And no, we don’t mean turning your trainers into robots.

At a time when the changing economy has businesses looking stringently at cost reduction; any claim to save training dollars is worth a closer look. Is it actually possible to save training costs? The answer is: absolutely!

There are two key pillars to any business: people and process. Untrained staff who do not know what is required of them quickly translates to poor customer interactions and inevitably can result in lost business. The question is whether having dedicated trainers in a business is the only way to ensure that staff can receive effective training. The answer is: absolutely not!

The 5 key elements of training

For training to be successful, at least five elements should be provisioned for.

1. Standardised material

   What is important is being able to provide the same message to all learners. This means creating content which is repeatable. It is the delivery of training which becomes challenging when it is repeated more than once and often from multiple trainers. Using video to create repeatable training content is an excellent way to standardise messages and leverage trainer time and associated costs. The cost of video production up front is far outweighed by the opportunity cost of trainer time.

2. Learning outcomes aligned to the business need

   There’s no point training staff how to sell widgets over the phone if that method is not aligned to the way in which customers respond. ‘Training’ for the sake of training is redundant. What is important is to ensure that training is tailored to exactly what the business is working to achieve. Training objectives should be included as part of the training itself to set a clear goal for trainees as to what they are expected to be able to achieve as a result.

3. Delivery where and when required

   Many businesses are challenged with the provision of training to multiple sites, often global. This is particularly challenging for the roll-out of a business initiative which requires multiple sites to be trained simultaneously. This is where digital training really stands out, as it can be delivered 24/7 to anyone who has internet access. Trainer time can be utilised to create standardised video content in modules for geographically-dispersed delivery.

4. Easily available for ongoing reference

   Often ‘training’ is delivered as one-off. Trainees may be provided takeout materials but these inevitably end up ‘buried’ in the office environment filing system back ‘on-the-job’. Why not maximise what can be leveraged through training materials? This provides for both initial/refresher training and ongoing reference back in the real work environment. Training material should morph organically into a living Knowledge Base for continuous reference.

5. Tested that understood

   Training without confirmation of having attended and/or that material has been understood is not verifiable. This is not to suggest that every type of training requires an extensive exam but rather at least a quiz to confirm the main points have been worked through and understood by the trainee. Such a provision to confirm training also doubles as a record of learning.

Show me the numbers

The Knowledge Portal has been specifically created to incorporate the five key elements of training and save up to 80% of the cost of a full time trainer. That’s right - no compromise on the delivery of those five all-important elements. How is that even possible? Checkout this white-paper for a breakdown of costs and how to a leverage turnkey digital training solution.