Make Training Easy – Document Your Processes

At one point or another, any business that has more than one employee is going to deal with employee turnover. According to a study carried out by Gallup Workforce Panel, 51 percent of employees are actively looking for new job opportunities at any given time.

But it is not the leaving of these employees that is costly. Rather the hiring and training of new ones that is.

Analysis conducted in this area indicates that refilling these empty positions costs business owners roughly 20 percent of the overall salary of the position in hiring, recruiting, and then onboarding costs. 

This cost can be attributed to the long hiring process that companies have to undergo in hopes of landing the best possible candidate. However, another important factor that is often overlooked but costs the company a significant chunk of revenue is the lengthy training process that new – or even existing - hires have to go through.

By finding ways to make the training process shorter and much more efficient, businesses can boost their growth.

This is where documentation comes in.

Documentation can enhance the way training processes are carried out as it allows organizations to prepare, learn, and advance quickly.

Let’s have a look at how you can double down on your documentation efforts to boost the efficiency of your training process and save your organization precious time and money. 

Make Training Easy by Documenting Your Training Process

Identify Your Training Needs

Before designing your employee training and development program, you need to identify your training needs and document them. Assess what your new employees need to know in order to successfully fulfill their job roles in the right way.

Once you have documented the needs and skills you want fulfilled, you can then begin planning and building your employee training program. The program should focus on developing skills that are the most important to you.

Set Your Objectives

Setting clear objectives could look like asking yourself the following questions:

• How will my employee’s performance improve as a result of this training program?

• How will this program empower my employees to perform better?

• How will this affect the company’s employee turnover rate?

This would help you determine which steps to include in your training and give you a picture of what the training process should look like.

Create a “How-to” Outline

After determining what your employee training process would look like, create a “how-to” outline around it. Choose and document which templates and materials will fit best with your objectives and expectations of the training process. This includes resources and training delivery methods along with the content, materials, and other necessary training elements.  

The design of the training program should be documented as thoroughly as possible, with each main section being the objective or goal you want your employee to achieve before they move on to the next section.

Find ways to assess your employee's success in each section by employing different test methods. Should they demonstrate a certain skill to you? Should they pass a test? Would role-play scenarios help with determining the employee's understanding?

See what works best in that particular step and only move on to the next if the employee fulfills the required conditions.

Involve Existing Employees in the Training Process

While creating your training process guide, let your employees lend a helping hand. If you have existing employees doing the job, work in conjunction with them to document and produce a process that provides effective training and knowledge.

Moreover, once the training is done, ask an employee who is not familiar with the training process to review and learn from it. This will facilitate continuous improvement of the training method.

Encouraging your employees to get involved in the process by participating in discussions and contributing their knowledge can elevate everyone’s knowledge, including the team leader’s.

Include Your Employees in the Feedback Loop

An effective training process is created when it is based on employee feedback and experiences.

Document your employees' honest opinions. If they feel confident with the training process and its efficacy in teaching them to do their jobs more effectively, you have got yourself a great process.

However, if the opposite is true, you need to go back to your training guide and find a way to make it better.

Ask your new employees the following questions:

• What new skills did you learn as a result of the training program?

• What part of the program helped you improve and what should we improve?

• Are there any learning tools that are lacking in the process?

• Where and how will you apply your new skills in your job?

Not allowing for regular feedback from your employees can result in them making costly mistakes in the future. The longer they perform a job the wrong way, the harder it is going to be to get them to correct it.

Gaining regular feedback from your workers would ensure that they are doing their job in the best possible way and according to industry standards rather than falling behind on meeting the organization’s goals and expectations.

Review Your Training Processes and Update Them Regularly

No training program is complete until you measure its effectiveness through the results it produces. It is important that you review your training process and document all the areas where you found success and where you didn’t.

Ideally, you should perform both pre-and post-training assessments of your employees to see where improvements should be made. Once you recognize areas of weakness throughout the process, make the necessary updates to the existing program.

The Bottom Line

The training process you create would be a learning experience not just for your employees but for you as well. As opposed to being a one-off process, it is going to require small, routine improvements as time goes on.

Documenting allows you to record every victory, setback, and failure throughout your whole training process. You are able to make changes quickly and double down on areas where more effort is needed. This creates a company culture that works to give employees professional advancement they need.