How to train people effectively

In the words of Richard Branson “Train people well enough so they can leave, treat them well enough so they don’t want to.”

Training allows you to get the best out of your people. It’s crucial, not only for their mental health and motivation but also, to stay ahead of the game and on top of new technology, new products, new ways of working and new skills.

But, there’s training and training. Great and terrible. Bad training has exactly the opposite effect on your team’s motivation – it will leave them bored, tired and sluggish.

So, here’s how to do it right…

1. Avoid mass training

As with most things in life, a one-size-fits-all approach
rarely ever works. A large group of employees with different roles, in a boardroom, with a projector screen, no longer counts as effective training.

Training people on mass means that you are probably going to be lecturing some people with things they already know – and that’s just a waste of time and money (as well as very boring for them!).

Instead, businesses need to invest in bespoke training
platforms that are tailored to individual’s needs. Drum roll for Cademi.

By analysing employees’ strengths and weaknesses as individuals, you can address clear training courses directly for them. This also helps when it comes to appraisals and rewards. Both employees and managers will have better clarity on individual targets and performance via a bespoke training programme.

2. Think about how your team learn

When it comes to absorbing information and storing it, again, we are all individual. By thinking about how each of your team members learn best, you can overcome the challenge of training and avoid leaving your employees overwhelmed.

This is where Cademi really excels itself.

Cademi’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) system allows the platform to make content recommendations based on each users’ psychometric results, skills analysis, and interactions with the system. It learns what works, and what doesn’t, based on a user’s actions, and then tailors future lessons accordingly. No time is wasted delivering training that your employees won’t or can’t digest.

3. Empower your team to choose their own path

Giving the responsibility of learning and training to your team members empowers them to take initiative and be in control of their own paths.

Telling someone to do something in a certain way at a certain time might seem like a chore. But, allowing them to carry out their training at a time and in a way that suits them, will motivate and excite them.

Flexible training is the future. It helps to support a company culture based on nurturing, empowerment, trust and shared purpose.

4. Choose your timing right

According to research, our attention span has hugely decreased in the last 20 years. In 2000, it was 12 seconds. Now, it's thought that it is around only 8.25 seconds – making it shorter than the attention span of goldfish, who are able to focus on a task or object for 9 seconds!

So, you can see the conundrum when it comes to delivering effective training that people connect with and remember!

The solution is training delivered in bite-sized chunks, available at any time of day. Perhaps your team member has a spare few minutes on the commute home to learn a new skill in Excel via the Cademi app. Or maybe they have space in between morning calls to brush up on a new sales technique via a Cademi article. They might even be able to put into practice later that day.

It’s all about having courses available at the touch of a button for when your employees will absorb the information best.

5. Reward and incentivise

Rewards and incentives are proven to be effective.

Praise and rewards for great work will encourage people to learn and do more going forward. On the contrary, if an employee’s efforts go unnoticed, they are bound to feel resentment and less likely to want to make an effort in the future.

By balancing out short-term recognition with long-term purpose, your team will feel valued and more likely to want to stay with you for the long run.

If you are keen to find out more about how Cademi could help you to train, motivate and reward your team members more effectively from as little as £4.95 per month, then get in touch today.

You could benefit from our free 14-day trial to see the remarkable difference our holistic learning platform could make for your business.