According to The American Heritage Dictionary (n.d.), training is “the education, instruction, or discipline of a person or thing that is being trained”. As defined and to further explain, training educates, guides, and improves skill levels of individuals. In addition to the employee performing better in a current job or task, training can provide opportunities for mobility or promotion within a company. Training gives employees the knowledge, skills and abilities necessary to succeed in a position. Overall, training assists people to learn.
Training should be about whole person development and not just transferring skills. Effective training involves appealing to all the learners’ senses and getting them fully engaged in learning of new skills. It requires a systematic approach, an understanding of how adults prefer to learn, teaching skills, patience, communication, and evaluation of whether the training has been effective. Training is only as effective as the planning that is put into it.
Companies value training and use training and development to enhance the skills and knowledge of their employees, in addition to managing and reinforcing the company culture by improving quality, customer satisfaction, productivity, morale, management succession, business development and profitability.
There are many different training and development methods which should link to organizational performance improvements. The first and foremost thing to do is identify the organizational performance needs, gaps, and priorities then move on from there. A key question with training is how much is actually needed. Training should be a continuous lifelong process that should never end.
References
Training, n.d. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Retrieved from http://www.thefreedictionary.com/training