Fit the training to your needs

Training methods that suit your people

People learn in different ways. Matching your training to your employees' learning methods can help you speed up their learning and reduce your training costs.

Talk to your employees to identify their preferred learning methods and include this in a personal development plan. A personal development plan is a tool employees can use to define their training goals and identify steps to achieve these. It is worthwhile including information on the training resources available to meet these goals and the benefits the employee expects to get from training. Discuss with each employee short and long-term objectives to include in the plan, or you can hire a consultant to do this for you.

Once you understand how your employees learn, you can tailor your training methods to fit their learning style. For example, if one of your employees learns through observation and questioning, job shadowing would be an effective way for that person to learn.

For the purposes of training at work, people's preferred learning methods can be broadly divided into active and passive types.

Active ways of learning are by:

• using initiative
• doing
• exploring
• testing

Passive ways of learning are by:

• observing
• questioning
• interpreting
• reviewing

Different types of training rely on different learning methods. The table below is a guide to the learning methods used in each training type.

Another factor that can influence your choice of employee training is taking into account that some people learn more effectively in group situations and others prefer to learn alone.

Subjects covered in this guide

• Introduction
• Impact of training on business performance
• Identifying training needs
• Training methods to fit your business
• Training methods that suit your people
• Training resources - in-house delivery
• Training resources - distance learning
• Training resources - external delivery
• After the training
• Here's how a Training Needs Analysis improved our performance

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