Thursday, May 5, 2016

Promoting Training And Development In An Organization

By Peter Powell


The acquisition of knowledge and skills is a continuous process that begins when we are born and only ends (or so it is assumed) when we die. Training and development occurs in two main ways. The first occurs effortlessly as we attempt to deal with our day to day challenges. This is known as incidental learning. The second is as a result of a deliberate effort to become better and is thus referred to as intentional leaning.

Every organization (whether private or public) has the responsibility of ensuring that employees are trained regularly. Individual employees should also remember that they have a role to play in development and need to work in collaboration with their employers. They should challenge themselves to have individual goals on personal development that are in line with the goals of the firm.

One of the ways in which the organization can encourage professional growth and development is by providing a suitable environment for the same. Each employee needs to have a clearly defined job description on which further training can be based. They should all have basic competencies that will help the organist ion succeed both in the present and in the future.

Learning opportunities are present in everyday activities. Unusual incidences happening in the work place should be used as opportunities to gain experience. If such do not exist, one should make a deliberate effort to take on newer challenges. Job expanding is a strategy that is usually adopted by the management in an attempt to help employees develop new skills. It involves the allocation of newer tasks to employees that have mastered skills in their area of specialty and need a new challenge.

You need to conduct regular self-assessments so as to determine whether or not any progress is taking place. The assessment is usually centered on skills, strengths values, experiences and weaknesses. There are numerous tools that can be used for this on the internet. They may be obtained freely or at a small fee. If you are not in a position to get them, then you can conduct the same exercise by comparing yourself to persons that have similar job descriptions.

A committee is usually made up of members that represent different departments in an organization. When one gets a chance to sit in the meeting of such a committee, they get to learn more about the other departments. They gain skills and knowledge that help them work in greater harmony with their colleagues. The general advice is that all the employees should have the chance to be part of such committees from time to time.

Job shadowing refers to the act of one employee learning from a colleague who is, in most cases, more experienced in the field. It is one of the most effective (and cheapest) ways of passing skills and knowledge between employees in the organization. Coaching works in more or less the same way. A coach instructs the employee for a certain period of time and only lets them free after they have acquired the required skill.

Further studies are necessary for all employees regardless of their level of responsibility. This comprises both self-study and enrollment for courses in colleges or universities. There are a number of websites that help people to gain in both skill and knowledge (popularly known as e-learning). Such websites may belong to universities or professional associations where training is done formally or to accomplished individuals in the industry where the training is informal.




About the Author:



0 comments:

Post a Comment

Share

Twitter Delicious Facebook Digg Stumbleupon Favorites More