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In order to stay competitive, organizations must continually review their training processes and identify where their training needs are. Landy and Conte (2013) explain that before a training program is developed a three step training analysis of the organization, task, and person should be performed (p. 279). In addition, an advisory committee can be used to gain insight and perspective on an organization’s training needs (Kirkpatrick, 1994). Based on previous experience in Human Resources, a training need in many organizations is manager training for individuals who have little to no management experience. The first six months of any position can be challenging, but new managers can find their new roles especially difficult as meeting their goals is typically now in the hands of others. One method that would be effective for training new managers is to develop a mentoring program. Grindel (2003) notes that mentoring can offer new managers a nurturing and protective environment while they experience their first challenges on the job. The experience can also be beneficial to mentors that are more veteran leaders who may have a desire to tackle something new.
Some of the skills a new manager could learn through the mentoring process would be one-on-one meeting skills, how to delegate tasks, and how to build rapport with their team members and colleagues. Through the mentoring process a new leader can better understand how to model coaching techniques for their employees. Learning the best approach to have candid conversations with their employees can be developed with the assistance of an experienced manager. Delegation can also be a difficult task for new managers, but understanding how to empower their employees can ensure a balanced workload for themselves and their direct reports. Finally, building rapport may seem lie a simple task, but learning how to show a genuine interest in employees can help inspire motivation and loyalty in the department.
Both informal and formal methods would be beneficial for the transfer of training content. Having some established topics to discuss as well as temperature checkpoints for more candid conversations could be beneficial for mentors and mentees. The mentee should have a chance to observe the mentors behaviors on set topics and the mentee should also be observed and evaluated throughout their mentorship.
Finally, evaluating the training program is necessary in order to ensure it’s continued success. Kirkpatrick (1994) explains there are four levels of evaluating a training program and each level becomes more in depth, but also provides more information. Reaction, Learning, Behavior, and Results are the four levels involved in the evaluation process (Kirkpatrick, 1994). Reaction is how those participate react to the information, learning is what skill is increased as a result of the knowledge, behavior is to what extent the participant’s behavior has changed from the training, and the results level includes what has occurred as a result of the participants taking the training (Kirkpatrick, 1994, pp. 19-23). As a mentoring program is first taking off the reaction and learning evaluation process would be most crucial. First, you need employee buy-in to make the program successful so gathering reaction feedback can help trainers make any immediate changes. Then, capturing what mentees and mentors learn from the experience can help provide data on whether the objectives are being met. These two steps are a great start to getting a mentoring program launched. Then, after a few pilots have taken place the behavior and results methods could be visited.
So what would be your training needs within your organization? Have you had success in creating a training program for managers or employees?
References
Grindel, C. G. (2003). Mentoring managers. Nephrology Nursing Journal, 30(5), 517-22. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.library.capella.edu/docview/216532245?accountid=27965
Kirkpatrick, D. L. (1994). Evaluating training programs: The four levels. San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler Publishers.
Landy, F. J., & Conte, J. M. (2013). Work in the 21st century: An introduction to industrial and organizational psychology (4th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
