).

What’s an employer to do? It’s simple actually. Instead of trying to correct undesirable behavior after-the-fact, start the new employee out with the ideal behavior in the first place.

The reality is that all the buzzwords companies talk about today work better if they are instilled the first day the employee walks through the door, in what is known as the onboarding period. “Culture” begins at onboarding; “Engagement” begins at onboarding; “2.0″ only happens if your onboarding is 2.0.

Yet so many companies do a poor job of onboarding a new employee and – worse yet – set a precedence that projects the exact opposite image than what they are trying to. How can you expect an employee to behave “collaboratively” if you throw your new employee into his or her job with no collaboration.

We’ve worked with companies, improving the way they onboard new employees and invariably what we develop ends up benefiting existing employees as well, because no one took the time when they were new.

A study done in 2008* suggests that new employees of companies with highly-rated onboarding programs are:

- 52% more likely to understand the desired conduct of an employee.
- 95% more likely to feel part of a team.
- 48% more likely to feel a strong sense of commitment to the organization.
- 23% more likely to remain at the company after six months.

Next time you are considering an initiative whose goal is to change employees’ attitude or behavior, start fresh rather than playing catch-up! By first improving your onboarding, your employees will more consistently live your ideals because they’ve never known anything else. First impressions and precedence do mean that much.

For information on ways to improve your onboarding, shoot us a note at info@novitaunique.com.

* 2008 national study. Copyright Novita. All rights reserved.

I was reminded again today how important data is to improving your company’s new employee onboarding.

We preach to our clients that the best way to determine how to improve your company’s onboarding is not by your “gut” or what leaders may tell you is needed, but by the data you collect using various quantitative and qualitative methods (such as the surveys we implement and interviews we conduct as part of our onboarding development process for clients).

Think about it… Why not get the answers right from your new employees’ mouths! They, after all, are your customers (at least one of them, they are not the only customer, by the way – but that’s the topic for another post).

For example, when we started working with this one particular client, they were convinced that their company performed well in aspect “A” (I’ll just use letters for confidentiality reasons) and their company performed poorly in aspect “B”. So they were ready to throw money at improving aspect “B”.

But the data proved otherwise. It turns out that yes, the company indeed performed well in aspect “A”; and even in aspect “B”, but they scored horribly in aspect “C”! If it were not for the data, not only would this company have wasted money fixing something that didn’t need fixing, but they would have ignored the true problem – at least one them; there is never just one, but that’s a topic for another, much longer, post!

So use data! And use GOOD data. What do I mean by good data? Well, again that’s a whole other topic. We have perfected our analysis methods through years or continuous improvement, but it comes down to knowing what information you’re going after (and sometimes not knowing until you find it) and figuring ways to extract the data from your audience. Start small, go beyond the smile sheets and think about ways you can not just collect data but mine it as well.

* The following article is based on contributions from many within the franchise community. I hope my summary and organization have done their insight justice.

There are many critical conversations a potential franchisee should have with the franchisor prior to finalizing any agreement. The topic of training should be one of them. But what should a franchisee ask? As many will tell you, to truly discover the efficacy of the training provided you must speak with the franchisor but also current franchisees.

I’ve divided the questions about training into the following categories:

• Questions about the format of the training.
• Questions about ongoing training.
• Questions about the content of the training.
• Questions to ask current and/or past franchisees.

Questions About the Format of the Training

If you’ve ever sat through several days of training and walked out feeling overwhelmed and retaining very little, you can understand why the format of training is so important.

Training conducted all-at-once at the corporate headquarters is often the easiest method for the franchisor but not always the most effective for the franchisee. As for the format of the materials, there is no correlation between effectiveness and the weight of the binder! So bigger isn’t always better. As someone said, it’s easy to make things complex, and difficult to simplify them.

You may and should find details about the format of the training in the F.D.D. However, particularly with smaller franchisors, what’s in the F.D.D. is sometimes what the ‘sor would like the training to be ideally, not exactly what exists in reality.

• First and foremost, the delivery method. This is especially important if you are far removed from headquarters. What methods does the ‘sor employ? Such as:
o In-person
o Video
o Webinar (‘live’ online – also called ‘synchronous’)
o eLearning (‘self-paced’ online – also called ‘asynchronous’)
o Coaching / On-the-Job training
• How is the in-person training conducted? Such as:
o Length of time
o Location (at company headquarters? regionally? at your location?)
o Is it mostly lecture or hands-on?
o How often are training sessions held?
• If no online training is offered, why not?
• What is the cost of the initial training?
• Who should and could participate (owners, unit managers, staff, etc)? Is there an additional cost for additional people?
• What materials will be provided as reference (videos, manuals, quick reference guides, etc)? P.S. Beware if the materials are simply PowerPoint slides from the class.
• Who provides the training and what is their background/experience? Has he/she ever run this type of business?
• Is there any assessment or a pass/fail threshold? What happens if I fail? P.S. You should want the organization to have high standards.
• Is there anything that should be done in preparation for the initial training?
• How has the training program evolved / improved since the concept was founded?

Questions About Ongoing Training

Many believe the true worth of a franchisor’s training happens after you leave the classroom of the initial training. Some franchisors are great at getting you trained to get the doors open only to have the emphasis on learning dip dramatically.

The fact is, running any business profitably is hard and complex. No amount of initial training will fully prepare you. What’s more, it’s only when you’re actually in operation that the learning will take hold, but it’s also then that the gaps in the training will show themselves.

• What ongoing training is provided throughout the lifecycle of the business?
• What will the franchisor do to assist in the actual opening of the business?
• What training is provided as new employees and managers are hired?
• Is ongoing training conducted in-person or through technology (eLearning or webinars)?
• Will a representative of the ‘sor visit my location to provide additional individualized training? If so, how often?
• Is there a support staff to answer my questions?
• Are there regional meetings? Annual meetings? Monthly conference calls? How are these conducted and what is covered (i.e., are they refresher courses or new content?)
• Is it an obligation to attend future training or is it optional?
• What is the expense?
• Is there a Franchise Advisory Council (a group of franchisees representing and communicating their needs to the franchisor)?

Questions About the Content of the Training

Format means nothing if the content is not relevant, applicable and up-to-date. Too many times, training is theoretical instead of practical. Yes, you need the 10,000-foot view but you also need to know where the rubber meets the road! Ask to see the agenda as well as training materials to review what topics are covered and to what degree.

Topics should include both those specific to operating the concept as well as general business practices (i.e. sales and marketing). Without sales and profit, there’s no concept to operate.

• Training developed correctly should be about changing behavior, so your first question should be: what will I be able to do at the end of the training that I cannot do now?
• Does the training prepare me to run, build and sustain my business?
• In what ways does the training mimic the true “day in the life of” a franchisee?
• Some of the more critical topics the training should cover (if applicable):
o Sales, sales, sales
o Marketing and the myriad of topics this entails
o Concept & brand
o Operations
o Human resources, such as recruiting, interviewing and hiring
o Managing and developing employees
o Safety & security
o Information & technology
o Financial management: accounting/P&L/cash flow
o Facilities: site selection/permits/construction/vehicles
o Office set-up
• Does the learning include training from any vendors, such as software, marketing, employee benefits, etc.?

Questions to Ask Current (or Past) Franchisees

The franchisor may create and deliver the training but the franchisees live it. They can provide insight on what works (and what doesn’t). Try talking to franchisees that are at least a year removed from the initial training, and – if you can – reach out to them yourself rather than the list of ones the ‘sor provides. You’ll want to talk to successful locations but also ones that are failing or – if you can – ones that are no longer in business. Many times, people who have failed are able to articulate more clearly why they did versus people who are successful are able to tell you what makes them that way.

If there are ‘discrepancies’ between what the franchisor claims and the franchisees’ perception, this should be a red flag to be discussed with the ‘sor. Any of the above questions you may and should ask the franchisee, in addition to the following:

• Was the training promised in the FDD actually delivered?
• After the initial training, did learning drop off? Did you feel left on your own?
• What type of ongoing training are you receiving in the field?
• Was the training realistic to what you face every day or more theoretical?
• Did the training teach you what you need to be successful in the business?
• Was the amount of time devoted to training enough to prepare you?
• Was there ample opportunity to ask questions?
• What aspects of the training were the most beneficial?
• In what areas did you receive no training but felt you needed it?
• Did the instructor seem to know the business and your day-to-day challenges?
• If you were to start over, what could the franchisor have done differently in training to better equip you to succeed?

This list is not exhaustive nor addresses your specific situation, but should give you a starting point. The important thing is to not bypass the discussion about training. A comprehensive, well-developed, effective training program is one of the advantages to buying a franchise over running an independent business, and should be one of the reasons why you choose the former over the latter.

About the author. Robert Bilotti is Managing Director of Novita, a franchise and employee training firm that helps franchisors create training programs which produce measurable results.
For more information, visit www.novitaunique.com.

“I think our training program is working well.”

It’s a phrase we hear often from franchisors. When asked the following two questions, however, is when things get interesting….

1) What do your FRANCHISEES think?

After all, isn’t the training designed for them? The answer to this is usually a) I don’t know or b) Our “smile sheets” tell us they like it. Those are those forms you fill out at the very end of a training session, rating it from 1-5. But when franchisees go back to their location is usually when the “gaps” in a training program show themselves, and by that time the franchisor has usually moved on. There needs to be a mechanism in place to 1) Capture more useful and actionable information and 2) Capture it continuously and at a time when it’s most relevant.

2) What are you doing about scalability?

Your training program isn’t all about your franchisees. You matter. After all, you’re the one who has to build it, deliver it, maintain it, etc. So if things are “working well” now (according to smile sheets), what about when you double your number of locations? Most ‘sors think about little else than selling more, more, more, but not often think about how their operations will have to change to adjust to the new scale – including their training.

If your current training program consists of in-person, week-long, PowerPoint fests, that may work when you have six locations (though it’s still not the most effective method for ANY number) and can hold the ‘sees hand for weeks or even months afterward. But what about when you have 12 locations? 25? 125? You don’t have enough hands to hold all of theirs.

Scalability… it’s a word not often considered in franshisee training but it should be and RIGHT NOW – when you are still small. The very nature of franchising means distance learning, yet so many ‘sors are still stuck in the “classroom” mindset. I’m not saying in-person classroom sessions aren’t necessary, but your current and future training program needs to be more “just in time” and “on demand” – giving ‘sees the information they need, when they need it.

It doesn’t cost a fortune. In fact, you will end up SAVING money, and in some case can even MAKE money. But it starts with answering these two difficult questions.

For the many service providers whose revenue is based on the success of the companies they serve, 2009 might not be a textbook example of ‘trickle down’ economics, and has compelled some to rethink their approach – even those who have not fared so poorly.

“We had a pretty decent year,” says Robert Bilotti – Managing Director of NovitaTM, an employee development firm that helps organizations more effectively onboard new hires and improve the performance of all employees through training “As for our clients, some remain strong. Others have suffered setbacks. All are spending more prudently.”

In an effort to save money, many companies are attempting to do more for themselves, rather than relying on outsiders. In a survey Novita conducted, 73% of employers responded they are taking this approach. Why? 81% said they were working with less budget dollars.

Bilotti explains, “Doing it yourself – or D.I.Y. – is big right now. Just ask stores like Home Depot. More people are buying paint and donning their overalls instead of hiring a professional painter. The same can be said for organizations.”

Even with smaller budgets, however, employees of those organizations still want and need to learn, develop and grow. Billotti says, “Regardless of the economy, those needs haven’t changed. So we did.”

This past summer, Novita introduced SpringboardTM, what Bilotti calls the first ‘Do-It-Yourself’ Onboarding Bootcamp. He says, “Not every homeowner knows how to properly paint, just like not every employer knows how to properly orient a new employee. Springboard teaches them how.”

Over the three-day workshop, attendees are guided through the process of building a comprehensive program that addresses their new employees’ needs, as well as those of the management and staff. Templates and worksheets are included so that employers can do it themselves – with a little help. “We let them cheat a bit,” explains Bilotti with a smile. “We’ve been doing this for years, so there’s no need for them to start from scratch.” Creating an effective program can be overwhelming, evidenced by the fact that a typical new employee completes as many as 300-500 tasks. Says Bilotti, “With the tools we give them, they can simply add-in their own content.”

The D.I.Y. approach can also be used for employees who are not new, yet still want to improve their performance. Instead of a workshop, Novita helps the organization train its employees itself, rather than bringing in an expensive outside trainer.

Says Bilotti, “There’s a great deal of knowledge that exists within any company in the form of best practices. We help them find it, extract it and develop training around it, thus raising the performance of all employees up to that of their star performers.” According to Bilotti, such an approach can be used for any topic, including management and leadership development.

The response to Novita’s D.I.Y. methods has been very positive. Dates for the Springboard Bootcamp are set for next year, and the firm is currently working with several companies on D.I.Y. training efforts, including those who are prospering. “It’s not just clients who may be struggling that are interested,” says Bilotti. “D.I.Y. means any size organization with any size budget can have world-class onboarding and training for their employees.”

For more information on Springboard or D.I.Y. Training, visit www.novitaunique.com

Survey Results: Are professionals taking more of a Do it Yourself (D.I.Y.) approach at work? How are Providers Responding?

With the shaky economy, one growing segment has been stores such as Home Depot that service the “Do It Yourself” crowd (DIY-ers). Instead of hiring a plumber or painter, more people are buying the pipes and paint, and dusting off their goggles.

Is this paradigm shift holding true when people don their business suit versus overalls? Are professionals at work doing it more themselves for things which they used to hire an outside company? According to a survey recently conducted by Novita – an employee onboarding and training provider (www.novitaunique.com) – the answer is a resounding yes!

When asked the question – “In your job, are you doing things now more or less for yourself versus working with external vendors? – over 73% responded ‘yes’.

What prompted this change? 81% said they were working with less budget, while 31% were worried about dwindling future budgets. A quarter said they had more time than they used to, and 32% wanted more control over the process. Downsizing is also an issue, as one responder wrote: “We lost half the people in our department. I didn’t want to, but was forced to become a DIY-er.” Another added, “D.I.Y. is fast becoming a money-saver for many businesses. In this economy, it’s a must.”

On the flip side, of the 17% who responded that they were, in fact, doing things less for themselves (said another way, they were using outside companies more), 56% said one of the reasons was the skills needed did not exist within their organization, while 33% answered that they got better results using an outside expert.

So what does this mean for providers who make their living helping others? According to Robert Bilotti, Managing Director at Novita, it means finding more collaborative and creative ways to help their clients. “If you want to stay in the picture amid shrinking budgets, your paradigm also needs to change. The days of bloated budget with little oversight are gone – if they ever existed.”

As an example, Bilotti cites how his company has changed the way they offer their onboarding services. “We still offer our full-service package to those who want us to do everything soup-to-nuts, but we’ve also rolled out what we call Springboard, which is a D.I.Y. Onboarding Bootcamp (www.novitaunique.com/files/onboarding.pdf). In it, we teach Human Resources and Training professionals how to build their own new employee program.” Bilotti explains that though some may want to do it themselves, they might not know how to go about it. So Novita starts them off and running. Bilotti says, “This is a low-cost alternative so that any size organization can have world-class onboarding – regardless of budget.”

Other providers are working with companies to build solutions that meet their needs, including if those needs change. Robert Watson, Marketing & Account Manager for Sencia Canada Ltd, says, “We’ve developed our Learning Content Management System (www.informetica.com) with a very ‘open’ architecture. In this way, the system truly becomes their own, without having to invest hundreds of thousands of dollars and employ additional IT personnel.” D.I.Y. LMS management.

Eric Bergquist, President of The Employment Vault, a Software as a Service (SaaS) company (www.theemploymentvault.com) that allows organizations to automate incoming employment verifications, hasn’t so much changed his company’s offering, but the way clients use the service has. “We’re seeing more employment verifications for temporary employees and contractors. So while using non-permanent employees is one way organizations are doing things more for themselves, there are still services necessary to do so, such as ours.”

In a more drastic response, some providers are shifting their efforts entirely to other industries; ones they feel offer more of an opportunity under the current economy and political environment – such as governments and their suppliers.

Such a move may not seem so radical when you consider that, when asked when the economy rebounds if they will go back to the way things used to be, 30% of respondents said ‘no’ they will continue using the D.I.Y. approach. And while 39% weren’t sure of the approach they will take, they revealed they will not be going back to business as usual. One respondent added, “Before using an outside vendor or contract supplier, we ask, ‘can we do it ourselves?’ The answer is sometimes yes and sometimes no. But we never used to ask.”

This may be a wake-up call to providers that the landscape has changed; in some ways permanently, but according to Bilotti, there is a silver lining. He says, “I think this has forced people to get back to basics, maybe shed some of the excess – which can be good. Companies may have narrowed their focus, but there will always be a call for providers who supply a needed service or expertise, and who provide good value while delivering results. The bottom line is, companies can’t do everything themselves, nor would they want to.”