At the beginning of a new year, it is necessary to properly structure and plan the company's training and development program, taking into account the different components that allow building an aligned, coherent and participatory work scheme that meets all the training and training needs identified in the Diagnosis of training needs of the organization.
This presentation is aimed especially at managers, directors, and heads responsible for planning, designing, executing and evaluating education, training and training processes in the organization.
They are ideas that can contribute to the process of administering and adequately managing training and human development management in order to support the operationalization of the corporate strategic framework in relation to the development and training of the competencies required by the organization.
Philosophy of a human development program
Human development is basically aimed at strengthening all those skills present in officials that will allow them not only job growth aimed at increasing productivity but also the establishment and internalization of human competencies that imply giving a greater scope and meaning to the work that daily it is done in the workplace.
One of the previous definitions that is important to take into account has to do with the competency model that will be followed; In this sense, we find today that there are various conceptual and theoretical currents on the subject, therefore it is necessary to be clear about the selected model in order not to incur confusion that will not necessarily be understood by officials, especially by managers who are not familiar with these issues and that can generate interpretive distortions that can cause opposition to the established training plan
Human development in the organization then has, among others, the following elements:
Areas of intervention:
It contains three major axes of transformation which are TRAINING, KNOWLEDGE AND CULTURE that affect three major factors such as:
1. Corporate
Corporate training
It refers to all the training events that guide the action of THE COMPANY towards the training of basic competencies to be more effective in complying with the strategies proposed and defined in the corporate strategic map.
Corporate knowledge
It refers to all those courses, workshops or seminars aimed at receiving conceptual elements that allow deepening the understanding of the strategy defined in the strategic planning meetings and that require the participation and commitment of all officials.
Corporate culture
They are all those actions that involve processes of change and / or transformation in order to facilitate the implementation of models and strategies that allow the development of activities aimed at improving customer service, generating spaces for reflection around the importance of each one. of the tasks that are developed in the company in the fulfillment of the promise of service.
2. Equipment (processes)
Team training
It refers to all the training events that guide the action of the work teams (processes) of THE COMPANY towards the training of basic competencies to be more effective in complying with the results assigned to the functional and process teams, as well as well as the development and understanding of management indicators.
Knowledge in teams
It refers to all those courses, workshops or seminars aimed at receiving conceptual elements that allow to deepen the specific contents of each working group.
It also refers to the technical training required in each work group and the required updating.
Culture in the team
It is the implementation of all those elements defined by THE COMPANY as important to begin to create, strengthen and spread a culture of customer service.
(Starting with the dissemination, understanding and development of corporate values established as cultural premises)
3 people
Training in people
They are all the pedagogical, academic and practical efforts that the company offers to work on the development, implementation and implementation of skills, knowledge and beliefs that allow all collaborators to offer added value in the contribution they make to THE COMPANY in their daily work.
The approach is aimed at strengthening the human dimension of each of the company's employees.
Action plan for a human and organizational development program
Dissemination of the strategy to the organization
Once the top management of the company has defined and established its strategic framework, it is necessary that the training management be involved in the actions that will have as a consequence:
- Make all staff KNOW the company's strategy. Design education and training events that allow each employee to link the daily work with the goal of THE COMPANY, this is to UNDERSTAND that their work is what makes the implementation of the strategy possible. Design monitoring and control tools that allow each person to APPLY the philosophy that animates the corporate strategy in the work they do daily. Define mechanisms that allow to EVALUATE the results obtained in their work as a contribution to the fulfillment of the strategy.
Skills development and training for sales teams and team leaders
In order to give clarity to the orientation of the training plan, it is suggested to establish the priority that the commercial team of the company should have and also those who make up the direction and administration of the company, in this sense these two groups become the focus of special concern in the training process.
When talking about sales teams, we are not talking only about sales teams, but their scope touches all those who, due to their function, have the responsibility of serving and negotiating with customers and suppliers, in such a way that it includes all those who, Because of their work, they maintain relationships with agents external to the company and in this sense it is necessary to identify the main training and education topics.
It is suggested among them:
- Formal training in sales techniques, customer service and managerial skills that allow to know and develop a methodology according to the needs of the people and the organization. Formal training in internal and external negotiation techniques that guarantee success in the tasks undertaken for the fulfillment of personal, group and organizational goals. Training and development of managerial and direction skills such as teamwork, time management, decision-making, communication and assertiveness, etc. Development of an accompaniment program (coach) that allows each member of the team to see their progress in the assimilation and incorporation of techniques and concepts related to the domain of commercial and managerial skills.
Skills development and training for support teams
These teams are of paramount importance in the organization since it depends on them that the promise of the service is carried out in accordance with the quality parameters required by the client, these teams require special attention because their performance allows optimizing resources and times. Your training plan must also consider the new technologies that are implemented in the company and in this way integrate them into a productivity model that is consistent with the needs of the company.
Some elements of this plan are:
- Definition of the Diagnosis of training needs and technical training to improve performance in the workplace. Elaboration of a schedule of training and training events that allow updating the knowledge related to success in the job position, being they of a formative nature or of legal, labor, tax update etc… Development of an accompaniment program that allows each member of the team see their progress in the assimilation and incorporation of techniques and concepts related to the domain of their daily work in their workplace. It is essential to have the collaboration, participation and commitment of the heads for the definition of the courses and workshops that will be held with each team.
Suggestions of activities to develop in the execution of the training plan
Required logistics
When designing the training plan it is important to consider the resources necessary for its execution, this has to do with aspects such as:
- Site where the different training events will take place. Required pedagogical materials Audiovisual elements and aids Snacks and food Accommodation Transport of trainers and assistants Preparation of manuals and didactic material Etc.
All these components must be included in the cost matrices that are prepared in the plan's budgets.
Selecting a suitable training provider
A good part of the success of the program has to do with a careful selection of the training provider and does not refer only to the companies or educational entities with which the training agreements are made, it is vitally important to know personally and previously each one of The teachers, facilitators and trainers who will participate, recognize their training and experience in order to guarantee a successful execution of the plan to the maximum.
It is suggested to take into account the following aspects:
- Experience and recognition of the entity Experience and recognition of the assigned teachers Knowledge of the subject Establish previous times to meet with teachers and facilitators. Provide information to the facilitator about the emphasis and expected scope of the training actions.
When the trainer is internal, it is important to hold a previous meeting that allows him to know the scope of his intervention, establish the schedule of his events and know the awards he will receive for facilitating these learning and training processes.
Training management is recommended to be very careful when choosing internal instructors and, if necessary, offer additional training on methodology and pedagogy since on many occasions we have people within the organization who are very competent and with a lot of knowledge but they do not necessarily have the communication skills required to run a workshop seminar on the subject of their specialty.
Nowadays companies have free or very inexpensive options to develop various topics in staff, it is a facility that allows access to training processes that support the objectives of the training plan, however it is advisable to follow the above suggestions as the fact of The fact that it is free or very low cost does not exempt the training administrator from safeguarding the quality standards required in training events.
Costing the training plan
This element is very important and requires special care in its design, that is, it starts from a general budget assigned or formulated from previous executions or based on 0, in any case this costing must specify and take into account all aspects that allow to guarantee an adequate execution of the plan initially established.
The costing must basically include two large chapters, although different ways of reading and presenting this costing are derived from it, that is, taking into account the particular aspects of each scheduled event or a synthesis of them by events or areas, etc.
These two chapters have to do with:
1. Internal Training (When done by people from within).
It expresses the different elements that make up this training, the number of scheduled events and the associated costs must be included, it is especially important to consider the costs of the internal trainer according to the policies that the company has on this subject. It is also important to take into account all the aspects that are mentioned in the logistics chapter.
2. External Training
It includes all the elements required for the development of scheduled activities with external providers, such as letters of appointment and invitation, costs of programs or seminars, etc., logistics factors must be taken into account in accordance with the negotiation agreed with the entity service provider.
Follow-up and accompaniment
A good training plan should contemplate monitoring and follow-up actions, not only in relation to logistical aspects but especially to the organization and planning of meetings aimed at verifying the impact that training actions have achieved in increasing productivity and verify the methodological and pedagogical relevance in relation to the transfer of learning to jobs.
The precise monitoring of actions and requests that must be attended by those who are participating in the different training programs and actions, such as meetings, reports, forms that must be filled out, etc.
Training evaluation
The evaluation is an important factor and therefore a model must be designed that allows collecting information from the four levels indicated below.
Evaluation Levels
1. LEVEL I, Reaction or satisfaction, which answers the question: “Did the participants like the activity?”, And which seeks to determine to what extent the participants valued the training action.
2. LEVEL II, Learning, which answers the question: “Did the participants develop the objectives in the training action?”, Its purpose being to determine the degree to which the participants have achieved the learning objectives established for the action. training.
3. LEVEL III, Application or transfer, which answers the question: “Are the participants using the developed competencies in their work?”, The purpose of which is to determine whether the participants have transferred the skills and knowledge acquired in their work a training activity, also identifying those variables that could have affected the result.
4. LEVEL IV, Results, which answers the question: “What is the operational impact?”, Whose purpose is to determine the operational impact produced by a training action; If the impact can be expressed in pesos, the return on investment (ROI) can be identified. * Kirkpatrick Donald
The evaluation models will allow the training management to recognize the impact that training actions have on productivity and will allow it to recognize that the path traveled when establishing the training and development plan was adequate or requires adjustments.
Regular reports required
The training management will have among its responsibilities the statistical control of the process, which implies keeping records that allow knowing not only the economic indicators of the investment made in training, but also other important aspects that allow us to deliver periodic reports to the management of human management such as:
to. Total number of hours of training carried out to personnel.
b. Number of hours per person.
c. Number of hours per department or process.
d. Number of hours per topic covered.
and. Total costs of training in the period.
F. Results of the evaluations carried out
g. Etc..
The reports allow to know the progress of the training plan and its partial results in such a way that the required adjustments can be made and at the same time show the impact that it is having on the participants.
Various aspects to take into account
1. Taxonomy
Not all those attending the training events require the same level of depth in the content, in such a way that it is necessary to clarify to whom each of the proposed topics is addressed since some need an introductory level, others an intermediate level and others plus an in-depth session.
On many occasions, seminars and workshops fail because they do not take this aspect into account, which means that for some attendees the course is considered deficient since it does not meet the expected expectations regarding its content, on the contrary, for others it is already excellent. that have never or rarely had the opportunity to work on it.
It is then recommended to the training management to previously know the content and its scope in order to properly assign the attendees.
2. Available times
One of the great difficulties in companies has to do with the time that can be assigned to the people selected to participate in training events, the work rhythm and the previously acquired or last minute commitments make it necessary to resort to specific times that involve sacrifice of time for the assistant.
One way to get all guests to attend has to do with some of the following:
- Make known in advance the timetables of the different seminars and workshops. Agree with the immediate bosses to supply the people who will attend the events. Establish timeshares by the company and the person, such as Friday and Saturday in the case of long-term events. Establish short days of 4 hours with the trainer, for example. Etc..
3. Budget
The preparation of training and development budgets will be defined by the assignments made by the administration of the company, by the size of the company, by the importance assigned by management to these issues or by the level of autonomy in this regard. have the training manager.
The components that must be taken into account when paying for the program are mentioned above, however it is important to clearly know the economic resources that are available in order to unify the monies that will be used in matters of training and development.
A brief reflection on this point of the budgets is precisely that the training management centralizes, responds and attends all the events related to the training and training processes of the company, since if the budgets directed to training are dispersed in the different areas Efforts may be duplicated, coordination may be lost, and there may not be an oriented and responsible execution that makes it possible to subsequently assess whether these resources are an expense or an investment.
4. The size of the company
This element is very important since the complexity of the development and training processes will depend on the number of people in the organization.
In this sense, it is important to be able to make a customized plan, of course the smaller the company, the easier it will be to personalize the training processes, however in large companies it allows distributing by training topics and interests.
5. The target group
An important observation has to do with the definition of the training level of those who participate in each training event, since sometimes and depending on the corporate culture, it is convenient that training events be structured in such a way that people of different positions and educational levels and in other cases it is preferable that they are all of the same organizational level in order to serve the purposes for which the program or course they attend was designed.
These are just some elements, components and ideas that allow the administrator or training manager to design and implement a program that considers all the instances of the company in an orderly, coherent way and aligned with the expectations not only of those who will participate in the different events. programmed but also from the management of the company, I hope they are useful.
