Hiring can be an intense process, as hiring managers are looking to fill gaps that are left open by turnover or created through growing pains. Either way, these gaps need to be filled quickly to get the company operating as efficiently as possible.
This is where training enters the scene.
Training is often a streamlined, informative process. A new team member is hired, they need to know how to perform their job, they’re trained how to do their job, then set free into the workplace to perform their job duties. Trainers are often busy, filling the shoes of their role, plus a little extra from the gap left open, and now they’re juggling the appropriate training of personnel as well.
Nearly everyone is familiar with this process in some way, having been either the trainer or the trainee. Hiccups are common throughout this type of training process.
Here are a few topics that are often overlooked when it comes to training new hires. These tips may help you to streamline your training process and focus on the retention and satisfaction of new and developing employees.
Set the Trainer and the New Hire up for Success with elearning
With the use of an elearning platform - you can streamline a vast majority of the training process without the necessity of a trainer.
Elearning allows new hires to expose themselves to the basics of their job functions and the relationships they will have within their network. This tool will give them the ability to know what information they are comfortable with and which areas might need more attention.
Understanding the baseline of a new hire’s knowledge is essential to providing appropriate training. You don’t want to provide training to a new hire who isn’t ready to absorb it. By configuring your eLearning to provide feedback or using an assessment course type to provide a pre-assessment, you can gauge your new hire’s knowledge. With this information, you can prescribe the appropriate training path for them in your Learning Management Systems (LMS).
Assessments and supplementary training with an LMS saves the time of your Trainers. By gaining a solid background of their job functions, the new hire can walk into hands-on training already equipped with questions for areas that require clarity, maximizing the time and energy of your trainers.
Diversify Training Modalities to Cater to Different Learning Styles
While you can’t customize training to each individual, you can present your training materials in different ways. This will allow you to accommodate multiple learning styles at once. Consider expanding your training content to incorporate audio and video for those who thrive with auditory learning or visual learning.
Nearly 80% of your training content can be delivered through an LMS. You’ll get the most flexibility by using different modalities of training and establishing equivalencies between the different course offerings. Our theory about providing different modalities is to follow the three main points when providing diversified content:
- Provide elearning modules to set your new hire up for success. Give them a solid base knowledge of their job functions.
- Use short snippets of videos or audio that build on topics the new hire already knows. This will reinforce their knowledge in a certain area.
- Follow up with instructor or trainer-led courses. Drive the point home and solidify their knowledge in a certain area.
For most trainees, the above system hits on all of the major learning styles and provides a clear understanding of a process. Follow this process with an assessment to gauge the effectiveness of your system. Identify areas that your trainer needs more clarity on. These assessments will help new hires to identify areas that need more support as well as help you to identify any gaps in your training system or modules.
The Goal isn’t Training; it’s Retention
Training is expensive. It takes a lot of work from multiple parties in your network to bring a new hire up to speed and get them on the path to self-sufficiency.
We invest a large amount of time and money into training new hires. In order to make sure this investment isn’t in vain, we need to take the necessary steps to retain our newly hired employees. How do we do this?
A new hire needs to know three things to maintain interest in their position and remain invested in your company:
- What do they need to accomplish to be successful?
- How will their efforts be measured?
- Where are they headed in the future of the company?
The key to providing these answers to your new hires is to integrate them as a member of the company as fast as possible and provide them with a clear path to their development. What skills are necessary to get started, and what skills do they need to focus on to progress? What milestones will they need to hit? What support and encouragement can you offer them to help them meet their goals?
Your new hires need to know where they are headed and what they need to do to be successful in the company. By providing them with a clear plan for development, they can get a glimpse into the future and see what it looks like to grow within your company.
It is also a best practice to set your new hire up with a mentor. This not only gives your new hire a sense of feeling connected to someone within the company, but it also provides a clear channel of supplementary knowledge to be conveyed, as well as a solid support system for your new hire to fall back on as they progress throughout their development journey.
Offer Continuous Learning
Very few employees enjoy the idea of staying stagnant in their careers. While there are some who like to learn a role and stay put until retirement, many are looking for ways to continuously grow and improve.
Providing this can be difficult if you are relying solely on old-school training methods such as shadowing. The manpower may not be available to keep your new hires on the continuous path of learning and development that they crave.
With LMS platforms, you can give them options to develop continuously at their leisure while reinforcing the information they need to thrive and can apply to all areas of a network, such as technology, sales, service, parts, etc. This is especially helpful to keep your new hires and employees up to date about products, new releases, operations, or tools provided by an OEM or manufacturer. These opportunities ensure that your new hires have the guidance they need while giving them the ability to pursue opportunities in other areas that may interest them.
Providing metrics and measurables is something that is a struggle with conventional training methods. A training manager can only stare at an excel spreadsheet analyzing training metrics for so long. With an LMS, metrics are a cinch and can be generated quickly, requiring minimal leg work and number crunching to provide a snapshot of your new hire's training success.
Sharing these metrics with your new hire to allow them to know where they are on their roadmap to success can be a major confidence boost. Confident employees are happy employees. Happy employees often evolve to be ambassadors of your organization.
Seek New Hire Feedback and Provide Training Metrics
The best thing you can do to improve your training process is to listen to your new hires. As a newly trained employee is making their way out of training and into the realm of self-sufficiency - provide them with an anonymous survey to gain their insight on your training process.
Ask them what worked and what didn’t work, what they enjoyed, and what they found cumbersome. Armed with this feedback, you can audit your current system and find areas to make your training process more seamless and enjoyable for your new hires.
In addition to seeking feedback from the user end of your training system, you can gain so much insight by utilizing the metrics in your LMS. These network measurables of performance can help you audit your system. These metrics give insight into how your new hires are actually performing in their jobs.
Provide feedback to your new hire based on these metrics. Let them know what measurables they are being assessed on and if they are hitting their major milestones. Are they moving the appropriate number of units in sales? Are they performing part fixes correctly? Using metrics as a measurement for success is a key way to reduce frustration and increase engagement in your new hire’s training and development.
With our community at Latitude Learning, you’re not alone. We are always here to support you in maximizing your organization's training program. With access to forums, podcasts, and more, you will find a network of people to help your trainees succeed.
Capitalize on the investment you make in training. Provide good support to your people and set them up for success, and they will support your organization. Use our Extended Enterprise Training Guide to get your extended training program started.
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