Printable Page | Lloyd's Register Quality Assurance

Introduction

This article has been written by Tom Bradford, LRQA’s Trainer Manager to give valuable advice on getting the most from the training experience. It first appeared in the Quality Survival Guide, the IQA’s back-to-basics, quick reference resource for quality managers.

Training staff can lead to improved staff retention and competency while also adding value to all areas of your business. But making the decision to train staff is not to be taken lightly because without careful planning, development programmes can quickly turn into financial disasters.

Training is an important part of the development of people and the contribution they make to your organisation’s success. With an increased focus on competence, awareness and training in management system standards, there is now a need for training to be given the best opportunity to deliver real results.

Essentially, training is provided because we want someone to be able to apply new knowledge and skills in a positive way for the organisation.

For this application to happen effectively, attending a course or programme must be only one element in the training cycle. Evaluating the business need should identify a competence gap, leading to training needs analysis, the definition of learning outcomes, the design, delivery and evaluation of training, and a return to the analysis of the business need and skills gap.

Training can work for organisations on many levels. As a minimum, it gives people the fundamental skills to carry out their work with limited supervision.

It can also provide the knowledge and confidence to allow people to contribute positively to the organisation’s goals. It motivates, it provides a sense of belonging and ownership and, most importantly, it can engender enthusiasm.

First | Previous | Next | Last

Identifying Objectives

Be clear about what you want from a development programme before choosing a training course. By selecting a standard course from a list, you are looking for the best fit which will rarely meet all your needs. What makes training really effective is identifying clear learning outcomes or objectives that are linked to the organisational goals from the outset.

For example, there have always been requirements in quality system standards for the need for internal audits and there are plenty of standard internal quality management system auditor courses available to choose from. Sending people on a course will tick the box against ‘internal auditors trained’. But what do you want them to do when they return from their training? Do they know? Can they ask the right questions of the trainer to ensure their needs are met?

The demands on internal auditors today go beyond just checking for conformity to documented procedures. There is a need to understand processes, ISO 9001, objectives and measures, corrective action tools and system effectiveness. These skills cannot all be acquired from a basic internal auditor course so a bespoke programme of training customised to meet your specific needs will ensure you get real value from your internal audits.

Taking the time to understand your organisation and its people is essential when designing the most appropriate programme for you. The training then addresses aspects that are important to the participants and the organisation and accelerates the rate of learning.

> Your chosen training provider should be able to advise the best learning programme for your needs. This may include attendance on publicly available courses together with delegates from other organisations and industry sectors. However, your chosen training provider should also be able to develop and deliver bespoke training customised to meet your specific organisational needs which could include workshops, briefings, seminars and tutored audits. This mix of development options will give a flexibility which should help sustain a longer term relationship with your training provider.

Think of the best training you have ever received and you will probably think of a great tutor. A great trainer will engage the participants, adapting the delivery to their learning styles and be focused on the objectives of the training. If participants are energised by the training they will return to work with a willingness to try out what they have learnt and will work towards achieving the organisation’s objectives with renewed vigour.

Your training provider is in a privileged position, having the opportunity to shape your people to make a real contribution to the organisation’s goals. In choosing a provider you need to have confidence not just in their technical capability but also in their ability to train. Ask for references from other customers. Check their training credentials and look for training providers that ask about you and your objectives. Don’t fall into the trap of signing up to the first ‘near fit’ course available.

First | Previous | Next | Last

Changing Behaviour

Training, and subsequent learning, is about changing behaviour. Participants will return to work armed with new skills and fired up to put them into practice. It’s a case of use it or lose it, but many organisations give little or no thought to how and when the participant will be given the opportunity to practise their new skills.

Evaluation needs to test that the learning outcomes have been achieved and new skills are being utilised. Asking for feedback via a comments form and assuming that employees will find their own way to use their new knowledge is not enough.

At the ‘needs’ stage of the training cycle, before actually being given training, be clear about how the learning will be used when the participants return to work. When will they do their first internal audit? Who will mentor and help them? How often will they be given an opportunity to audit? How will their workload be handled while they are auditing? Does management have the commitment to release people to carry out audits?

Without a clear transfer plan all that investment in time and money can be lost very quickly. At best, the individual will not make the most of their role and, at worst, it may cause people to drop out of these roles, so creating a continued and costly cycle of inefficient training.

Tom Bradford, LRQA Training

First | Previous | Next | Last

Making Training Work: Do's and Don'ts

identify training objectives in terms of learning outcomes that are linked to organisational goals
decide how the learning will be transferred to the workplace and how the participants will be given the opportunity to use their new skills
have training that is specifically designed to meet your needs
decide on your evaluation strategy and timescale
do not train too far in advance of when the new skills will be required
prepare your participants in advance ensuring they understand what the objectives are and what will be expected of them as a result of the training.

First | Previous | Next | Last

How to choose a training organisation

has the course been run before and validated?
how much does the traing organisation know about the subject
has it worked with your industry or business before?
how will it measure the success of any programme it runs with you?
can you work with it during the preparation stages to ensure learning points are relevant to trainees?
how much of the material is off-the-shelf and how much of it is bespoke?
do you need a generic programme or something specific to your needs?
what guarantees does it offer in respect to the quality of the materials?
will you be charged for design work, or is it a complete package price?
will you require follow-up work after the programme? Can it offer coaching and telephone support to the trainees after the event?
what contingency plans are offered if the programme doesn’t hit the mark?

First | Previous | Next | Last

To learn more about LRQA products and services, contact our business advisors on 0800 783 2179

Page last modified on 07 February 2007

Article can be found online at:
http://www.lrqa.co.uk/training/training-article/

Care is taken to ensure that the information herein is accurate and up-to-date. However, LRQA accepts no responsibility for inaccuracies in, or changes to, such information.