Following on from the publication of our guide to using short courses effectively, we are offering three organisations the chance to win a half-day consultation on implementing short courses.
To enter the competition you'll need to tell us how you think short courses can help your organisation.
Winners will be selected on 8th July 2014 and notified by email
Good Luck!
For many organisations compliance training forms the minimum training requirements for any role.
Generally this type of training ensures that employees operate within the laws and regulations that are applicable to their role. Failing to deliver compliance training potentially creates a legal liability for your company.
Some legislation (for example the Disability Discrimination Act) ensures that all current and future employees are treated fairly and are not discriminated against on the basis of disability. In any organisation reducing discrimination leads to a happier and more productive team.
Finally delivering and recording this training accurately can help in proving that a company is not at fault where an individual fails to comply with legal or regulatory processes, despite receiving appropriate training.
How does your company manage compliance training? Do you think you could be doing it better?
Blended learning has been talked about for a long time amongst the e-learning and training communities. Many of you are probably already delivering blended learning even if you've never heard of the term!
There are many definitions of blended learning, but the idea that is central is that training is delivered through multiple channels, for example some training is classroom based, while other training is delivered online. The hope is that trainees are more receptive to training when it is delivered in a variety of ways.
This also presents challenges for the trainer. Consideration must be given as to which training best suits a given medium. Online training can be great for a wide variety of training requirements, however is a super whizzy 3D tour a replacement for walking new starters round the office? Of course not! Some training is still best delivered in person.
When I think about training which I've conducted previously I can generally break it down into two categories:
Skill based training on the other hand, requires discussion and interaction in a way that can be lost online. Even the dreaded role-play can be a useful tool to practice common scenarios, which cannot be stated as simple processes. Leading a training session in the classroom can also give you time to identify and deal with the concerns of your trainees as they arise. This empathy and understanding could not be replaced by a computer.
Because of this, we developed Prodeceo. We think of it as the perfect tool for delivering your online training and also managing your classroom based learning. You can try Prodeceo free for 30 days by clicking here..
In an article published today the BBC (link) discussed the challenges of keeping the best staff. We think that one of the best ways, is to allow people to develop.
Allowing people to develop existing skills as well as learn new ones shows that a company is willing to invest in its employees. This demonstrates that an organisation is interested in the potential of the employee.
How does your training strategy allow for personal development?
As throngs of students cheer the end of their exams and begin looking for summer work there is a fantastic opportunity for companies to take on enthusiastic workers.
Temporary workers can help with managing seasonal demands in your business, whether it is for a hectic summer or busy festive period. This temporary workforce can both bolster the ranks, and plug shortages created by staff holidays and illness.
The issue for training managers is balancing the training time allocated to temporary staff with the time that they are able to work. In addition to this how do you record and account for the training that the influx of trainees receives?
One approach might be to require that your temporary workers complete a portion of the training online, before starting work. By doing this, you can remove some of the training burden from their first few shifts and get them feeling happy and productive as part of your team. Delivering training in this way has the advantage of being automatically recorded when completed which is another worry off your mind!