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).

It’s an all-too-familiar scene, tell me if it rings true for you. My company is called-in to help an organization create training or improve the training they currently offer their employees. Everyone is excited, they tell us. From the CEO on down, we’re told there is a new enthusiasm for training and everyone – finally – is coming around to seeing the value of training. Great, I think to myself, as I wait for the other shoe to drop.

The first project, we’re told, will be to create seven hours of XYZ training (the topic doesn’t matter) and that it’s critical that it be done right and absolutely has to “speak” to the learners, or else they won’t buy into it… still waiting.

“Terrific,” I say. “The best way to ensure relevancy and accuracy of the training content is to work closely with your SMEs.” … shoe dangling.

“Oh,” the response normally is. “Our SME’s are really busy. I can maybe get you an hour with them next week. Is that enough time?”

CLUNK!!

Of course, you all know the answer to the question but in case you don’t, you, of course, know a SME is a Subject Matter Expert. Let’s break that title down. “Subject Matter” – the content around which you are to build the training. “Expert” – a master of said content. Kind of an important person to the success of the project, wouldn’t you say?

And then they add, “And it needs to be done by the end of the month.” Since I have no more shoes to drop and will continue by saying this is, unfortunately, not atypical.

Training has many enemies: lack of funding, lack of clear objectives, lack of respect, but – in my opinion and 15 years of experience – the biggest enemy to quality training is time.

By “time” I mean the amount of time that you have access to SMEs, and the deadline you are given. In the above example, one hour of SME time is surely not enough to develop seven hours of training, even if the SME is superhuman, understands training exactly, and is supremely prepared (and we all know how often that happens!). Could you throw something together? Sure, and that’s what most often occurs and is why most employees complain that the training they attend was ineffectual and not relevant to them.

So what are you to do? For the SME’s time dilemma, it’s important to educate on the importance of the SME and the difference between the role of a SME and that of a training expert. Over the years, my company has developed training on sales, for new managers, on lift-truck safety, for steel manufacturing assembly-lines, on customer service, for flight attendants, on systems, for store managers, and the list can go on and on. Does that mean we are experts in all or even any of these things? Nope. Yet we’ve created some high-results training because we are experts in adult learning, and have worked with people who were experts in the content (i.e. the SMEs).

It’s also important to, very early on, set expectations for the SME. Many SMEs think they will actually be creating the training. This scares them, so they push back by limiting their time. It’s up to you to manage the SME in terms of what you expect from them and when you might need it. SME-involvement is normally very heavy upfront and then wanes. In the beginning, you need them to do a brain-dump. However you can capture their knowledge, do it, from emails to recording conversations, to phone calls, to bulleted lists, to PowerPoint decks – in whatever form the SME is comfortable working. I have interviewed SMEs in taxi cabs, videotaped lectures, poured through twenty pages of streams of consciousness, even sat with a SME in an airport while she waited for her plane.

Some people wish there was a formula. You know, X hours of SME time to develop Y hours of training. I too wish there was but it depends on the SME, the complexity of the content, the delivery, the learners, and more. If someone put a gun to my head and said give me a number, I’d say based on experience that you will need at least 3 hours of SME time for each one hour of ILT. For e-learning, double that.

As for the deadline, it’s again a question of educating those involved. I’d estimate 75% of deadlines we have ever been given have been set arbitrarily, rather than by taking into account how long it will take to develop the training.

I instruct my people to always question deadlines. Find out why they are set. Even if it’s because the date for the class has already been set, ask them why that date was chosen. Would you set the date for a house-warming party before you have purchased a home? You might, if you don’t care about what kind of house would best meet your needs. Gently push back by educating on typical timelines for training. Remind them that the SME’s input is critical (remember the SMEs?) and that if they are truly as busy as they say they are, they are not going to be able to meet tight deadlines.

It also helps to find out if there are ulterior motives at play. Maybe your contact has committed to completing the project for his or her performance review or that he or she is being pressured by their manager who is being pressured by their own manager, and so on. If this is the case, perhaps you can devise a solution that occurs in stages – thus satisfying the deadlines your contact has committed to without compromising the quality of the final product.

The theme here for both “time” challenges is open and honest communication. Question where you can and educate where it’s necessary. To be fair, we have worked with some wonderful clients who have given us ample resources and time, and the result is always exponentially better.

About the author: Robert Bilotti is Managing Director of Novita Training, an employee development firm specializing in new employee, corporate and franchise training. Visit us at www.novitaunique.com.

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

I was reading an article in the Chicago Tribune this morning about Ford and its hope that the new Taurus model will resonate with the American consumer. The goal was to do a better job of understanding what the American consumer wants and needs in a car? A better job? How – after 100+ plus years of making cars – does a company of this size and who spends hundreds of millions on R&D, NOT know their audience yet??

Forget tariffs, forget out-of-control union wages, Ford, GM & Chrysler all have the biggest home-court advantage of any industry and that is that people WANT to buy their products over the foreign competition. Made in America still means something and, often, people begrudgingly purchase products made abroad – simply because they are better. My father drove American for 30 years before he bought his first Nissan, and do you know what he said? Why didn’t I do this sooner? The car met his needs and wants.

My first reaction to the article was amazement. How could the carmakers be so out of touch? And then, as I often do, I tried to draw a comparison to my industry – training, and you know what? It’s the same thing. I can’t tell you how many times my firm gets hired to develop training for a company’s employees and the story the people in corporate HR tell me is vastly different than the story the actual employees tell me. How well do corporate training departments know their audience? Or what’s more, if they don’t know, how many of them are recognizing it and taking steps to correct the problem?

Believe it or not our clients are sometimes surprised when we say that – before we develop anything – we’ll want to speak to the people for whom the training will address. To me it seems an obvious part of any analysis – it’s something we do with every project. And more often than not, the scope of the project changes after we do.

I don’t feel qualified to fix Ford’s woes, but I do know that your training initiatives will be infinitely more successful if you spend the time figuring out what your employees need. Do it in surveys… do it in interviews… do it by allowing employees to contribute random ideas through some knowledge-sharing mechanism or social network, but do it. You have a home-court advantage with your employees. Don’t make them begrudgingly take part in your training.