Get More from your Training Dollar

Sometimes we hear from participants in OSHA training courses that even though they have enjoyed their training and benefited personally, they have not been able to put their training into practice and their organisation has not reaped its full reward for its investment in training.

While we believe training should be enjoyable as well as informative, if action is not achieved back in participants' workplaces, the effectiveness of the training is reduced.

There are many things which we as consultants do to try to ensure transfer of learning from the training room to the workplace, but there are other things which can only be done by the internal manager:

In preparation for OSHA training, managers should:

• Set OBJECTIVES for the training which are linked to your organisation's corporate goals.

• Communicate your EXPECTATIONS to participants so they know you expect them to apply themselves to the training and to implement their new ideas and skills.

• Demonstrate your COMMITMENT to the training process by speaking positively about training and its importance to you and the organisation and, most importantly, releasing people from their normal work commitments (as much as practicable) so they can concentrate on getting as much out of the training as possible.

• Show that you can be a LEARNER too - by being willing to adopt new ideas or methods and being a participant in training sessions yourself.

After the training, ask QUESTIONS:

•       What did you learn?

•       What issues emerged?

•       What can I do to help you apply your learnings?

•       What have you done so far?

•       What do you plan to do?

•       Have you passed on your learnings to your subordinates?

•       Were the trainers effective?

•       What lessons did you learn to improve future training sessions?

•       What other training do you now need?

REWARD evidence of change or improved performance.

Try these actions and see for yourself that you can get more value from your training dollar.