January 2008

Employee Performance
Practice makes perfect

Corporate training encompasses many forms and styles of learning initiatives. In order to determine which instructional design is most appropriate for your needs, you must decide on the purpose, goals and desired outcomes of the training experience.

Some companies use programs that deliver little substance but are highly entertaining. Others are simply counting the number of employees trained without considering implications or consequences. If the aim of your training efforts is only to create awareness or entertain your employees, that’s fine. But, you need to state that up-front, and understand that this type of training design will yield limited results.

However, if your goal is to change employee behaviors, improve individual job performance, and generate significant business impact, then you need to carefully consider what tools you will use to design your training program and how you will use them.

Most training programs employ a cognitive approach and only teach awareness. Unfortunately, this is not the most effective mechanism to impart meaningful skills. True learning requires practice, placing employees in new and uncomfortable settings where they learn by making mistakes, and reinforcing the skills that they need to positively change their behaviors. These are skills that can be transferred to the workplace and will have an impact upon future performance improvement.

The rise and demand for eLearning is based upon the premise that it is a cheaper and easier way to train employees. Obviously, there are specific applications where eLearning is a cost-effective method of delivering training. However, as the rise in the use of blended learning indicates, eLearning fails to deliver the skills that are meaningful and improve employee performance.

In order for training efforts to be effective, a more holistic approach must be taken, where skills and behaviors are modified and reinforced over a pre-planned period of time using multiple learning styles and approaches. Some effective applications include performance-based simulations, action learning or an integrated learning approach that is aligned with business goals, objectives and desired outcomes.

Some may argue the time and cost investment of this style of training are substantial, however, the resulting documentable impact more than pays for its cost. As doing it right the first time is cheaper than needing to do it over (and over and over) again.

The outcome should be training that teaches employees how to solve problems and make effective decisions. This goes well beyond awareness and is focused upon application of learning to the real-world environment that employees return to.

There are multiple ways to achieve this goal, as each learning solution will need to be uniquely tailored to meet individual needs. This will require an examination and evaluation of the learning styles and delivery methods available. Instructional designers must understand both what each is capable of accomplishing as well as their limitations.

A single-sized learning solution, no matter how easy to implement and deliver is not the answer. The most effective instructional design will be firmly rooted in the desired outcome and the proper tools and techniques required to reach it.