Set up in-house training

Formal in-house training - the options

Draw on existing skills in your business when designing a training programme. You can, for example, combine the knowledge of key managers with the writing and design capabilities of marketing personnel.

For in-house training to be effective, you need to ensure that you have the appropriate expertise in-house and quality control procedures in place.

When choosing which employees will teach the course, make sure that they have the ability to teach effectively. For advice on choosing the right trainers, see the page in this guide on in-house training - skills requirements.

If you feel your business doesn't have all the necessary skills to design and provide in-house training, you may want to consider buying in off-the-shelf or tailor-made courses.
 
Most external training companies provide just such a service for topics as diverse as "charisma in business" to "collecting debts on the telephone". Courses can be targeted and confidential and may be very cost effective compared to sending each employee on an external scheme. Typically, you can choose between using an internal or external trainer to run the course.

Widely available courses cover:

• managerial skills such as communication, presentation and leadership skills
• computer packages
• finance
• sales and marketing
• business planning
• legal and regulatory requirements

Training can be delivered either in a classroom setting or over the Internet. E-learning allows employees to teach themselves at their own convenience.

Another alternative is distance learning. The Open University, for example, has a range of business courses and qualification-based courses. You can read about business courses on the Open University Business School website.

Subjects covered in this guide

• Introduction
• The business case for in-house training
• Informal in-house training
• Formal in-house training - the options
• Buying in a classroom-based course
• Distance learning and Internet-based training
• In-house training - skills requirements
• Training resources and costs
• Evaluating training effectiveness
• Checklist: setting up in-house training
• Here's how I set up in-house training and tailored it to our needs

 

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