If there's no clear outcome or result that you're after, there's no point going through the motions of training
8 Training Mistakes
If you think your team doesn't need training, you might want to reconsider. A survey by recruitment firm Talent2 found that 30% of workers surveyed changed jobs because their employer didn't provide training. If you've got Gen Y employees, training becomes even more important for employee retention. The Talent 2 survey found that 90% of the 2,413 respondents valued the chance to develop skills and saw it as a fundamental part of career development (Training Australia, Vol 8, No 4).
If you're in the advertising or marketing business, you've probably noticed that internet media is still growing by double digits, so it's only a matter of time before your staff will need to add digital knowledge to their skill set. If you're thinking about launching a training program, here are some common mistakes to avoid:
1) Doing one-off training - spending an immersive day and ticking the box that training is done and we know everything about digital. With no follow up, people go right back to their old habits.
2) Looking for the cheapest option - your
decision should be based around outcomes, not short term cost. A quick
search on the web will show you some of the "used car salesman" options
out there! You really do get what you pay for.
3) Saving money by running training "in house"
- running digital training by internal staff within your digital
department generally devolves into "brown bags" for an hour here and
there by people "presenting" what they do. Some of our best assignments
are when the digital teams enlist us to come in as a credible third
party to help them empower the rest of the company with digital
knowledge.
4) Training on site - not always possible,
but a different environment puts people in a new mindset and gets them
away from distractions like phones, being pulled out "just for a
minute," or not coming back after breaks!
5) No involvement by management - one of the
biggest factors we've seen in terms of the perceived value of training
is whether or not "the boss" takes part in the program, showing that
the training is of value to the organisation.
6) No clear objectives for the training -
what do you want your people to be able to do after the training? If
there's no clear outcome or result that you're shooting for, there's no
point in going through the motions of training.
7) No follow up process - assign a champion to make sure learnings are transferred into the workplace, with a clear action plan.
8) Not linking training results to measurable numbers - did you have a plan in place to demonstrate that because staff is now able to do X, then we increased digital billings by Y? Or that we're now consistently making budget?
As the market loosens up in 2010 and people start to revisit their options in terms of employment, providing them with new skills (and therefore new things to sell) will be one way to ensure you keep them.
Campaign of the month
Have a look at this viral campaign from VW.
Talk about thinking outside the box! A fun, engaging project that
subtley gets across the personality of VW, but refreshingly, you don't
know it's from VW until the logo appears at the end.
Blended Learning is the new black
I attended the ElNet (ELearning Network) conference on Blended Learning in Sydney last week to see what the latest and greatest thinking is on incorporating elearning and social networking into training programs.
It's clear that face-to-face training is increasingly being seen as only one part of an effective training program, which can also include online learning, email, webinars, social networking apps like Facebook, blogs, forums, wiki's, etc.
We heard some case studies and learned that there's no magic formula for incorporating collaborative learning into a training program - it depends on the audience ("digital natives or immigrants?"), budget, technology limitations, geography, etc. etc. Training content and design are still paramount, and we shouldn't lose sight of them and chase the next new, shiny thing (Twitter anyone?).
This video from ZDNet gives a sneak peek at how Intel is approaching enterprise social networking and collaborative learning. It's worth a look.
Thanks for reading, have a great holiday, and we'll see you in 2010!
Patty Keegan, Director
Digital Chameleon
www.digitalchameleon.net
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