Managers should always be part of any custom training program. In most cases, they are the ones who will initiate the training for their team. They will identify what areas need to be refreshed, updated or improved. However, some elearning developers make the mistake of involving managers only at the beginning. At the same time, managers think that providing the idea, initiative and the content is usually enough for their involvement. They do not feel the need to be involved any further.
Both have never been more wrong.
Managers need to be thoroughly involved in the creation of the custom training program because they are vital to the learning of their team. The definition of work and responsibilities of each member of the team comes from these managers. They need to be involved every step of the way – even through the delivery, evaluation and the application of the skills and knowledge learned. Their role in the work life of every employee makes them critical to the success of the training course.
Studies reveal that managers are in the position to change the business, engage the employees to support that change and thus, make delivery and production better for the business. The challenge here is, how can you involve managers in the training program?
Here are some tips that you can use in the custom training program.
- Engage managers before you execute the training course. You need as much input as you can from managers in order to place the right information on the training program. It is important to schedule a thorough discussion of the learning goals, the intended results and the ideas that will help you create the training program.
- Inquire about existing team practices. A training program is usually meant to improve or change what is already existing. That means you need to have an understanding of what they already have. You need to understand the foundation by which the training program will be hailing from. The best person to talk about that is the manager. They know the overall task and responsibilities of the team or department that they are heading.
- Give managers responsibilities that will support the newly acquired skills. As the leader of the group, they can assign tasks and projects to their team based on their performance during the training program. Feel free to provide managers with follow through activities that will help strengthen what was learned.
- Ask them to provide feedback. Lastly, the managers are in the best position to provide you with feedback about the custom training program. If managers are involved in the training program, they can evaluate the effectivity of what was learned. They can observe if the program ended up improving the workforce or not. If not, they can provide you with the information that could improve the course in the future.
To make things more effective, you can even create a program for managers themselves that will help improve their leadership skills. They need to be directly responsible and involved in the improvement of the knowledge and skills of the people in their team.
Take all of these into consideration when you are creating your custom training program.
Image courtesy of stockimages for FreeDigitalPhoto.net