Recently, I was talking to a man, Dave, who had sat a training course that he needed to successfully complete to be able to do his job. Doing the training wasn‘t a problem for him and paying for it wasn‘t a problem for his employer. Dave was looking forward to learning something new, which he was going to be using in his everyday work life. Unfortunately, the training was not great. Dave passed the course but didn‘t feel that he learned very much. The training was predominately completed with a video. This limited the opportunity for feedback and review. Dave didn‘t feel like he could ask questions when he was confused or not sure how to use the information in his particular situation. Training is vital if we want our workers to do the job safely, efficiently and the way we want it done. Sometimes, training is done in-house and other times we have to pay for an expert. It is not cheap, although it‘s cheaper than having the job done badly, which may result in injury, damage or rework.

How can we ensure that training is done well? In-house trainers should be people who are experienced in the field. They may also hold qualifications. It‘s not necessary for them to have training qualifications, but they do need to be patient and able to communicate well with others. The best person at the task is not always the best trainer. External trainers are normally approved by an external body relevant to the type of training they are undertaking. Hopefully this is a good indication that they are capable, but that‘s not always true. Ask your business contacts who they use, check the Google reviews or Facebook posts. Check with your workers; ask if they enjoyed the course and what they learned. The cost of training is high, so it should be valuable to your organisation and to your workers. Remember that just passing a course doesn‘t guarantee competency. Real learning only starts when the training is put into practice. Continue to support your workers and their development.