On Technical Training

An area that is often wanted but also takes a back seat to other areas when things get a little tough is training. I have noted over the years that some managers even become concerned with the training process and have stated, "why train them when they might leave to get a job somewhere else." I have always thought, when I have heard such statements, that these managers lack vision and are relatively short sighted. In other cases, I hear that training is not a necessary function and 'gets in the way.' Again, a short sighted view showing reactive management versus strategic or tactical thinking.

The purpose of a proper training program is to meet the needs of the organization, have an impact on the bottom line, improve morale, and meet regulatory and customer requirements. You can evaluate a successful program by noting operational or functional successes of the organization and personnel. If the training program is ineffective, you do not identify changes in the organization, which requires review and improvement.

To understand the program, you must identify the basic makeup of the training organization. The highest level consists of five elements which make up the training strategy:

1. Management is the function of directing and controlling needs assessments;
2. Support is the function of maintaining all parts of the system;
3. Administration is the function of day to day processing and record keeping;
4. Delivery is the function of providing instruction to students; and,
5. Evaluation is the function of gathering feedback data through formative, summative, and operational evaluation.

The key to any successful training program is the identification of the gaps of knowledge within the organization through needs assessment. An effective program identifies those needs and then develops the training around it. The basic organization for the tactical application of the training program also consists of five components:

1. Analysis is the process used to identify critical tasks and identify the standards, conditions, performance measures and other criteria needed to perform each task. Training is based upon the tasks identified in the analysis and the results form the basis for that training. The analysis includes evaluating the gap through an understanding of the existing knowledge level and job/task descriptions and where personnel exist.
2. The instructional design is based on the analysis phase and is the point where the designers develop learning objectives, test strategy, test items, as well as high level design of the training. The instructional designer determines the strategies to be used and selects the instructional method and media. Existing materials and raw media may be reviewed in order to determine their applicability to the specific instruction under development. At this point, the implementation plan is also developed.
3. The instructional development is based on the design phase and is where the lesson materials, exercises, drills, and other instructional materials for both the student and instructor are developed. The media selected in the design phase is produced and all materials are developed.
4. After the instructional system has been designed and developed, the validation and evaluation have been completed, then the instructional program may be fielded in the implementation phase.
5. Evaluation is a continuous process that starts during the needs analysis and continues throughout the development and life cycle of the instructional system. Feedback from the evaluation process is used to modify the training program as necessary. To ensure continuing quality of the fielded training, operational evaluations consisting of both internal (classroom) and external (field/operations) evaluations provide the necessary feedback.

There is, of course, a great deal more involved in the training program, such as records requirements, regulatory requirements, etc. For instance, maintaining safety training records becomes vital in order to meet OSHA requirements. In all cases, the real development of the program by understanding the organization's needs is vital to the success of the organization.