Employee training software guide

Employee training and development software allows you to direct, control, and empower your employees while creating a stronger, more focused employee base. From identifying the need to develop specific skill sets to managing performance evaluations, employee development programs provide you with the critical resources necessary for intelligent, accurate, and productive career development. An employee development plan centers on encouraging your staff to acquire new knowledge and skills by providing training content and facilities, then helping staff find avenues to apply their new skills towards career advancement.

Employee training software will give your organization the tools to:

• Anticipate future training needs of the organization.
• Build employee skill sets adapted to your company.
• Increase the value of existing employees.
• Recruit and retain talent with the appropriate experience and skills.
• Provide effective, targeted training to your employees.

Establishing the importance of employee development begins with the right training program. You will have unlimited employee development ideas available to empower your workforce with the right skills for success by:

• Developing and simulating group and individual training plans.
• Automating the creation of training lessons.
• Establishing the educational needs and creating the curricula.
• Designing and maintaining employee-training histories.
• Meeting continuing education requirements.

Moreover, you will have the tools necessary to maximize employee performance by preparing individualized annual performance evaluations, skills assessments, and customized evaluation questionnaires and forms. In addition, you can track and enhance your employees’ career paths.

Employee development software gives you the ability to make staffing decisions quickly yet intelligently in addition to designing replacement and succession plans. Your company will benefit from a stronger workforce when you can quantitatively measure the discrepancies between one specific employee’s skills against the skills necessary for a position (skill gap analysis). Your training efforts will target those gaps and create a more proficient, productive staff.

Effective training techniques

You have many methods to deliver your employee training programs effectively. The types of employee training you choose depend upon the content and course objectives. One method may be sufficient, or you may find a blend of techniques works well with your staff. The goal is to use the most efficient and successful techniques to help your staff learn and retain the training content.

There are many methods available to effectively deliver employee training, including on-site, in-person employee training programs. Now, employee training software, including online employee training software, has also grown in popularity. The types of employee training that are best for a given organization depend on the content and course objectives that the company’s leadership deems necessary for its staff. One method of staff training software may be sufficient, or it may be that a blend of techniques works well for a company’s team. For example, in certain industrial contexts, most if not all training must be accomplished in person, because it’s tied directly to specialized machinery or equipment. Businesses in other fields may benefit from staff training software that’s used on-site at the physical location. In many other situations, online employee training software—these are employee training programs that can be used from anywhere with an internet connection—may be the better choice.

Many businesses will benefit from a healthy mix of techniques. Some employees may respond best to in-person instruction from an instructor in a classroom setting. Others will respond best to hands-on, highly interactive training with collaboration from their coworkers. In the end, the goal is to use the most efficient and successful techniques available to help the company’s staff learn and retain the training content they need to succeed in their various roles.

How to create the best employee training programs

While eLearning is very effective and gaining in popularity, many in-person training methods remain viable and useful. In fact, a blend of both may be the most efficient way to deliver educational content. The importance of employee training sessions will help determine the selections.

Some choices in delivery methods include:

• Instructor-led training in a classroom setting
• Whiteboard or blackboard
• Overhead projector
• Video lectures or online employee training programs
• PowerPoint presentations
• Employee training software
• Employee training program template

In addition, you can keep trainees involved and attentive through the use of many interactive techniques including:

• Small group discussions
• Case studies
• Active summaries.
• Question and answer sessions
• Question cards
• Role playing
• Demonstrations
• Participant control

Prior to selecting the specific training methods, take into account the overall considerations and objectives of the training. To help determine the training goals, take some time to answer the following questions:

• What new skills do you want your employees to master?
• What are the goals for the training session?
• Do you want to trade new skills for outdated skills?
• Do you want to create a safer workplace or encourage different behaviors?
• Is the training meant to promote an equal and fair workplace, free of harassment and discrimination?
• Who is receiving the training: seasoned employees, new employees, or upper management?

The answers will help you narrow the process for selecting the best delivery methods for the employee training session.

Employee training software drives engagement

While in-person training remains a vital component for many companies, employee training software and online training software plays an ever-increasing role. Online training courses for employees have a significant positive effect on employee engagement. There are a few reasons for this. First, as valuable as it can be to have formal, live, in-person employee training, the quality of engagement of the outside trainer that is brought in isn’t guaranteed. Some are great, and some aren’t. Add to this the fact that some employees won’t retain as much from an in-person lecture as they will from interactive training. Then, consider the costs, both from a financial and opportunity standpoint. How often do most companies (or, for more specific training, departments within companies) bring in a corporate trainer? Once a year? Less? In today’s fast-paced workplace, turnover is higher than in previous generations. Companies who train once a year or even less frequently are missing out.

Online employee training fills in this gap quite nicely. Employees can use online training software as frequently or as infrequently as needed. If a week after live training, an employee wants to ask a corporate trainer for clarification on some technique, the employee is out of luck. With employee training software, on the other hand, the employee can revisit whichever training module he or she recently completed to be reminded of the answer.

Online training courses for employees help managers, too. If in-person training is the only tool, a manager dealing with an inefficient, unengaged employee may have to wait months for the next session. Or the manager will need to attempt to train the employee alone. This can work if the manager has deep knowledge in the target area and is a skilled instructor. But many managers don’t have the requisite knowledge or teaching ability. With access to online employee training software, managers can assign relevant courses or modules to the employee instantly.

Online training software drives engagement by equipping and empowering employees to do their best work. An employee who doesn’t have the tools or training needed to succeed is disengaged. Engaged employees are the ones who see regular success and who can see how their success is tied to the company’s success. Quality training (and, by extension, employee training software) isn’t the only piece of the engagement puzzle, but it is a necessary, essential component.

Why it’s time to switch to employee training software

How can an organization decide whether it’s time to implement employee training software? It’s pretty simple. An organization probably doesn’t need it if all the leaders and employees are 100% satisfied with their current training methods and never face work issues that arise due to poor training or lack of training. But that’s pretty much never the case. Most companies could use more corporate training tools. Here are a few scenarios where it makes sense to add employee training software to your roster of corporate training tools.

Managers without deep subject knowledge

Sometimes the highest performer in a department gets promoted to lead it. That person, if he or she is skilled in teaching, may manage just fine at training new employees in the department. But often a skilled leader is given oversight of a department where he or she has only a surface-level understanding of the work being done. This manager can lead effectively but likely can’t train new employees well in complex department tasks. Managers like this will benefit from using the best employee training software for their given field.

Managers who don’t want to teach

Some leaders who have deep subject knowledge still aren’t good candidates to conduct training for new employees. Perhaps they must focus on other aspects of the business, or perhaps they aren’t skilled in teaching and training. It’s a smart move to play to those managers’ strengths. Let them excel at what they’re strong at. Implementing employee training software can free them from some of the burdens of training employees in their department, allowing them to focus on what they do best.

Members of virtual teams

In today’s global economy, many organizations form virtual teams that don’t ever meet in the same office. In-person training is impossible without significant airfare and hotel costs. Companies employing virtual teams should add online employee training software to their roster of corporate training tools. The best employee training software easily overcomes location-based hurdles. It enables teams to learn collaboratively and effectively from anywhere in the world.

So, are you ready to make the switch? Take a look at Seismic’s employee training software, and get a demo today.