Within organizations, a big challenge faced by managers is the need for workers to familiarize themselves with employee training tracking software they have never used before. This most commonly affects new employees to the company, as this is often the first time they are asked to navigate through the company’s intranet, enterprise software program and website. However, veteran employees are also affected by this process in the case of updated and new features introduced, or especially when the company has decided to make the change to an entirely different software altogether.
Onboarding Challenges
The main problem that comes with software onboarding is represented by its costs – regardless whether we’re talking about direct money (how much training has absorbed in terms of price) or indirect revenue (the potential revenue that’s been lost during training due to employees not performing to their maximum capacity in daily tasks). This is especially true since training managers are forced to constantly deal with limited training budgets, mostly during tough economic times but not only.
In addition to employee training costs, another problem which rises is represented by the time involved, with training going on too long in the eyes of managers. This happens due to poor management of the course duration, and because they are often forced to integrate a large amount of information in these courses due to time constraints. This results not only in trainers being stressed, but also the employees, since they have to ingest a large amount of data in short times and then effectively apply it in everyday duties.
Furthermore, there is loss of potential revenue during IT training sessions, which precludes employees from being able to perform at full capacity at the end of training courses. In an effort to combat this, training session times are then cut, which can lead to a period of employee errors and assistance requests in operating the software, which often leads to a decrease in company’s profitability.
Finally, software used by most companies often updates itself, integrating new features and characteristics, so the need for training sessions cannot be defined as one-time event anymore, but rather as a continuous strategy.
A High-Value, Efficiency Training Strategy
As a result, training managers need to research solutions that can help them reduce the time involved in training employees to understand the usage of new software, but also maintain a cost-effective approach at the same time. Put otherwise, companies need to get a higher value for a lower amount of money through appropriate and effective training strategies and solutions. They need to find those solutions which allow them to leave a long-lasting impact on employees, while at the same time educating them and helping support their daily work performance and business flow. In this regard, there is a variety of solutions which training managers can resort to:
1. Cross-training. Through this method employees are given the chance to explore the jobs of their colleagues, which will not only enhance their skills in the long run but also give companies the advantage of owning multi-specialized employees. Cross-training will also deliver workers a better understanding of their coworkers’ duties, and thus allow them to understand what they can do best to fulfill company goals.
2. Demonstrations. One of the most attention-grabbing techniques is through the use of demonstrations. Â By utilizing demonstrations, training managers can show employees exactly how to use the new (or updated) software step-by-step, as well as engage their safety skills. In addition, by giving employees the chance to ask questions, one can benefit from truly long-lasting results in workers’ operational capabilities.
3. One-on-One Coaching. This technique has the role of improving individual employee performance by focusing on the individual characteristics of the employees more than all others. This don’t really serve as training sessions, but rather as instructional guides in which a supervisor, manager or veteran employee has the role of a coach. The person in charge will be responsible for correcting an employee’s errors, answering his/her questions, suggesting effective ways of accomplishing tasks, providing support and encouragement, leading him/her toward goal achievement, giving feedback on employee actions, and more. Discover how to improve employee performance, for better results.
4. In-Work Performance Support. In addition to all these training performance boosters, one can successfully relate to the specialized just-in-time aids in the industry, which have greatly evolved in terms of performance and adoption over the last years. For instance, with the aid of an online guidance software such as WalkMe, companies can rapidly resolve their concerns related to under-performing employees. What WalkMe does is to provide step-by-step live instructions for employees, via a series of tip balloons, every time they need to accomplish a certain task or learn about a new feature. Thus, they have the freedom of learning at their own pace and without any external aid. At the same time, their performance level is boosted and they benefit from enhanced creativity due to the fact of being able to experiment on their own, all in a completely safe environment.
Onboarding Challenges
The main problem that comes with software onboarding is represented by its costs – regardless whether we’re talking about direct money (how much training has absorbed in terms of price) or indirect revenue (the potential revenue that’s been lost during training due to employees not performing to their maximum capacity in daily tasks). This is especially true since training managers are forced to constantly deal with limited training budgets, mostly during tough economic times but not only.
In addition to employee training costs, another problem which rises is represented by the time involved, with training going on too long in the eyes of managers. This happens due to poor management of the course duration, and because they are often forced to integrate a large amount of information in these courses due to time constraints. This results not only in trainers being stressed, but also the employees, since they have to ingest a large amount of data in short times and then effectively apply it in everyday duties.
Furthermore, there is loss of potential revenue during IT training sessions, which precludes employees from being able to perform at full capacity at the end of training courses. In an effort to combat this, training session times are then cut, which can lead to a period of employee errors and assistance requests in operating the software, which often leads to a decrease in company’s profitability.
Finally, software used by most companies often updates itself, integrating new features and characteristics, so the need for training sessions cannot be defined as one-time event anymore, but rather as a continuous strategy.
A High-Value, Efficiency Training Strategy
As a result, training managers need to research solutions that can help them reduce the time involved in training employees to understand the usage of new software, but also maintain a cost-effective approach at the same time. Put otherwise, companies need to get a higher value for a lower amount of money through appropriate and effective training strategies and solutions. They need to find those solutions which allow them to leave a long-lasting impact on employees, while at the same time educating them and helping support their daily work performance and business flow. In this regard, there is a variety of solutions which training managers can resort to:
1. Cross-training. Through this method employees are given the chance to explore the jobs of their colleagues, which will not only enhance their skills in the long run but also give companies the advantage of owning multi-specialized employees. Cross-training will also deliver workers a better understanding of their coworkers’ duties, and thus allow them to understand what they can do best to fulfill company goals.
2. Demonstrations. One of the most attention-grabbing techniques is through the use of demonstrations. Â By utilizing demonstrations, training managers can show employees exactly how to use the new (or updated) software step-by-step, as well as engage their safety skills. In addition, by giving employees the chance to ask questions, one can benefit from truly long-lasting results in workers’ operational capabilities.
3. One-on-One Coaching. This technique has the role of improving individual employee performance by focusing on the individual characteristics of the employees more than all others. This don’t really serve as training sessions, but rather as instructional guides in which a supervisor, manager or veteran employee has the role of a coach. The person in charge will be responsible for correcting an employee’s errors, answering his/her questions, suggesting effective ways of accomplishing tasks, providing support and encouragement, leading him/her toward goal achievement, giving feedback on employee actions, and more. Discover how to improve employee performance, for better results.
4. In-Work Performance Support. In addition to all these training performance boosters, one can successfully relate to the specialized just-in-time aids in the industry, which have greatly evolved in terms of performance and adoption over the last years. For instance, with the aid of an online guidance software such as WalkMe, companies can rapidly resolve their concerns related to under-performing employees. What WalkMe does is to provide step-by-step live instructions for employees, via a series of tip balloons, every time they need to accomplish a certain task or learn about a new feature. Thus, they have the freedom of learning at their own pace and without any external aid. At the same time, their performance level is boosted and they benefit from enhanced creativity due to the fact of being able to experiment on their own, all in a completely safe environment.
