Top ten options for learning and development in a small business

Small businesses struggle with improving staff engagement and increasing job satisfaction. You need to spend your time on your business, and not thinking about training and development for your team. However, you also realize that with training your staff will be able to complete their tasks efficiently, and increase their productivity. The benefits of of providing training to employees can be far-reaching.

So where do you begin?

I’ve worked with many organizations that felt they needed to provide employee training in a particular area, but weren’t sure what they should do. After collaborating with them to assess their needs for an employee training program, I was able to make recommendations on their learning strategy and create a plan for valuable learning opportunities that align with their business goals.

Here is a run-down of the types of employee training and development options commonly offered in organizations.

Workshop

This one-off event can be anywhere from an hour to full day. Ideally a workshop offers participants the opportunity to listen to a presenter, learn new information or techniques, and then have time to practice what they learned.

Seminar

Again, usually this refers to a one-off event that is more of a presentation than an opportunity to practice. It tends to be a very traditional ‘sage on the stage’ atmosphere where participants are learning from an expert.

Course

Courses vary wildly in length, but I think one of the distinguishing features of this kind of learning as opposed to a Workshop or Seminar is that there is some kind of assessment by the instructor. I’d also suggest that often courses are taught by practitioners or experts in a field, but who also have some training in adult learning principles or at the very least experience with classroom management techniques. Often courses are offered in conjunction with an educational partner (college, university, private training organization).

Program

Again, the length of a program can vary entirely depending on the type of development or training, but we often talk about programs as consisting of more than one course. Usually a program is more comprehensive and may incorporate several modules of topics.

Webinar

Webinars are an incredibly effective way to share information, educate your employees. They can be done live or available on-demand and accessible from your website. They do require preparation, but are very popular and these days, can be done with a minimal of equipment - a good quality mobile phone, mic, and excellent lighting are all you need!

On-Demand video service

Subscriptions to on-demand video can be an excellent option to provide employee training in short chunks about particular topics. Examples of on-demand services are Lynda.com, CreativeLive.com, and Udemy.com. These are especially useful to teach technical skills (learning software) as they often walk the participant through the learning material with screen shots or live video and are often accompanied by downloadable PDFs or job aids.

Peer Sharing

Utilizing the talent that you already have on staff is a highly engaging method to pass on knowledge. Allow employees time in their workday to connect officially, with their peers to learn from each other. It could be organized as a weekly lunch-and-learn or as a happy hour sharing social.

Employee generated training material

There are few people these days who don’t have access to a mobile device. Invite staff create short instructional videos to share a tip or technique that they use in their job. Alternatively, create an online resource, such as a blog, where staff can take turns posting daily or weekly with experiences, stories and tips that help their team.

Conference

Regardless of industry, there are always options for attending a conference. While conferences are an amazing experience, they usually require travel which can be costly. To maximize the conference experience for the whole team, ask participants to share what they learned upon their return.

Custom-designed training

Organizations often find great benefit of training employees through custom-designed training materials that are presented either during in-house training sessions or available online using a Learning Management System (LMS). Larger organizations often have a corporate training team including instructional designers who are trained in online learning methods. Smaller organizations might consider contracting out development of their online learning if they don’t have the capacity in-house.

We know that employee development and training is hugely beneficial to an organization, but it can be a challenging task to determine what type of training is most appropriate for training staff.

If you are still not sure what kind of training you need, contact me to help you determine the best route forward for creating effective employee training and development.