Training can be arduous and frustrating, especially after training is completed and you continue to see procedures being performed incorrectly or ignored. You should consider who is performing the training; you, staff member, or hired consultant. There are many advantages and disadvantages to every trainer but you should make your decision on a hierarchy. Make your choice based on ability and competence on the training subject. Don’t overlook your staff either, inquire on core competencies of your staff, using them if their knowledge meets your needs, this can save you money.

Once you have established who your trainer will be, you should decide what learning method best suites your staff and will provide optimal information absorption. There are three basic learning methods; hearing, seeing, and doing. They are all equally effective when paired correctly with the staff member who learns with the same method.

Lectures or meetings pair well with people who learn by hearing. A classroom setting might provide a focused form of communication while allowing the staff member to refine new concepts. This is by far the quickest method of delivery for information but it does not enable immediate application. This method is difficult to correct misconceptions in a group setting.

Demonstrations pair well with people who learn by seeing. This method allows for absolute immediate application of the training subject, this is also known as on-the-job training while the supervisor explains and demonstrates how job functions are performed. This is one of most effective methods because if done properly you can mix all three learning methods into a single training. A disadvantage to this method is that it is more labor intensive than a lecture or meeting and is more difficult to perform as the number of participants increase.

Discovery methods pair well with people who learn by doing. This method is essentially learning without instruction or very limited instruction. The discovery method provides a true understanding of the training subject, by not only learning the topic but also how it is all tied together to create the end product.

Regardless of which methods are used, it’s important to understand which method is most effective to your staff individually. Knowing which method works for your staff members will help make the most of the time and money spent training.

Our parent company Office Tools Professional, offers training to their users at every learning method level. If you’re the type of person that learns by reading you can pick up the user guides and learn the software. If you learn by seeing or listening you can watch and listen to the training DVD. If you learn by doing you can have an Office Tools Professional trainer come to your office and teach one-on-one. They also will perform group presentations for those who learn more effectively in a classroom-style setting.

It’s easy to see how training in-house can become overwhelming, which is why many owners will send their staff members to trainings outside of their office. While this often proves to be easy on the owner and more time effective, it is important to remember that a lecture, conference, or training should match the staff members learning style. The last thing any owner wants to do is send their staff to a training to only have them return void of anything actionable or learned.