3001 — Training and Education

Course Block Description: 

This course block consists of three courses:  Overview of Training and Education, the Training/Education Process, and Managing Informal Training.  In the first course, the learner deals with the place of training in the company and how it is positioned, important definitions and their implications on training planning, the four reasons people do not succeed, and the five reasons that training fails.  In the second course, the learner learns a four-step methodology for creating a needs-based training/education program.  The final course covers the importance of informal training, both intentional and unintentional, and provides a methodology for managing informal training.

The content for this course is provided by Chuck Holmes, president of Corporate Strategies, Inc.

Competencies: 

On completion of the course block the student will be able to:

• Identify skill and knowledge deficiencies
• Construct measurable and appropriate training objectives
• Select appropriate formal and informal training to correct skill and knowledge deficiencies.
• Create competency statements and extract skill and knowledge requirement from them.
• Create a training and education curriculum based on the skill and knowledge requirements.
• Create appropriate measurement and reinforcement for training and education.
• Manage informal training to meet company standards.

Measurement: 

The most obvious — and the most practical — measure of the effectiveness of learning in this course is that the learner creates a training/education plan.  In most companies, having a plan would represent a significant improvement in the training education program.  More specific measures include:

• Reviewing all planned training to determine whether the training responds to identified needs as shown by the prioritized training/education list.
• Surveying employees to determine their view of the usefulness of training.  (Note:  A survey that might be used as a benchmark is included in the course as a Practical Application Exercise in the first course.)
• Measuring outcomes of formal and informal training according to measurement protocol taught in the course.

Reinforcement: 

Management can reinforce the skills taught in this course by:

• Requiring competency statements and skill/knowledge requirements for every position.
• Requiring written training plans for every position.
• Requiring a statement of effectiveness for all formal and informal training.
• Delegating the evaluation of purchased training materials.

Management Involvement:

Management can ensure that course participants get the greatest result from the course by monitoring the Practical Application Exercises that are included in the course.  The PAEs are designed help the learner use the information taught in his or her "real world" environment.  Following is a list of the Practical Application Exercises included in this course with notes on how you can help the learner make the best use of them.

• PAE 1 — Training Survey — This Practical Application Exercise asks the participant to use a furnished survey form to determine how training is positioned in your company.  The learner should include as many people as possible and should include some from every department.  When the survey is completed, review the results with the participant and ask for his or her evaluation of the results.

• PAE 2 — Assessing Training Objectives — This PAE calls for the the participant to evaluate a training objective for recent training or to create one if the objective was not stated.  Review the objective with the participant to determine whether it clearly states what the outcome of the training is supposed to be and whether it is measurable.

• PAE 3 — Competency Statements — The student is write a competency statement using the furnished example as a guide.  The competency statement is appropriate if it correctly describes what the successful person in that position will do, setting success levels with appropriate modifiers (adjectives and adverbs).