Many managers consider the only way they can develop their staff is by sending them on courses, which can prove costly if they are not followed up and not integrated into the current work environment. So how can you ensure that any training your staff carry out is proved valuable by being instilled in every-day work?

On-The-Job Training, or OJT, can be linked to classroom and other types of formal learning. The basics consist of:

• Showing trainees what to do
• Watching them do the job
• Talking through what they did, and how they might do it better
• Repeating these processes until they get it right
• Frequently linking the instructions with written procedures like training manuals

So, is OTJ the right approach? Well, it depends. You can identify the following points that will give you an idea:

• People are going through off-the-job training that might be done better by OTJ
• Informal OTJ activities are already going on that could be made more formal
• There are new initiatives or changes that might be facilitated by OTJ
• There are staff who could make good OTJ trainers

If you decide that OTJ may help your staff develop their skills quicker and give them more confidence, then remember the importance of:

• Getting higher-management support
• Starting on a small scale, building on success and learning from failures
• Getting the basics correct

Then you can determine how to operate and develop an effective OTJ system. Make sure:

• It operates consistently between different areas of the business
• Assessment and verification processes function properly
• The opportunities for expanding OTJ go to all areas of the business
• You see the benefits of combining it with other forms of training

Many of your staff will enjoy the benefits of e-learning and will request opportunities to enhance their learning through OTJ and mentoring. Give them the chance to expand their knowledge through different forms of training and development. That way, you will see improvements in their performance and highlight how everyone can benefit from developing their skills in many areas.

Thanks again

Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Management Training Course

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Many people shun new year resolutions because they normally are made without any planning and last for only a short time. But there is something you can resolve to do that will make a real difference to your year and last a lot longer than an ill-thought-out, quick resolution.

The best thing you can do this year is look after your own career prospects.

Why is that? Because you can be totally in control, you get to choose the direction and you get to see the results.

This year, take a good look at the direction your job is taking you. As yourself:

“Have I got to where I hoped to in my career progression? Have I achieved what I have set out to do? What direction can I plan for 2011 to take me?”

This could imply long-term planning, and that’s sometimes better than planning to lose weight or give something up. It requires you to take stock of where you are now, where you want to go and what the rewards will be for it.

There is a saying that goes; “In one, three or five years, you will end up somewhere. The question is, is it where you want to be?”

You can control the direction you end up going. It’s your career, your future. Now is a good time to make those plans for your own personal development and ensure they end up going in the direction you want. Plan immediately for how you’re going to make this year a successful one for you and your team.

From myself and my team at MTD; A very happy, prosperous, safe and successful 2011.

Thanks again

Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Management Course

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What can you do to ensure these natural concerns are dealt with immediately?

Professionally organised and delivered induction training is your new employees’ first proper impression of you and your company, so it’s also an excellent opportunity to reinforce their decision to come and work for you. Proper induction training is increasingly a legal requirement. Employers have a formal duty to provide new employees with all relevant information and training relating to health and safety in particular.

Creating and issuing a suitable induction plan for each new person will help them do their job better and quicker, and with less dependence on your time in the future. Employees who are not properly inducted need a lot more looking after, so failing to provide good induction training is false economy.

Here are some examples of how you can get the new person up and running as quickly as possible that can be used in addition to formal training programs:

•    on the job coaching
•    mentoring
•    delegated tasks and projects
•    reading assignments
•    presentation assignments
•    attending internal briefings and presentations, e.g. ‘breakfast briefings’ format
•    special responsibilities which require obtaining new skills or knowledge or exposure
•    videos and DVDs
•    internet and e-learning
•    customer and supplier visits
•    attachment to project or other teams
•    job-swap
•    shadowing (working with another employee to see how they do it and what’s involved)

Of course, induction training will have to include some fairly dry subjects, so anything you can do to add interest, variety, different formats and experiences will greatly improve the overall induction process.

Induction training must include the following elements:

•    General training relating to the organisation, including values and philosophy as well as structure and history, etc.
•    Mandatory training relating to health and safety and other essential or legal areas.
•    Job training relating to the role that the new starter will be performing.
•    Training evaluation, involving confirmation of understanding, and feedback about the quality and response to the training.

Remember, each new starter will have different learning styles, so ensure you include a lot of variety to cater for all styles and abilities.

Here are some tips to make sure you give yourself the best opportunity to create a successful induction:

•    Use a feedback form of some sort to check the effectiveness and response to induction training – whatever you choose as a format should be an evolving and improving process.

•    Involve your existing staff in the induction process. Have them create and deliver sessions, do demonstrations, accompany, and mentor the new starters wherever possible.

•    Make sure you involve a lot of contact with other staff for the new person. It’s important that they get to know the values and standards of the company by watching others and learning from them. It’s also a good task to set team members, as it brings home to them the responsibilities they hold as a key worker, and encourages them to share their knowledge.

•    Depending on the job role, the new person may not always be able to get out and about to introduce themselves, so make this a proactive task within the whole process.

•    Keep close tabs on the feedback from the new person, helping them to see how their role plays an important part in the company. Encourage them to ask questions and to be aware of the mentoring that is available to them.

For the first few days and weeks, your new team member will be looking for guidance and advice without asking for it. They are an ‘unconscious incompetent’ at this point (they don’t know what they don’t know). So speed up the contribution that the new person offers to you by proactively managing their expectations and you’ll see their learning and development quickly grow and they become a supportive and valuable member of your team. They’ll be glad they made the decision to come to work for you!

Thanks again,
Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Management Training

Click below for a:
FREE email course “Improve Your Management Skills”

Many delegates arrive on courses without knowing the objectives and the main reasons why they are there. You can get a great deal more commitment from your team member who is about to be trained by covering a few bases before, during and after the course, so you can be more sure of the results.

BEFORE THE COURSE

Go through why you have chosen the person to attend this course. What are you hoping they will do differently afterwards? Go through the logistics, so they understand the venue details, any traveling issues, expenses and so on.

Discuss what personal learning objectives the person will have

Confirm the objectives and content of the course, and cover those specific aspects that will mean the most for the person

Cover off any concerns the person may have about the course. Will others from your business be attending or are they the only one? Ensure any fears are dealt with

What benefits will the person gain in the long term? How will it affect their future within the company?

How will the person’s job load be covered while they are away? Confirm you will only contact them in an emergency, or outside the course hours

Arrange a time and date for debriefing after they return. This shows how important you consider their development

DURING THE COURSE

Ensure their colleagues know why the person is going on the course and your expectations of them while the person is away

If they contact you or their colleagues while on the course, keep encouraging them to get the most out of it

FOLLOWING THE COURSE

Arrange to meet as soon as possible after the course, to discuss their action plans and what key learnings have been made

Go through the main points of the course, highlighting any areas that you had planned to cover in your briefing

Consider the action plan that the person made and flesh out the bones of how those plans can be implemented

Discuss how you and their colleagues can support their action plan

Set achievable and timely goals you would like the person to achieve as a result of the course

Discuss if any other members of the team would benefit from similar training

Place the training on their personal records and discuss what further development the person needs

By carrying out these tasks efficiently and professionally, you will show your team members how important you view their development and identify individuals who have the skills and abilities to go far in their roles and career.

Thanks again,
Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Management Training

Click below for a:
FREE email course “Improve Your Management Skills”

Before you plan your next training session, consider the four main developmental blocks. They are:

• Unrewarding organisations. Does your organisation encourage employees to obtain training and/or reward them for seeking it out? Are employees motivated to seek further education?
• Difficult line managers. Upper management may require additional training, but sometimes middle and lower management finds it difficult to let employees off the hook for for the time needed to actually obtain that training. Through not fault of your own you suddenly have employees who can’t meet their educational goals because their managers simply won’t let them.
• Passive participants. In some cases the employees themselves really don’t care about receiving additional training. They come to work to do their jobs, collect a paycheck, and go home. This may work for them but in the grand scheme of things can prove detrimental to the overall goals of your organisation.
• Trainers who can’t promote development. It’s one thing to give a training seminar, but a completely different thing to teach attendees how to use the skills they’ve learned when they return to their offices. I’ve actually been to training seminars in which the presenter has followed people back to their desks to help them experiment with new software programs or to show them how to incorporate new skills. You can’t just drop information in a person’s lap and expect him to know what to do with it.

As a trainer it’s your responsibility to identify these blocks and find ways to work around them. Communicate with all levels of management and with every employee to ensure your organisation’s training requirements are clear. There’s no reason for anyone to be left in the dark with it comes to continuing education.

Thanks again,

Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Management Course

Click below for a:
FREE email course “Improve Your Management Skills”

It’s important to remember that your development plan is a guide to help you jump start your personal growth, training seminar, or project. There’s no way to predict changes, roadblocks, or setbacks and there’s no reason to feel bad about abandoning parts of the plan if necessary later on down the line.

Another mistake people make when outlining their personal development plans is in choosing too many goals. It’s perfect acceptable to have a lengthy list of goals, but it’s impossible to focus on all of them at the same time. Choose two favorites (no more than four) and focus on them until you’ve achieved your goals; then move on to the next one on your list.

Finally, make sure the goals you’ve chosen are things you really care about and want to achieve. So many people get caught up in the “development plan” cycle and end up “borrowing” ideas from other sources. In the end, they certainly make progress but it doesn’t really mean anything – they’re simply crossing items off of their “to-do” lists instead of completing tasks that have personal meaning.  It’s OK to browse sample development plans or ask your mentors, supervisors, and peers for suggestions, but in the end you need to make sure the goals you include are personalized and mean something to you.

These reminders apply more to your personal develpment plan than anything else, but knowing what your goals are as a manager or trainer are just as important as your plans for your classes. In the near future we’ll talk a bit about how to tailor effective development plans for your employees and training sessions. Until then, take a look at your personal agendas and let me know what you think! Are you on track or do you need your goals a bit more?

Thanks again,
Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Management Training

Click below for a:
Free email course “Improve your Management Skills”

You’re going to spend a ton of time helping your team mates and employees formulate personal development plans to enhance their own careers, and you shouldn’t let your own fall through the cracks. Here are a few things you need to consider when brainstorming your plan:

What are your ultimate goals? Where do you want your career path to take you?

How will you achieve your goals? Do you need to obtain additional training or start working on new projects in order to reach those goals?

How will you evaluate your progress? Will your own manager or mentor monitor you and hold you accountable for your level of success?

Remember, setting goals for the development of your management skills and career is a personal task. Take the project seriously. Come up with your own ideas as opposed to using a generic list of “goals” you’ve found on the internet or on another training website.

Your own supervisors, peers, and even your subordinates may have valuable suggestions for you to use in developing your personal development plan. Make sure you ask for their help or, better yet, make creating a personal development plan into a group project so that you can all help each other at the same time!

Thanks again,
Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Management Training

Click below for a:
Free email course “Improve your Management Skills”

At first, I was frustrated because I wasn’t even sure what I was looking for. After a bit of self-reflection I realized that finding a mentor, or even multiple mentors, didn’t have to be as difficult as I was making it out to be. Here are a few things I learned along the way:

You want to find a mentor with a similar personality to yours. You’ll want to learn from someone you can get along with, so look for a mentor with a similar (or better) work ethic and personality.

It’s ok to ask your coworkers and peers for help. Those you work with may have already been through the process of searching for a mentor, and there is no reason to be ashamed to ask for help with your own search. Even if they haven’t found the need for a mentor, your peers may know someone they consider an excellent resource or teacher. Ask for referrals and introductions, if necessary.

I’ve already had mentors and didn’t realise it. I am willing to bet that you’ve had a personal or professional relationship with someone, at some point in your life, in which that person acted as a mentor. He may have helped you in school, coached you through sports, or helped you find your first job. Do you still have a relationship with this person; and can he or she still help you?

There are a myriad of places you can look for a good mentor. Don’t forget to consider more experienced peers, upper management, and online forums. Businesspersons from any field of work, not limited to your own, are also great sources of information and mentorship.

Remember, you can’t grow your career without networking and continuing your education. A good mentor will be a valuable source of information and guidance. Do any of you have mentors already? If so, how do you feel they’ve helped you with your career?

Thanks again,

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Management Training

Click below for a:
FREE email course “Improve Your Management Skills”

………the Development Plan!

Yes, we have set our objectives and now it is time to put together a development plan of the activities and skills that we need to improve upon and how we can achieve them
throughout the next review period……and that’s when a lot of our minds go blank!

Sure we know what skills we need help on and what we need to improve but HOW is the question!

Many managers just think that by placing you on a course that it will do the trick – believe me I have seen many people attend our public open courses who were "TOLD" that they needed to attend by their manager!

Whilst management training is my livelihood and it keeps my wife in GUCCI and PRADA (she wishes! well, ok,  Marks and Spencers and Next then!) there are other ways to help your development.

Training is an excellent vehicle to learn new skills in a safe environment, there is simply no other activity to match it – but I would say that wouldn’t I!

But what I am saying is that attending a training course is not the be all and end all of your development.

Next time when you are putting your development plan together, sure, include training courses in there but also think of some of these development activities that you could include as well:

Coaching (internal and external)
CD Roms
Computer Based Training (CBT)
Role Plays
Observation
Simulations
Feedback from others
Shadowing
Mentoring from others at least 2 positions higher than you are
Books
Action Learning Sets
Questionnaires
Leadership & Management development programmes
Taking on roles within your team
Taking some of your managers work on
Team building days
Cross training
Multi skilling
Job rotation
Job swapping

I hope this helps you?

Sean

MTD Training – The Management Training Company