Training

Adequate training and documentation are required to ensure error rates are low and efficiency is high. Poorly trained staff make mistakes and work inefficiently. A lack of documentation can lead to confusion, errors and sometimes an inability to complete a task.

General tips: remember that while people are training, they cannot be carrying out their usual jobs, so productivity will decline. It is best not to train an entire department at the same time unless you can live with that department shutting down altogether for a while.

Some forms of training

One-on-one

Probably the most effective sort of training, but also probably the most expensive and slowest if there are many people to train.

Benefits: Trainer can easily cater for the trainee's specific needs. Little chance of getting bored with material you already know. Little chance of getting bamboozled by material that is too advanced.

Drawbacks: Expensive! Slow to finish if several people need training.

Suitable for: When only one person needs training; very complex and important topics.

Small group

Benefits: Better chance to address individual needs than a lecture. Trainer can somewhat cater for the trainees' specific needs. More cost effective than one-on-one.

Drawbacks: Unless the group have similar skill levels, there is a chance boring some people and bamboozling others.

Suitable for: When several people of a similar skill level need to learn the same thing.

Lecture

Benefits: Can handle large numbers of trainees at once. Very cost and time effective.

Drawbacks: Possibly the least effective educational technique. Large audiences may well have different levels of skill and it will be hard for the trainer to "pitch" at a level of difficulty. If the trainer uses the "I'll assume you know nothing to begin with" approach, many skilled trainees will be bored to tears. If the trainer assumes a certain level of skill, some trainees will be lost from the beginning. Lectures cannot be interrupted by everyone who has a question.

If everyone is present at training at the same time, who is running the shop? Do you have to close the business while training is going on?

Suitable for: simple topics with little complex detail. e.g. introductory remarks to a topic.

Trainer-Trainee

When a large number of people need to be trained, a small group of individuals may be selected to undergo training. These individuals return to their own people and train them in turn. Therefore, a "trainee" becomes a "trainer".

Benefits: Cost effective because only a fraction of trainees need to be sent to expensive training. The bulk of the training is done in-house by colleagues in a cosy environment.

Drawbacks: If a selected trainee returns from training not properly understanding the material, his/her confusion can spread to all the people he/she trains in turn. The trainee is not a professional trainer and may not train well.

Suitable for: simple topics. Selected trainers need to be good learners and good teachers so they can pass on the material they are given.

Training issues

Try asking the following questions when you need to organise training on a new or changed information system:

Who? What? When? Where? How?

Who?

Who needs to be trained?

Everyone who is to use the system and people who will be affected by the new system. It is advisable to train more than one person in key operations. If you only have one person who knows how to accomplish a vital job, and that person leaves or gets hit by a falling elephant, you are really out of luck!

Who is going to do the training?

Outside professional trainers are expensive, but they are specialists in training. The fact that they are strangers might make some trainees more relaxed about appearing foolish or awkward. On the other hand, some trainees may feel more comfortable being trained by familiar colleagues.

Outsiders may not know local conditions as well as an insider does. If the training involves a lot of local procedures and processes, an in-house trainer may be preferable.

What?

What do trainees need to learn?

Different workers need to know different things, depending on their job descriptions. It would be a waste of money to teach everything about a complex information system to everyone in the organisation. For each trainee, determine what skills are needed and address only them.

Do not overtrain people. It will be boring, irrelevant and a waste of money and time.

When?

Where?

In-house? Training in the workplace is preferable. It involves less travel for trainees (and less wasted work time). Familiar surroundings may comfort trainees who are nervous. Carrying out actions in the real work environment is more realistic and can show up weaknesses or flaws in local procedures. Of course, to train in-house the new information system must already be in place. This may be impossible to accomplish without removing the old information system first - and this makes it very hard to train on the new system before one is expected to use it for real.

Outside? Training at another location lets managers train employees without having to install the new information system in their own offices. Travel is required, which can waste company time. The setup at another location will rarely be exactly how the system will be setup at the trainees' real place of work, so what they learn on the "pretend" system may not easily transfer to the "real" setup at work.

How?

Different trainees will need different training methods: large numbers of low-level operatives may best be trained in large groups. Some people, such as technical staff, may need very intensive one-on-one training. Managers may need a shallow overview of all aspects of the system.