Problem of Training Transfer

A new inventory system was installed in a typical manufacturing company. Employees in the Purchasing Department were sent off to learn how to use the new software. One month later, the Purchasing Manager finds that only two out of the twelve Purchasing Officers are using the new system. The expected cost savings have not materialized and the Purchasing Manager resolves to take issue with the Training Manager at the next weekly meeting.

Does this sound familiar? Experts estimate that somewhat less that twenty percent of training investments lead to some organizational benefit. This anomaly is commonly referred to as the “problem of training transfer”. Why is it that such a small proportion of training ends up being used back in the workplace? With increasing marketplace competition, leaner resources and a greater focus on tangible outcomes, more and more managers are asking this question.

How can you increase the transfer of training in your organization? For any given training program, you will need to look into three areas:

1. training participant attributes (intelligence, attitudes)
2. training program design and delivery
3. workplace environment

What can you do to enhance the positive impact of each of these factors? Looking at the first factor, training participant attributes may be influenced when introducing new employees to your organization through an effective recruitment, selection and induction process. Attributes can also be influenced before training begins through pre-qualifying nominees during the registration process.

The second factor, training design and delivery, can be made more effective through ensuring that the training program objectives are clearly focused on your organization’s priorities and goals. Tied in with this, participants’ learning outcomes must be stated in terms of behavior required in the workplace and measurable performance standards.

Along with effective design, in order to maximize training transfer to the workplace ensure that the training is delivered in accordance with what we know about how adults learn best. However, it is the third area mentioned above, the employee’s workplace environment, that is the most significant, yet most neglected, factor influencing the extent of training transfer. What happens before employees attend the training event and what happens after they return to work are the most important variables determining workplace performance following training.

The PRACTICE Approach

The various attitudes and activities required by supervisors, managers and trainers for maximum transfer can be consolidated into an easy to remember and use model. I call this method the PRACTICE Approach ©. By focusing on each of the eight key elements, organizations can be confident of maximizing their training investments. These eight key elements of the PRACTICE Approach © to improving the transfer of training are summarized here. I have included examples of specific activities that can be undertaken to satisfy each element.

Procedures say how to perform and why

• update relevant policies and procedures before training begins
• use actual policy and procedural documents during training

Roles & Responsibilities say what level of performance is required

• clarify role responsibilities and update relevant role descriptions
• link learning outcomes to role descriptions

Aids on the job extend the training room into the workplace

• replicate training aids on the job
• encourage employees to use on-the-job aids

Coaching overcomes individual barriers to skill application

• plan for and dedicate on-the-job coaching resources
• train coaches in how to coach effectively

Targets and measurement proves people are performing

• agree and set measurable organizational and individual goals
• link program learning outcomes to organizational and individual goals
• translate goals into required on-the-job behaviors

Incentives give a personal reason to perform

• modify incentives to reward goal achievement and expected behaviors
• provide employee feedback frequently and using a variety of methods

Communication informs and involves all stakeholders

• communicate information to all appropriate levels in organization
• use a variety of communication mediums and styles

Engagement motivates participants to apply skills

• brief employees before training on purpose and application of program
• managers and supervisors introduce training and attend sessions
• review learning after training and identify opportunities for skill application
• follow up regularly progress on skill application with employee

After you complete the training program, you will want to determine the extent of training transfer. Observe participants in the workplace or survey participants and their managers to find out how much they are using their newly learned skills on the job. Feedback the results to managers and use the learnings to improve your program further. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Vicki_Heath

Classroom Instruction: It is the cornerstone of all business training and development – it is very effective and conducive to almost any topic. By allowing learners, or “human capital” (the newest buzz word for people) to interact with the instructor, students are enabled to ask questions and receive immediate answers from the instructor. Likewise, the instructor can facilitate group activities or discussions to get creative juices flowing. Learners have the advantage of being in an environment that allows peer-to-peer counsel, providing the opportunity for people to draw on each other’s experience. Overall, classroom instruction is clearly an effective way to train and educate your management, staff, investors and even your customers.

However, there are drawbacks. Classroom training is typically expensive, thereby impacting your operating expense dramatically. Even more difficult is trying to quantify the costs of the classroom training in relation to the benefits gained. In fact, it is so difficult to track, that many companies do not even attempt to monitor the expense or control the costs. It is important to remember that there is a lot more associated with in- person training than just the salary of your training staff. There are costs involved in procuring/producing training materials, costs of developing and maintaining a training facility, as well as travel and hotel expenses of employees who come from out of town for training. But perhaps the biggest and hardest to measure cost is that of reduction in productivity while your employees are seated in the classroom.

Internet or On-line Training: Internet training is gaining momentum. It is running a close second behind classroom training. As the business world continues to evolve and integrate more technology and fast pace business applications, the value of the online training solution becomes more and more apparent. On-line products can deliver training without the traditional associated expenses of classroom instruction. It can allow associates to complete training on their own time and you lose less in productivity. On-line training is a more effective distribution method for certain types of training and it opens up a global marketplace and outlet for training materials, which your company has already produced. On-line training is certainly the future and will continue to become more interactive and allow for more self-paced learning applications. It is a great option, allowing you to reach a larger audience for less!

Manuals & Reference Guides: This is good old self-study, a tried and true method that will likely be around forever. We will never lose the need to document all the various processes and methods utilized in our businesses and we will always need a clearing- house for these materials. Examples of this genre of training range from “New Hire” pamphlets to “Employee Handbooks” and desk reference manuals. These guides are an important part of initial and continuing training and should be maintained in a readily accessible, well organized form such as a physical library or an online catalog/database.

Some company libraries will include training aids contained in nontraditional media such as video and web-casts. While these are very effective ways to train on certain systems or processes, they are also typically the more expensive ways of distributing information to learners. Most companies do not have a media engineer or video production expert on staff, but don’t worry and don’t rush out such persons, as there are alternatives. Today, authoring tools are making it easy for company management or trainers to produce high quality multimedia training aids. Anyone who is competent with powerpoint can produce a visually impressive presentation without having to be a media professional and without having to learn to write complicated programming code. These authoring tools also allow your business unit leaders to manage and produce their own internal training without having to get IT involved in the entire training project.

Training management: This can be a large and daunting task depending upon the size of your organization. How do you track the progress of learners? How many different ways is ongoing education being managed in your organization within different business units? Is one type of training being produced, provided, tracked and maintained one way, and other training in a completely different manner?

My advice to you is: Invest in a Learning Management System (LMS)! These systems allow you to track and manage all of the blended training mentioned above with the click of a mouse. It is a must have for any company using numerous delivery methods to facilitate training.

A LMS can be installed on your own servers or hosted remotely. Installed systems on your servers allow your IT department to manage problems, but hosted systems allow you to basically rent space on the vendor’s server without the IT hassles. Both installed and hosted systems allow you to manage the content, users, and information. The major difference between the two systems is who is responsible for performing the maintenance. The costs vary between the two methods and you must decide which solution works best for your business.

I bet you’re thinking an LMS sounds wonderful, but very expensive? Well quite the opposite is true depending on how you look at your ROI for training management. Remember, to compare the LMS to traditional methods. Remember we have already established that classroom training is expensive and it is difficult to place figures on the costs. To really determine how much your training program is costing and benefiting you, an extensive audit would be needed (and this involves even more expense). For the sake of blending it all together, we will review and analyze two expense scenarios – one demonstrating a non-effective training program and the other exhibiting an effective blended training program:

Training Program with Opportunity Areas:

Company ABC: Insurance Company

Training needs: Sales training, Claims training, Leadership training, Customer Service training.

Current training program deliver methods:

Classroom training / Training Emails.

Current training management system:

Paper / Claims has a database

Current training staff:

Sales has 1 trainer per 60 remote offices (avg 2 agents) / Claims has 1 trainer per 189 adjusters

Customer Service has 1 trainer per 550 reps / Leadership training is facilitated by 2 trainers for 300 employees.

Manuals and libraries:

Each department has their own method / Some departments have 4 or 5 different places to access manuals / Each sales location has 1 manual / HR department has an online information site to access some employee benefits information as well as some sales agent information

-VS-

Effective Blended Training Program:

Company DEF: Security Company:

Training needs: Safety training, Policies training, Leadership training, Investigations training.

Current training program deliver methods:

Classroom training (initial 4 week program) / On the job training (shadowing 1 week) / Online internal training to facilitate enhanced company procedures / Step by step guides and manuals (centrally posted and accessible from anywhere on secure network) / Online training program through vendors for investigation techniques, continuing education and enhanced corporate training (including HR) / Testing path and progression program (online interactive testing) / Online and classroom leadership training along with succession plan evaluations / Classroom Leadership training (quarterly – by vendor service) / Training Emails.

Current training management system:

Hosted through a secure network. Each district training manager monitors, updates and manages the employees in their region. Track pass/fail rates and quality of the training they develop through an interactive easy to use authoring tool. Back up everything on paper quarterly to submit to HR department on compliance.

Current training staff:

Corporate Security has 1 trainer per 50 employees / Community Security has 1 trainer per 50 employees / Industrial Security has 1 trainer per site / Home office has 2 instructional designers for course development / One trainer travels and does worksite / job duty analysis / One trainer develops courses through an authoring tool and posts to a hosted LMS. Both of these trainers manage access to all online training and assist the training manager with other duties.

Manuals and libraries:

Each department has their own access to all digital manuals posted online and all manuals are posted on this one site. Home office has a physical library room with all training, reference and legal information organized in a catalog system. Each location has an emergency manual as well as company contacts and procedures

As you can see, a well-developed, blended training program makes a great deal of sense and can have a very large impact on your company’s productivity and success in today’s business environment. A key factor in a successful training program is an LMS, which gives you greater flexibility and real-time management of your training needs.Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Richard_M_Hull

There’s a common phrase used by Organizational Development and Human Resource professionals, when identifying kinks in the growth of an organization or company – “It’s a training issue.” The same phrase can be applied to almost any group of human beings that are working together to achieve a common goal. When progress stagnates and obstacles appear, you can retrace the path of movement and discover that things started to go wrong when someone wasn’t trained properly.

Have you ever experienced any of the following situations?

Fast Food Nightmare:

You pull up to a fast food drive through window and a voice, with a foreign accent quickly spews out some inaudible words that you assume are probably akin to “May I take your order?”

The waitress from hell:

After being seated for thirty minutes at a local restaurant, a waitress finally approaches your table and asks if you’d like to order. When you politely explain that you’re frustrated because you’ve been waiting thirty minutes, she condescendingly responds with a sigh, “The kitchen is backed up and I just had a party of fifteen in the other room.”

Know-nothing Receptionist:

You miss a much anticipated call from service person you’ve been trying to reach about a product you purchased that doesn’t work correctly. When you call the person back, a receptionist says the person is not in and you should try back later. The receptionist is not sure when would be the best time and – no – the person you seek doesn’t have voice mail.

Travel Trauma:

After being on the road for twelve hours, you arrive at the hotel where you have a reservation for the night. The check in time is posted as 3:30 pm. You arrive at 4:30 pm but the room is not ready. You are politely encouraged to check back in about an hour to see if the room is available. The front desk clerk has no idea what you should do with the hour of “kill time” and can’t guarantee that the room will even be ready in an hour.

Office Chaos:

You work in an office and have a large amount of administrative tasks that bog you down. There is an administrative assistant working ten feet from your desk who is supposed to offer support to your team. His understanding of “support” and yours differ. It appears that some members of your team get more support from this guy than others. You express the inequity of support to your boss who sees the conflict as “personality differences.” You just want your darn copies made in a timely fashion.

All of the instances above show poor service and mismanagement – in some cases “abuse,” but it all could undoubtedly be corrected through proper training. Thus, the root of these corporate and retail nightmares are addressed as “training issues.”

“Training” is such a bland word. The mere mention of the word conjures up visions of boring classroom environments, unenthusiastic training instructors and wasted time having concepts that common sense has already taught you rammed down your throat. Few people are ever excited about training.

My husband, who is an iron worker, recently went through training mandated by OSCA that instructed all the workers on his team in the safety procedures for operating a forklift truck. One of the most crucial training points was that “one should never leave the driver’s seat of the forklift while the motor was running and the forklift was in gear.” Duh!

Despite the negative karma training has gained in the corporate world, and the hype it was granted during the dot.com boom, the simple truth is that training is not merely dispensing information about technique and skill. It is also communicates expectations and requirements of the job. People need to be told what is expected of them in clear terms, and relaying that expectation is a part of the training process. Training lays the foundation for affirming performance as well as correcting mistakes.

In all of the examples above, the “untrained” employee has emotionally disconnected themselves from the person they are employed to serve. Each has personal issues foremost in their minds which override their willingness to adequately serve others. If you were to get their side of the story, you’d hear some of the following responses:

“Everything moves so fast around here. It’s all I can do to keep up. No one really tells me what to do; they just tell me if I’m doing something wrong.”

“I could do my job if those I depended on could do theirs.”

“I’m tired of taking the hits for the poor performance of my superiors.”

“No one ever told me exactly what my job is. I guess they think I’ll figure it out. What I know of my job expectation has been mostly communicated by others telling me what I’m doing wrong. It’s every man for himself around here”

Poor service is not due to poor employees, but poor employers.

The bottom line is that lack of service = lack of growth, lack of productivity, lack of profits. Your company’s lack of service will pay a high price in the world of your competitors. You will have to continually compensate with special promotions, additional advertising, increased hiring and give-aways to disgruntled customers. Good service is linked to happy, valued employees that provide the service. Training is a crucial tool in helping employees feel valued in the work environment.

How do you use training to solve the problems mentioned above? It’s all about having a training program that is set in place and held as a priority. Don’t fall into the “training out of desperation” category and only offer training when you have to put out a fire. Remember that training can be a form of giving your employees attention and recognition. If done well, they will appreciate it and feel affirmed.

Always have some type of training scheduled. It can be as infrequent as once a quarter or as frequent as once a week. You can do it in house or outsource it. Having scheduled training opportunities will prevent the development of service problems that cost you big time in the long run.

New Hire Orientation

The most important training you’ll ever do with an employee will be when he or she first comes on board. Here’s an example of training to put in place for new hires.

1. As a company policy, be sure to have specific, written job descriptions for each employee, and a system established for continually updates. Job descriptions should focus on competencies rather than functions.

2. Develop an Orientation Training Program for each new employee that is hired. The program can last anywhere from one half a day to a week, but it should include the following:

• Introduction to the rest of the staff.
• Thorough review of the job description and company policies with the direct report, clearly laying out expectations and processes for recognition and correction. Allow time for questions and answers.
• Site tour – where are the bathrooms, kitchen, parking spaces, emergency exit, etc.Employee paperwork – W4, benefit forms, waivers, copy of Personnel Regulations and job description, etc.
• New hire should be given a thorough briefing on what the organization does, its goals, its vision, who it serves and the role of the new hire’s position in the grand scheme of things.
• If possible, assign another staff person to be on call for questions that arise by the new hire.
• Be nice and have that staff person or yourself take the new hire to lunch their first day.
• Have a 30 day review set up (mark it on your calendar) where you will evaluate the new hire’s performance and inquire about their feelings and frustrations related to the job. NOTE: If you reschedule or cancel this 30 day review, you’ll send that employee a clear message about the priority you place on their training and development. This meeting is crucial to the new hire and they anticipate it with great expectation.

A training program, aside from being a way to continually dispense needed information to your employees is also one of the most effective methods for gaining information about how to improve company infrastructure. It is a safe environment for workers to share thoughts, feelings and ideas on how to improve the company. In addition, training – when done properly – affirms employees, helps them to develop a sense of loyalty to the company, reduces turnover and creates a prime opportunity for building consensus.Training and development is an investment, not a cost.

Fortune 500’s lists on top companies, Best Small Businesses, Best Companies to Work For and Best Bosses have repeatedly displayed interest in employee satisfaction as well as training and development. Edward Jones, a stockbrokerage out of St. Louis, MO was rated #1 for the second consecutive year on Fortune’s “100 Best Companies to Work For.”

According to Fortune it spends 3.8% of its payroll on training, with an average of 146 hours for every employee, and new brokers get four times that much. When asked why it spends so much on training managing partner John Bachmann replied, “In order to grow, you have to be trained or you get trapped in the present.” One administrative assistant at Edward Jones was quoted by a Fortune journalist saying, “I’ve never experienced working for a company that has so many satisfied employees.”(#)

A training program is an ideal starting point to take action to decrease turnover, improve employee performance and initiate loyalty. It is also a strong foundation for developing affective communication within the company or organization. If you have no training program currently established, start with an orientation training program or look to your local university or community college for training opportunities. Start a training library by ordering books, videos and periodicals that address competencies you want to develop in your staff. Beginning or improving a training program shows employees that you care.

#. Fortune Magazine, January 20, 2003 Issue: Summary on Edward Jones – Ann HarringtonArticle Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Mindie_Burgoyne

It was a sound I hadn’t heard before, a ‘ping’ followed by a long silence. This sequence was repeated until the executive answered his phone. This distinctive ring tone was like the sound a NASA deep space probe might make as it searches the outer reaches of our solar system.   While this executive was one of more than a dozen seated in a non-descript conference room, this distraction was enough to break our concentration and further prohibit a few key messages from developing out of his organization’s presentation for a multi-million dollar opportunity. I started thinking about NASA’s Galileo probe crashing into Jupiter’s moon, Europa, while the executive answered his phone. Now there was one long ping followed by continuing silence. As he hung up his phone, I wondered why voice mail was even invented.

How does a speaker compete with cell phones going off in the same room as the presentation? What about other executives walking in on a training class to yank a key employee out of the room? It might be even more challenging to implement a training program when the team being trained is expected to be performing their regular jobs too. According to the American Society of Training and Development (ASTD), US Corporations spend $109.25 Billion on employee learning and development annually with one quarter of this amount going to outside training sources. This translates into $1,616 per employee in 2005 over an approximate 43-hour period.

How can an organization make sure their investment in training is being properly realized?   And how can training be used to gain a competitive edge? For starters, organizations need to change their definition of training. They also need to realize training will improve their performance and the best place to gain a competitive edge in training is through the use of technology.

Change the Learning Mindset
The key to an effective training program is more than requesting cell phones to be placed in the off position and holding a training class off-site to minimize distractions. The key to creating a learning organization is changing the training mindset. In Learning Organizations: Developing Cultures for Tomorrow’s Workplace , by Fred Kofman and Peter Senge, the authors state, “Why do we derive our self-esteem from knowing as opposed to learning? Why do we persist in fragmentation and piecemeal analysis as the world becomes more and more interconnected? We are discovering that moving forward is an exercise in personal commitment and community building.” True organizational transformation first takes place with personal transformation and the commitment to a lifetime learning process. In other words, the role of the motivated individual who wants to learn more and grow will always be pivotal to the training process.

At Hickok Cole Architects (HCA), an award-winning regional architectural firm, their main motivation for providing training to 21 of their key designers (architects) was to improve their presentation ability in front of potential clients. The reasoning went as follows. If their designers were able to spend more time honing their presentation in the Quality Quadrant, they would be able to increase the ability to connect with their client audience. This connection would happen over a few simple, yet powerful messages. These powerful messages could make the difference in getting a project approved or obtaining the sale. However, as the program progressed and they began to see improvements in terms of employee excitement and presentation results, the topic of conversation shifted from one of mere training to creating an environment of ‘presentation excellence.’ They felt the time invested in presentation content and delivery would ‘raise the bar’ for the entire firm a little bit at a time.

HCA also integrated their current client workload with their desire to make an investment in their employees. This meant they started their training program a few hours before the start of a normal business day. I have often heard this thinking referred to as ‘taking one step backwards in order to get two (or more) steps ahead.’ Real self-improvement of any kind is really an investment in oneself and something that taken collectively within an organization will definitely provide ‘an order of magnitude’ benefit. Even though the major training program has been completed at HCA, they have shifted their mindset to spend as much time as possible in the Quality Quadrant. It is no secret that this commitment to training came from the top.

Training as Strategic Value
C-Level Perceptions of the Strategic Value of Learning , a joint research paper by ASTD and IBM, written in January 2006, echoes this change in mindset. The paper highlights research conducted with 53 C-Level (CEO, CFO, CTO, COO, etc.) Executives and stated, “Learning provides strategic value to the enterprise, business unit and individual capability level of an organization.” The paper went on to further state, “Perceptions of stakeholders are a key indicator of learning’s value.” Clearly HCA successfully shifted the perceptions of their designers through creating a culture of presentation excellence and one thing that was done successfully was to properly set expectations and then monitor the training as it progressed along the way.

Larger organizations have taken this mindset to an entirely new level by creating Corporate Universities. However, only changing the name of the training function within an organization is not enough. In The Corporate University Workbook: Launching the 21 st Century Learning Organization by Kevin Wheller and Eileen Clegg, “A true corporate university has moved beyond training and education and into the daily challenge of getting results. It provides leadership in supporting people and processes to achieve bottom-line success for the organization.” A Corporate University is part training, part marketing and part business development. It is training with specific intention.

Many organizations have created a Chief Learning Officer (CLO) position to run the Corporate University and other training initiatives. This person is responsible for interacting with the executive-level management team to provide significant value to the organization. One of the ways this C-level executive’s performance is measured is through value to the bottom line. Herein lies the danger, getting too caught up with demonstrating ROI in financial or accounting terms. Many organizations even try to implement proprietary measuring systems and fail to provide a direct cause and effect when it comes to training. This is where the mindset of the learning organization needs to be further influenced. Furthermore, a key finding of the ASTD/IBM research paper was that CLO’s should not work so hard to convince the C-suite of the value of investing in learning. Instead the C-suite’s value the trusted relationship with the CLO’s more than the ROI data!

Instead of trying to find a direct bottom line benefit to training, organizations must realize training has an overall value that does not need to be quantified in specific terms. Knowledge Asset Management, a firm based in Bethesda, MD, traced the S&P (Standards & Poors) performance of public companies for three years. They tracked companies who spent twice as much as other firms on employee development. Their findings showed organizations with the largest investments in people performed 17 to 35 percent better than the S&P index over the period measured. Training does have an impact on the bottom line and it is also a further way to retain employees.

A Human Capital Strategy
The knowledge that training provides associated value to an organization is proof enough to justify continued investments in training and education. According to the article “Training Revs Up,” in the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM) HRMagazine, Hewlett Packard’s training budget for 2005 was $300 million, a 10% increase over the year before. The article went onto state, “Companies like HP recognize that it is more cost-efficient and competitive to develop talent from within rather than compete for talent on the outside. HR experts and trainers have been arguing for this strategy ever since ‘the war for talent’ dominated the labor market in the late 1990s.” Organizations are finally realizing the importance of training and are making a long-term sustainable strategic investment in training. Organizations are increasing their training, but the emphasis has shifted.

However, training isn’t something that should be done at the last minute. When training is introduced gradually with active involvement of the participants, the results are more long lasting and there will be greater retention of the knowledge. This idea comes from a Chinese proverb that says, “If I hear it I’ll forget, if I write it down I’ll remember, but only if I do it will I understand.” To create a true learning environment an organizations needs to have consistency by ‘raising the training bar’ over the long-term. The way to do this effectively is to build a Confidence Baseline among all employees so the consistent training over the long-term will continue to produce higher quality results.

The term many organizations have been adopting for this sustainable investment in training is known as having a human capital learning strategy. This strategy is frequently divided into knowledge transfer, customer education to sell more products and services, government compliance and managerial skills training such as training executives to increase their communication power.   Moreover, as the world becomes more interconnected, there will be a continued requirement for many training functions to be centralized so as to deliver consistent training to many locations around the globe. The delivery of effective training programs by a Corporate University or spearheaded by a CLO will increasingly involve the use of technology.

The Technology Advantage
As the CLO or training function within an organization starts to augment delivery through the use of technology, there will be more collaboration between the CLO and the CTO (chief technology officer). The CLO and CTO will be charged with delivering the training to employees in remote locations through the use of downloadable Podcasts, streaming video and audio programs. In addition, there will be continued momentum for content to be created by employees in order to preserve corporate knowledge.

While some training will be augmented by technology, technology will not replace instructor-led training. This is primarily due to the value of being in the same room with colleagues as well as being able to benefit from the body language of the instructor. In a groundbreaking study in 1971 on the importance of body language in communication, Dr. Albert Mehrabian of ULCA found that visual communication makes up 55% of the total communication picture. This means that technology will only be able to deliver the 7% of verbal and the 38% vocal component making up 45% of communication. Remember the best way to learn will always be face-to-face with an instructor or speaker augmented by technology.

The effective use of technology is perhaps an organization’s hidden advantage. Peter Senge’s groundbreaking book, The Fifth Discipline, was recently updated after 14 years. He said, “In the long run the only sustainable competitive advantage is your organization’s ability to learn faster than the competition.” The best way to do this is to compliment an organization’s investment in training with technology. I know this all too well as a member of the National Speakers Association (NSA). In addition to one annual and regional conference, a learning University, monthly meetings and a magazine, I receive an audio CD. I frequently play the audio CD in my car and transfer key tracks to my iPod for repeat listening. I also have the opportunity to download Podcasts from the NSA website for further learning and reinforcement.   However, I am highly motivated to learn too.

Podcasts Reinforce Learning
According to eMarketer, an Internet research group based in New York, the number of Podcast users grew to 11.4 million in 2005 and is expected to reach over 55 Million by 2010. Perhaps Apple Computer stock is still a good buy as the demand for iPods will continue to increase. With the upcoming release of Apple’s iPhone in June 2007, organizations will have the potential to deliver high-quality streaming audio and video (in the form of Vcasts) to employees all over the world from a single platform. This delivery method is in contrast to just 10 years ago when I worked at one of the technology-leading companies of the time, Silicon Graphics. They invested heavily in employee training and it was entirely done through instructor-led learning. While this might seem somewhat contradictory to Dr. Mehrabian’s study, it shows the continuing evolution of training; a base of instructor-led programs augmented by Podcasts and Vcasts to reinforce the lessons learned.

Capital One, a Fortune 500 financial services company based in Richmond, VA, has purchased over 3,000 iPods for their E-Learning program. The iPods are used to download courses from the Capital One University and provide an effective way to augment traditional learning methods. In a Capital One employee survey on Podcasting, 92% said it is a worthwhile investment and 93% said it’s an effective use of their time, especially if the learning is conducted while in the car or during the commute to the office.

IBM takes Podcasting a step further and offers employees the ability to generate content. It has become an internal tool allowing anyone from software to services to post a Podcast. In another IBM/ASTD research paper, Closing the Generational Divide, shifting workforce demographics and the learning function , a key issue is “Passing the torch of experience.” This involves transferring knowledge from parts of the workforce that are retiring or leaving so as to retain this key knowledge. Technology makes this very feasible and affordable and allows younger employees to ramp up their learning curve by being exposed to the bigger picture right away.

The big picture view of helping to set expectations is very important. I often mention the Latin word for education, educare , which literally means to bring forth or draw out. I let audience members know their unique experiences and memories are very valuable and these can be a contribution to the process of learning. By changing the rules of how the training is delivered, I am able to engage my audience in a unique way and get them to participate in the learning process. This helps executives realize the work they are doing to improve their presentation to a client is much more important than their cell phones or PDAs.

When organizations move from viewing training as an expense to training being part of a long-term investment in their employees, a true learning environment will be created. A true learning environment means employees are recognized as unique contributors, are rewarded for their value and given consistent training over a long period of time. By investing in employees, an organization will be more productive and be better able to retain top talent. In order to further develop talented employees, an organization needs to augment their training with the appropriate use of technology. In this way organizations will be able to gain a true competitive edge.

As a C-Level Leader, here’s how to integrate the lessons of this article:
(1) Change your mindset from training as an expense to creating a long-term investment in your employees (a learning environment).

(2) Recognize the strategic value of training as an effective way to retain top talent and to increase productivity.

(3) Leverage technology to enable your employees to learn faster than the competition, as this is your true competitive edge. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Mark_Sincevich

Everything happens for a reason. I had been intensely searching for an affordable and comprehensive training and mentoring route to help me progress to the next level of online entrepreneurship. Having tried out a handful of internet marketing programs, I came very close to fully investing in one of them.

Then serendipity intervened and I discovered a new coaching program, just released, that was over 5 years in the making. I had already benefited from his other training products, including the precursor to this new one, so I wanted to check this one out for sure.

Contextual Meaning
Routed in his proven track record, internet marketing expert, Armand Morin, openly shares the success strategies he actually uses today that make him over $20 million a year. What I found so instructive was his knowledge and intuitive sense of what’s needed to navigate the future of online marketing. His style favors simplicity over complexity, sound business practices over hype and a proven down to earth can-do attitude vs fear-based urgency. And, for me, that makes for a true mentor in any arena.

With tons of information already up on the site, I worked my way through this treasure chest. And that was just the training videos available at the start of the program. I experienced lots of ‘AHA!’ moments and have so far implemented several corrections, updates and new directions for my online businesses, observing Armand demonstrate his techniques in his own live campaigns.

Creative Thinking
By watching him work through various live scenarios, he has helped me understand how to think about the market, the campaigns and how to approach opportunities and challenges. I’m finding It’s the little things that make the biggest difference between success and failure online.

A creative approach to learning is critical to any effective training program. This has been largely absent during the past twelve years of online marketing. In its infancy, almost any internet marketing technique succeeded in the rush of youthful venturing and with ugly websites.

Today, however, this market is becoming much more sophisticated and so are the growing capabilities of the online entrepreneurs. Yet it would be a grave mistake to think that traditional corporate approaches to training will be successful online.

New Training Style
In my search for a comprehensive online training program, I came across several models that bore a close resemblance to the corporate training style I was familiar with from the past. Surprising myself, I was turned off by the complexity and overwhelming work needed to get through the courses. Not only did my attention span wane into boredom, I could not retain what I did learn.

I do believe the key to successful online coaching and training lies in contextual training for this brave new world. As Marshall McLuhan said prophetically so many years ago, “The medium IS the message.”

Five Keys to successful Online Coaching and Training
Let me summarize my interpretation of Armand Morin’s five keys to successful marketing training. I believe you can apply these guidelines to assess any future training you will attend, or develop for your very own programs.

1. Proven Information
It’s important to look for proof that the information given really works. In order to do so, the student should see the evidence live. Otherwise it’s not real, as the evidence could have been doctored or exaggerated.

2. Variety of Sources
It can be dangerous to learn from only one source. That is because no one knows everything. A diverse team of experts working within a system towards similar goals is ideal. Varied opinions lead to deeper exploration and teach you to think on your own. As a result you’ll learn how to create and evaluate your own various strategies and explore new possibilities.

3. Consistent Updates and Training
Myths circulate on the internet, claiming that there’s one magic solution or ‘cure-all’ for your business success. Nothing could be farther from the truth. It takes a variety of methods and approaches, working seamlessly together to become successful and remain competitive in today’s online world. For example, improved traffic means nothing if you don’t know how to convert it into profitable sales. You really need continuous and up to date information to keep pace and stay ahead of the changes.

4. Live Training
Most online training programs totally ignore this need. Live weekly training over the phone and via webinars is important to build competencies and keep the momentum going. Equally important is live meetings where you get to interact with your mentors and peers. This is how you build deeper understanding and better business relationships that enhance and accelerate your success. Creating your own community of like-minded entrepreneurs and potential business partners is vital for building far-reaching successes.

5. Affordable
Affordability is pivotal. If you can’t afford the training, then the other points are meaningless. Most in depth training is expensive and suitable only for those who are ready for it. You need to figure out your return on training investment, and how long it will take you to meet or make more than the costs of the program.

I am very encouraged by this true-to-life training approach. I believe it will become the norm for online success programs in the near future. I intend to include these steps in both my training assessment and development plans.

Whether you are someone looking to learn a new skill or the head of a small company hoping to advance your employees’ knowledge base, taking advantage of online training courses can be a great way to gain an education easily and without a major hassle. There are many benefits to utilizing continuing education online over the traditional classroom learning model.

What are the benefits of enrolling in continuing education online?

First of all, the most obvious benefit of online training courses is that those enrolled do not need to take time away from their daily routines in order to attend a class. Most programs involving continuing education online allow the students to work at their own paces at whatever hours they choose. Students can work a full 9 to 5 day, then go home and relax comfortably while logging in to the next module of a lesson.

Secondly, online training courses are often interactive and exciting for the student that is participating. Instead of staring numbly at a book of dry facts and figures, eLearning programs usually incorporate sound and video. When online training courses cover a computer-based skill, such as learning how to use a new program, the student can often use that program directly while he or she follows along with the curriculum.

Third, a student participating in continuing education online can take a class at his or her own pace. If Mary is a fast learner, she may be able to complete her online training courses in half of the time allotted, pass her final exams, and gain certification early. If John works at a slow-and-steady pace, he can take extra time to read a module over again or to revisit key concepts, all without being penalized or causing other classmates to feel that they are being held back.

At the same time, an employer who is enrolling its staff in continuing education online has the ability in some cases to monitor just who is learning what, how fast each employee is going, and who may not be taking full advantage of the classes offered. That employer can then speak with individual employees and fine-tune the eLearning program so that everyone involved achieves his or her full potential.

Finally, a company offering continuing education online can administrate the entire course from start to finish, without the student needing to be concerned or the employer needing to get involved. Some companies will even establish websites that students or employers can visit on a regular basis to get information about test scores, upcoming online training courses, and more. Progress reports can also be posted on these sites.

How can you recognize quality online training courses?

When you are searching for continuing education online for yourself or for your company, there are a few things you should look for to make sure that you will get the highest return on your investment.

You can ask the administrator of the online training courses how you will be billed for the services. Some companies make you pay a large fee up front, whether the students who enrolled actually take the full set of classes or not. Other companies offering continuing education online may allow you to pay as you go, paying only for the modules that you will use. This can save a business a great deal of money over the long term.

In addition, you can find out if the eLearning program offers any special certification or preparation for certification exams that can be taken elsewhere. Online training courses that simply teach basic skills may be acceptable for some enrollees, but others may be disappointed to find at the end of the course that they have little to show for it. If you want your employees to get the most out of your investment in continuing education online, make sure that they will receive legitimate training that can be used long after the class is over.

Most importantly, make sure that the online training courses are covering the most up-to-date information that is available. This is particularly critical when it comes to new technology. Last year’s software may not contain the same features as this year’s – and if the eLearning program is stuck in the past, the students may finish the class missing critical knowledge. Before you enroll yourself or your staff in continuing education online, ask if the courses will cover the latest and greatest information or if they will instead simply provide a general overview, or worse, an outdated system.

Conclusion

If you take the time to do your research before enrolling in continuing education online, you can make sure to choose a program with the most benefit to your situation. Online training courses can save you as an individual or your company a great deal of time and money while offering important information. And, on completion of an eLearning course, attendees will find themselves with valuable new knowledge that improves their job qualifications as well as the company’s bottom line.

Now more than ever, your training department must become an everyday part of the overall organization. Your training area may have been reactive in the past, designing and delivering training only when it was necessary or requested. This mindset is no longer applicable, especially in today’s economic turmoil. As the leader of a training organization, you must transform training from a “sometimes” event into an integral, cultural part of the overall organization. It’s time for “no excuses training”, and there are several ways to make the transformation.

The most important part of moving to “no excuses” is to prove that you are a strategic business partner and not a reactive organizational appendage. When you are asked to show the results of a particular program, don’t report in terms of numbers trained. Conduct further analysis in order to determine how the training impacted the bottom line. Did productivity increase? Did errors decrease? Did the training create a cost savings or bring in new business? When you take this approach, you’re proving that training is part of the organization’s success. But there’s more to this style of training management. If you’re asked to create training, look at the desired final result in terms of numbers that mean something to the target audience. For example, if a new product has been rolled out, how many sales need to occur in order to make that product profitable, and how can training impact those sales? Start thinking in your audience’s terms and not training and development terms. This mindset will go a long way.

Next, show how the organization can become a “learning organization”. The first way to do this is to end “training for training’s sake”. Look at your programs and determine which ones have no impact on the organization’s success. Remove or revamp those programs so that they are producing concrete results. Many times training departments continue delivery of obsolete programs simply because that’s the way it’s always been done. “No excuses” training requires you to take a hard look at your programs and staff and move forward. In addition, consider re-branding training so that you can show how learning programs create job satisfaction, retention, mobility, and productivity. Go on a “road show” or deliver “brown bag” lunch sessions to show associates how training can help them. Prove that people will come to training because they want to improve, and not necessarily because they were ordered to do so.

Third, you must move the training department into the 21st Century. Classroom training is still necessary, but are participants listening to an instructor for eight hours a day? Are they being given the opportunity to practice with systems, role-play with sales and customer service, and discuss topics with others in the class? What about online training? Is it self-directed, engaging, and appropriate for the online environment? Do you expect people to show up for training when they could be trained online or via videoconferencing? Social networking is part of the younger worker’s life, so why not try to create video podcasts that can be downloaded or viewed on YouTube? Have your instructors create and moderate blogs that allow training participants to network and discuss their issues. “No excuses” training means that you have to deliver in multiple methods that match your multiple generations of workers. But when you do this, you’ll find that you are creating a learning culture that is second nature.

Fourth, you must get C-level buy-in for the first three actions. You’re already thinking about training in terms of numbers that relate to the audience. How do proving value, creating a learning organization, and 21st Century training methods relate to the executive level? Most likely they are relatable in terms of money saved, efficiency gained, and productivity exceeded. Show the executive team how your plans will impact the organization and they will help create the learning culture and move it down into the organization. When the C-level is on board, they will help you position training as an everyday and necessary part of individual and organizational growth, and not just a reactive occurrence.

Finally, you must deploy the training staff differently. They must buy into the new order of things without feeling like their jobs are in jeopardy. Show them how new methods and changes will make them more marketable to the organization and how they will be seen as consultants instead of instructors or designers. Set the expectation by moving the training staff from the proverbial “ivory tower” and into the trenches. By making the changes you’re going to make, you’ll show the way – and weed out the individuals on your team who are not adaptable. “No excuses” training does not only apply to the organization – it applies to the training department, as well.

As the world and its organizations change, the training department will change with it. When you approach training with these concepts in mind, you’ll set up learning as an everyday part of life and as a contributor to corporate success.

Any training can either be technical or something as simple as basic training in business practices. Training can also involve information on how to deliver a sales pitch, interact with customers and the inner workings of the company. It’s basically provided to employees to be able to deliver better and to cope up to new challenges and problems in the Corporate World. Undergo online training; get trained from the cozy comforts of your home too. With the advent of internet, nothing is impossible. Different forms of training programs or courses offered are business training, computer training, corporate training, IT training, Leader ship Training, Management Training, Online Training – generic ones, Sales training, security training. Each of it targets at different realm of study and helps enhance a particular skill set. Choose the one, based on what you want to develop in your self and excel in.

Software training, computer training and online training are usually designed in a self-study format, being affordable and convenient for students, to get trained from home, scheduling their own learning time. Many of them offer support via email or telephone 24 hours per day. Corporate training generally requires more commitment from both the student and the trainer. Such IT Training or Corporate training usually follows a model where participant’s sign up for a chosen course and then participate in a series of different modules over the course’s content during the next 2 to 5 days. Managerial training, on the other hand, pertains to the programs that facilitate the learning process. However, it is quite common to refer to management or manager development when talking about programs or approaches.

Online training for IT Professionals will always be the best option because of the easy accessibility to the different courses, hands-on through practices, exercises and the valuable help of true professionals on each subject. IT project management training is provided by a large number of online and land-based entities. Look out for a huge database of information from online directory, find all type of training under one roof itself.

In case of Leadership training or management training, managers should be trained in such a way that they are able to cope with new demands, new problems and new challenges. Indeed, executives have a responsibility to provide training and development opportunities for their employees so that the employees can reach their full potential. The cost of training represents a major investment, so executives are justifiably concerned about the effectiveness of the training.

Online training is known by numerous names and acronyms–computer-based training (CBT), web-based training (WBT), cyber-training, distance learning, e-learning, etc. By whatever name, online training is a method of delivering training through an electronic medium without the immediate presence of a human instructor. By taking advantage of technology, online training can be more cost effective by delivering more knowledge in a more flexible and efficient manner.

There are distinct advantages to online training that may apply to your organization. With an online training course you have the ability to consolidate education and training across geographical and time constraints. Courses can be delivered to people in different offices without the expense of travel and with less interruption of work schedules. For individuals with busy schedules, online training courses offer the flexibility of being available when the people are able to take the training.

This flexibility is the strongest facet of online training and the flexibility extends beyond scheduling. For many people, an online training course supplies material in a more palatable manner then instructor-led courses. This certainly isn’t true for everyone, but the power of online training to help many people makes it an important tool for your training program. Online training is self-paced and includes interactive tutorials, questionnaires, case studies, self-assessment, and other features that easily assimilate to individual learning styles. Because people have more control over their training experience, online training offers the opportunity to learn in a non-stressful environment.

An online training course combines the advantages of uniformity in training and self-paced training. The basic course is the same for each trainee (while still offering you the chance to tailor instruction more easily) but can be delivered to different people at different times. While a human instructor is only available a limited time, online training materials don’t “go home” and trainees can review the subject matter as needed or desired. Support can be supplied via e-mail or phone.

Online training most likely will not require any additional equipment at your location. Training is delivered through existing computers and an Internet connection. Most online courses will run through any Internet browser on any operating system. You will need to dedicate newer and powerful computers to the training is the course has graphics, sound or video. Don’t make the mistake of using old castoff computers as your training computers. That will just make your trainees frustrated.

Still, being in an electronic format alone does not ensure that training is effective. How do you make the online training course effective for your people? To be effective, an online training course must be interactive without being messy. Bells and whistles are not always a benefit if they overburden the user. The course material and its interface should be streamlined. So, while you can incorporate video and audio instructions, interactive simulations, testing modules, and the like, the question you should be constantly asking is: “does this add to the substance of the course?” Does the way information is being portrayed supplement the learning object of a particular topic. If it does not add to the real content of the course and increase the knowledge of your trainees, then all of the flash and pizzazz will end up being more distracting than helpful. Likewise, always be sure that the learning interface, navigation graphics, and control buttons are easily understood and useable.

The self-paced flexibility of online training can also be a negative as well as a positive. Flexible should not mean unstructured. Yes, people can take the training when it fits their own schedule, but that schedule should still be a structured, set time, not just starting and ending when they feel like it. Thus, you probably want to have the online training course only available on computers inside a dedicated training room. Assign specific times for trainees to come for training in an environment where they can train undistracted. Really, your online training environment should be similar to an instructor-led training environment–a room conducive to learning and concentration where trainees can get the most out of their time.

When designed and carried out systematically and in an organized manner online training can be highly effective. Either as an addition to or a replacement for the face-to-face classroom environment, online training can be a strong part of your organization’s training environment.

Reward training is often seen as the most modern method of training a shih tzu, but reward training is probably much older than other methods of dog training. It is possible that reward training for shih tzu has been around as long as there have been dogs of any breed to train. Early humans probably used some informal kind of reward training when taming the wolf pups that eventually evolved into modern dogs.

Many principles of modern reward training date back many decades. However, what is called reward training today has only enjoyed is remarkable popularity for the past 10 or 15 years.

Many reward training enthusiasts are less enthusiastic about other methods of shih tzu training, such as the traditional leash and collar method. However, the best approach to training any individual shih tzu is often a combination of leash/collar training and reward training.

In addition, a training method that works perfectly for one shih tzu may be totally inappropriate for another, and vice versa. Some shih tzu respond wonderfully to reward training and not at all to leash and collar training, while others respond to leash/collar training and are not at all motivated by reward training. Most shih tzu fall somewhere in the middle of these two extremes.

Clicker training is one of the most popular forms of reward training these days. While clicker training is not the answer for every shih tzu, it can be a remarkably effective method of training many shih tzu. In clicker training, the shih tzu is taught to associate a clicking sound with a reward, like a treat. The trainer clicks the clicker when the shih tzu does something good, followed immediately by a treat. Eventually, the shih tzu learns to respond to the clicker alone.

Most reward training uses some sort of food reward, or a reward that is associated with getting food. In most cases, complex behaviors can only be taught using this kind of positive reinforcement, and you will find that the people who train shih tzu for movies and television use reward training almost exclusively.

Reward training is used in all forms of dog training, including police work and military applications. Most scent detection, tracking and police dogs are trained using some form of reward training. Reward training is also a very effective way to teach many basic obedience commands.

Reward training often incorporates the use of a lure in order to get the shih tzu into the position desired by the trainer. The lure is used to get the shih tzu to perform the desired behavior on his or her own and of his or her own free will.

It makes a great deal of sense to get the shih tzu to perform the desired behavior without any physical intervention on the part of the handler. Getting the shih tzu to perform a behavior without being touched is important.

After the shih tzu has performed the desired behavior, it is given a reward, also called a positive reinforcement. Treats are often used as reinforcers, but praise, such as “good dog” or a pat on the head, can also be effective rewards.

Making a shih tzu that has been reward trained a reliable shih tzu is important, especially when the shih tzu has an important job, like therapy shih tzu. For that reason it is important to get the shih tzu accustomed to working around distractions, and to properly socialize the animal to both people and other animals.

Many shih tzu trainers make the mistake of only training the shih tzu inside the house or back yard, and only when the handler is there. In order to become a reliably trained companion, the shih tzu must be taken outside the confines of its safety zone and introduced to novel situations.

It is also important to teach the shih tzu to pay attention to the handler at all times. Having the attention of the shih tzu means having control of the shih tzu. Reward training is very effective at getting the respect and the attention of the shih tzu when used properly.