The employee training process is a cycle and the cycle time is the short term usually no longer than a year. Managing the training process is essentially operational or tactical but if we always manage training at this level we are in danger of being reactive rather than proactive and may fail to deliver what the business really needs.
We, therefore, need to have a clear idea of how we are going to deliver training over a longer period and the training strategy provides the log term orientation.
Different Types of Employee Training Strategies
The seven employee training strategies are presented below:
1. Behavioral Strategy
This training strategy is best for building skills.
It draws on well established behavioral learning theory, where participants move in small carefully reinforced steps from present performance level to a clearly operationalized goal.
The assessment calls out for demonstration and observation and pre and post-test measures to see if the learning of specific skills has occurred.
Related: Things to Know When Designing an Employee Training Program.
2. Cognitive Strategy
This employee training strategy works best participants need to understand and remember information.
It draws on well-established principles from cognitive psychology regarding the ways people attend to, process, and remembers information.
The assessment usually uses paper and pencil tests to discover how well participants understand and remember the desired information.
3. Inquiry Strategy
This training strategy is used to develop abilities in critical, creative, and dialogical thinking.
It draws on well-established theories about thinking processes and creativity.
An appropriate assessment involves a critical analysis of what someone else has written, such as a report or proposal, or the generation of similar work.
One hopes for a sound analysis that identifies some of the problems in thinking, the way the argument is being made, the assumptions, the evidence, and the fallacies.
4. Mental Models Strategy
This employee training strategy works best for training that involves problem-solving and decision making and draws on cognitive overload, that is, to keep from boggling the mind.
After participants are introduced to various useful models or rules of thumb, they are given opportunities to practice.
The assessment involves using appropriate hypothetical or deal problems or decision situations to see if participants can actually solve problems or make intelligent decisions.
Case studies and case reports are especially good for this assessment.
5. Group Dynamic Strategy
This strategy is used for improving human relations and building skills needed for teamwork.
It draws on well-established theory regarding group communication and is valuable for re-examining opinions, attitudes, and beliefs and for cultivating teamwork.
In addition, to standardized measureless of attitude, assessment can involve self-reports of attitude change or observations of human relations or team behavior.
6. Virtual Reality Strategy
This strategy is used for practice before going into real-life situations where there could be financial loss, injury, or fatality.
The learning theory is based on what is known about role play, dramatic scenarios, and simulation.
The assessment involves a final practice run to see if the participant can demonstrate near to perfect behavior before entering the real world.
7. Holistic Strategy
This employee training strategy is used when there is a potentially educative experience available from which personal learning can be derived through reflection on experience.
Experience-based learning is grounded in recent brain research, politics learning theory, and constructivist psychology.
Assessment relies heavily on what the participant is able to say about the experience and the depth of understanding that grows out of sustained reflection.
Key Difference Between Training and Development of Employees.
Conclusion
To put a training strategy you should have a vision of what training in your organization should look like in say five years.
You should then map out the years and key milestones along the way.
When you are putting an employee training strategy together you should ask yourself the following questions:
- How much training will you need to do each year?
- What type of courses will you need to provide?
- What types of people will you put on what type of course?
- What resources will you need in terms of space and trainers?
- Who will you use to do your training?
- Will you use full time, part-time or consultant trainers?
- What delivery methods will you use?
- How will changes in technology affect delivery methods?
- What business, social and environmental changes are likely to take place?
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