Importance of Training

Interview of Dinesh Divekar, an established HR professional and a national training figure discusses the importance and defining features of effective training of employees
1. What is the need and importance of training for employees?
For any business, the product or services add a competitive advantage in the market or industry. It is the employees who produce the products or deliver the services. Quality of the product or services is directly proportional to the job competencies and not the experience. To develop job competencies, employees need to be trained and retrained. Training is important because you need to groom your employees to hold the higher position.
2. How is training of middle level/junior managers different from that at senior levels?
At lower level, employees need training on understanding concept of communication, interpersonal skills, self-awareness, business etiquettes. As we move upward, the managers need training on understanding of managerial competencies, conflict handling skills, negotiation skills, decision making skills, analytical tools etc. For higher level, the requirement of training is to focus on concepts of branding, talent management, leadership, strategic thinking, entrepreneurial orientation etc.

3. How has training evolved over time as a function of HR? What are the likely trends in future?
Long time ago, Electronics was branch of Physics or Statistics was branch of Mathematics. The way these two subjects have evolved, in same way, employee training has also evolved. Employee training now covers various subjects like functional or technical skills, soft skills, safety and security, quality related subjects, taxation, sales, finance, inventory management, customer service etc. Each one is independent. Within soft skills also, there is variation like NLP, psychometric tests etc. Then, there is industry-specific requirement also. No single person can fulfill all these requirements. Companies have to rely on multiple agencies. Training function is no longer tied to the apron strings of HR. The companies that dismissed training as cost earlier have realized the importance of training. The future trend would be to live with the byword ‘we perform as we train’.
4. What are some of the most effective training measures used in today’s organizations?
In general, after the training program, participants fill the feedback form. Success of the training is not shown by marks on the feedback form. Few astute trainers know very well how to manage the feedback. Kirkpatrick model is one of oldest model to measure the training effectiveness but to implement this model; it requires lot of organizational maturity. Another simple method of measuring the training effectiveness is to ask the questions like (a) after the training, is the consumption of resources is as per the budget? (b) after the training, do the activities start in time in my company? (c) after the training, do the activities end in time in my company (d) after the training, what is increased or what is decreased. Answers to these questions are sufficient to measure the effectiveness. In addition to this, one more measure of training is to find out whether this training program generated any bright business idea? Implementation of this one single idea may save resources in a big way.
5. How can managers track the results of various training programs? What kind of feedback mechanism can be employed?
Implementation of the training is important than the training itself. Therefore, companies first should create mechanism to implement the learning and then go ahead with the training. Managers are able to track the implementation of learning by their subordinates if they have those skills. Secondly, managers can track the results by asking the right questions. Thirdly, managers can track the results of training by keeping a close watch on operational or financial ratios. After the training, were the participants able to meet the objectives of their departments? Has the customer satisfaction improved? Has the employee satisfaction improved? Has the organizational climate improved? These indices give excellent feedback on the success or the failure of the training.