Employee Training Today Requires New Approaches And Methods

by Richard Avdoian

Business owners and corporations need to embrace the need to offer on-going structured in-house training for employees if they hope to retain key performers. The practice of offering sporadic training will no longer be sufficient. Today’s workforce is expecting more than a pay check and a creative, unified work culture. Also, the old traditional training format of one-side communication in one to three hour time blocks is also in need of major redesign. This is particularly important for the millennials and the upcoming Gen Z.

As you create your training programs or outsource your training to business experts, keep these six characteristics in mind if you want to engage millennials and the generations to follow.

Keep in mind that they are...

Hungry to learn. They are hungry but very particular about the information they seek. The information needs to be current and applicable to both their present job but also to their future career aspiration. The millennials are by far the most up to date in terms of education as a generation, especially given the increase number of online degree programs. Millennials often have multiple degrees and certifications and seek and value companies that encourage and provide structured, on-going personal career development opportunities.
Social media junkies. They are so quick and savvy with access to the internet and rely on it as their primary means to gather news and follow trends in their profession. They turn to Facebook and LinkedIn for current daily events from across the world.

Just want the facts. They are very curious, impatient and are accustom to getting their information in short nuggets through tweets, dashboard pages and are less likely to read extensive white pages or workbooks. Training workbooks need to be tightly written and require written responses, not simply copies of the power point slides of the training material otherwise they will likely be disengaged and bored.

Make it quick. They have short attention spans and are restless, not comfortable sitting at one location for any extended amount of time. Training needs to be less chat and more direct sharing of information, given instructions and given directives related to expectations.

Show me. They are actually also very visual, so to maintain their attention, training needs to incorporate supportive visual aids. You may want to explore the newest technology related to mobile training where employees have access to endless training programs at their leisure.

Keep it up. Do not venture into offering on-going training unless you are ready to commit and embrace continual training opportunities and expectations. Nothing turns off employees more than employers who offer something to later have it omitted or neglected.

Each year the percentage between online and in person training is changing so the more you can incorporate these tips in the design, format and frequency of your company training, the more you will bridge the generations, increase participation and have a positive ROI.

Richard Avdoian is president/CEO of the Midwest Business Institute Inc., a business consulting and training firm. For information about training and seminars, contact Richard at 618-972-8588 or Richard@RichardAvdoian.com.