The other day, my friend was ranting about attending a training session at her new company. She has over eight years’ experience in her field of work, but still has to attend training sessions organized by her company. Her ranting reminded me of my training sessions with the company I joined just a year or two ago. Despite finding the whole process boring, I was glad I attended the session as it helped me know more about company, people, work responsibilities and more.

Not all positions in an organization require a fresher. Some positions demand experienced new hires. Many newly hired experienced employees expect to start right away in to their new job as they feel that their experience and knowledge are more than sufficient. This is true to a certain extent, but many companies ask its new hires, fresher or experienced, to undergo induction training.

Every company has its own set of culture and standard practices that determine how each employee should go about doing their job. The entry of experienced employees into an organization requires him or her to maintain and get accustomed to its culture and decorum. Not adhering to one’s organization’s style of work can cause conflict leading to negativity, lack of motivation and enthusiasm, causing the employee’s performance to suffer. An induction training and orientation program helps new employees to be familiar with the culture and practice of the organization.

Besides the regular induction program, newly hired experienced employees need to develop a level of competency set by the new company to perform well in his or her new role. Despite having the required experience, training in developing competencies can help achieve great results.

When a new employee joins an organization, the chances of conflict arising are high. Training new hires on ways of getting along well with subordinates, colleagues and seniors will benefit them as well as the organization.

If an organization has to train its experienced employees, it is essential that they offer significant training programs. Irrelevant training sessions are a complete waste of time for the organization and the employees. Organizations should hold training programs that impart further knowledge and develop new skills on the job. Training can be off-the-job (lectures, conferences, case studies, role-play, simulations) or on-the-job (orientation, internships, coaching, instruction training).

The goals of the training program should relate to the needs of the organization. Goals should include milestones that help take an employee, fresher or experienced from his or her current position to where he or she desires to be. Allowing employees to participate in goal-setting of training programs increases their success rate and motivates employees.

The purposes of training programs are to:

• Increase productivity
• Reduce employee turnover
• Increase efficiency resulting in financial gains
• Decreased need for supervision
• Building an efficient, effective and highly motivate team to enhance the company’s position in the market
• Encourage employees to adopt and use advanced technical know-how to increase productivity.

Do share your thoughts with me on the same.

There are two types of assessments we can build into an e-learning course:

• Formative Assessments: These help build learner knowledge.
• Summative Assessments: A final test to assess learning at the end of the course.

Summative Assessment Vs Formative Assessment

Some of the ways we can develop the assessment questions are:

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The adage, ‘Change is the only constant’ is true since most people resist change. They prefer to live their lives, professional or personal, dictated by a routine. Even a slight change in their routines is not appreciated. Similarly, if changes for betterment of a company are proposed, many employees resent those changes. This holds true especially with long term employees of an organization. It is human nature to choose a stable and predictable environment where all change seems unnatural. Though change is inevitable, people fear it because of:

• Their incapability to understand change and its implications
• Their belief that change is irrelevant and inappropriate
• Their difficulty in coping with the level and pace of work after the change
• Their unfounded notion that change is a temporary phase
• Their perspective that their superiors regard them as incompetent, hence instituting change
• A lack of authority or control
• A lack of faith in their ability to learn new skills
• The feeling of too much happening too soon
• The staff’s aversion to some managers/superiors and total distrust in them
• Job insecurity
• A compromise on their salary
• The feeling that this would impinge on their family time
• The belief that the organization does not require the much-needed extra effort
• The fear that in accepting change one may prove to be unfaithful to the traditional way of working
• The fear that any change would highlight the weakness of employees in the new environment
• Being burdened with more responsibilities, irrespective of the current workload
• The ill-feeling which would result from a senior staff member reporting to managers or superiors younger to them
• Mistrust amongst managers and employees
• Reluctance to use new technology to simplify work processes
• Resistance from unions who harbor ulterior motives
• A lack of proper communication channels between the management and employees

Sometimes it makes me wonder whether it is possible to overcome resistance to organizational change. I think that proper and effective communication with employees will definitely help them transition to new changes. Other factors which drive change are:

• Strong support to employees from top level management
• Monetary or incentive programs for work performance
• Open door policy between brass level management and employees
• Encourage meetings between managers and employees involved in the power game to discuss goals and tactics.

There is no doubt that change is important for today’s business. As new facets of economy evolve, organizations have to keep themselves a step ahead of the curve or suffer and crash.

On a subjective note, I end this blog. Please do share your thoughts on this.

In my first job there was never a formal orientation for new employees or an introduction procedure in place. On the other hand, at my second job, I was astonished to be part of an hour-long employee introduction plus orientation. The introduction of each employee of the company along with a one-on-one meeting with my Project Manager and team members made me feel really welcome. Besides the introductions, I also had a two-hour session with the HR Manager and his team to know more about the company, its products, services, etc. At the end of the day, I knew about the company, policies, regulations and more.

I wonder how different things would have been if I wasn’t introduced to my manager, teammates and other colleagues. I would have felt unwanted and unwelcome. No wonder, orientation and training of new hire are considered a must these days.

If a new employee leaves before the end of his or her probationary period, the company loses a capable employee to its competitors and increases costs of recruiting and training new candidates.  Training and orientation sessions offer the new hire the much-needed knowledge on the various departments, workgroups and interaction amongst them.

Besides lessening the fear, new hire orientation training helps the new employees understand the company, its culture, organizational structure, ground rules, policies and procedures, office timings, products and services, and so on. Also, helps them to build a can-do-it attitude and become knowledgeable about one’s roles and responsibilities.

Investing in a new hire orientation program to increase the new hire’s confidence in his or her decision to join your company will motivate the new hire to produce his or her best work immediately. This will increase the new hire’s chances of continuing with your company in the long run as it infuses a sense of belonging.

A good way to test the effectiveness of new hires’ training and orientation is to give them a short questionnaire or web-based test at the end of the session.  To test the effectiveness of the training of the job requirements, it is ideal to wait for a month or two to rank their performance. To appraise the employee on a daily basis, assess his daily job responsibilities, methodology and his code of conduct while dealing with a problem.

Do share your thoughts on the same.

I was once asked to sit on a brainstorming session for new marketing collateral. The concerned teams discussed and floated infinite ideas for collateral designs. Finally, the design team created three or four templates based on the ideas generated at the meeting. I came out refreshed at the end of the session, amazed at the ideas that floated all around.

Why brainstorm? Simply said, brainstorming is an idea-generating process aimed to think up out-of-box ideas while working on a problem. Many brainstorming sessions deal with a particular problem where fresh ideas are needed.

How does one brainstorm? Brainstorming can take place in groups of four to seven or ten. Some rules to follow for healthy brainstorming session are:

• Avoid passing judgment on others’ ideas. The ideas generated in the session can be noted down for further evaluation. Instant criticism is detrimental to the group.
• The whole idea of the session is to think differently. Individuals can come up with wild, out-of-box, bizarre ideas that can even make the group laugh. Some of these ideas turn out to be practical when put in use.
• Catch on to an idea, improve, modify or build around it. Suggest changes that would make the idea much better, bizarre or wild. Use someone else’s idea as a stimulus and improve on it.
• Quantity is more important than quality. At the start, regular, run-of-the-mill ideas come to mind. Later on in the session, participants come up with fresh and creative ideas. The more you brainstorm, the more there is to choose from, adapt or combine. Most sessions aim for at least 50+ ideas.

Anyone and everyone can brainstorm, but not always is a brainstorming session held, probably because it is much easier to use standard templates, colors and other available elements from the library.

I agree that sometimes brainstorming can be time-consuming if the ideas at the end of it offer nothing new. When a team of creative individuals gather to discuss, ideas fly around, while others build around them or refine them or come up with much better ideas. Collating these ideas can lead to an interactive and engaging web-based course. This makes the brainstorming process simple.

• List the basic outline of the course content and flow
• Mention the topics to be brainstormed
• Ask for ideas on presenting the topics
• Jot down all the ideas
• Collate similar-sounding ideas and strike off unfeasible ones

At the end of the process, the ideas are refined with the best ones rising to the occasion. An e-learning course can be greatly improved if the concerned people brainstormfor good, workable ideas.

Do share your thoughts with me on the same.