The shortcomings of traditional methods to keep up with rapid change, as well as the demands of the global marketplace, require a more targeted approach to training. The need for a proven approach to upgrade skills within budget and just in time to achieve business success is the major challenge facing organizations today. The need to use a targeted approach to provide the right training — to the right learner — at...
Unlike other interactive training systems, knowledgeably-designed digitized CD-ROM training provides everything needed in one complete package. Because it is an integrated package which can be used repeatedly once purchased, it will last for many, many years — making it the most cost effective training you can purchase. Knowledgeably-designed digitized CD-ROM training is not simply an audio-visual system developed to supplant the learning that comes from reading a workbook. Rather, it is a...
When you are choosing an LMS or administrative system for your media training initiatives, flexibility is the key to the right choice. Ease of use is just as critical to its design as are power and responsiveness. Hopefully, the choice you make will have a facility-specific customization feature which will allow you, among other uses, to inventory skills procedures that are unique to some of your workers preparing to retire. You can...
Beware of the oft-used title — “customer service.” As practiced, customer service is merely a response department in which their sole job is to respond to complaints, error reports and other problems. What you should be looking for is a courseware vendor that practices “customer assurance” — a training vendor that is thinking “customers” from initial development through service-after-the-sale. It all starts with courseware development. And, I’m not talking about the myriad...
Times are changing rapidly! In order to survive in today’s competitive world, organizations are seeking cost-effective, successful solutions to problems that affect quality and productivity. An effective training program is no longer a luxury — it is a necessity! If you are searching for a training vendor to support you with your training initiatives, here are a few things you should add to your list of qualifiers. To begin, you should be...
So, you’ve arranged a meeting with a sales representative from a courseware vendor. Okay, what should you expect? First of all, keep in mind that the salesperson has been trained by her company to extol the virtues of the product she is going to demonstrate and discuss. That salesperson has memorized every feature and benefit associated with his product. He’s been taught to ask you questions in order to “ease the atmosphere”...
The “Harvard Alumni Magazine” recently published information on their graduates that should call into question some of the values we are teaching our kids. “Among those who graduated around 1970, 22 percent of the men were in finance or management 15 years later. Among those who graduated around 1990, the figure was 38 percent. The proportion of male graduates working in finance alone increased from 5 percent to 15 percent in the...
Today many corporations are either developing for themselves or, looking for help from a vendor, in addressing their specific training needs. If you choose the latter route, you need to choose a vendor that will listen, be able to understand what you want to achieve, and then work with your organization in order to design and/or implement a training program that will meet your objectives. The key to any successful training initiative...
Sometimes you’re in the market for a custom production house. Beyond “the basics,” taught successfully by several responsible vendors, you might also have need for a customized training program that will address items that are specific to your organization’s procedures, policies or specific equipment. What should you look for? To begin, you should select a producing organization that has a long track record of producing similar multiple-media training programs for their customers....
What do you want to accomplish with your training initiatives? Do your objectives include minimizing downtime, reducing scrap, cross training your workforce? Or, are those objectives tied to a “CYA” strategy? In other words, are you going to justify your training initiatives by showing management the improvement results between pre-test and final exam scores? If so, you’re not doing a very good job of helping your organization meet its top line and...
Applied technical competency is the basis for increasing productivity and quality while minimizing downtime and re-work. Knowledgeably designed multi-sensory training is created to improve technical competence. Such courses use workplace situations and terminology, providing an atmosphere of practicality for the employee. With knowledgeably designed multi-sensory learning, employees understand the course material faster and retain more, allowing them to apply more of their new skills. Such courses allow employees to learn at their...
Much data relating to multi-sensory media instruction is available, and this data can illustrate the reasons behind the success of multi-sensory learning. More than anything else, the body of multi-sensory training developed for business and industry brings training efficiency. There are several obvious reasons. Multi-sensory instruction reduces training time. Estimates are that learning occurs 38-70% faster than with traditional classroom instruction, and course content is mastered 60% faster. Perhaps equally important is...
What force separates the winners from the losers in today’s marketplace? The same force that has shaped survivors throughout history — change! Since the beginning of time, it has been those who have learned to control change who have prospered. How does an organization acquire the skills and knowledge to meet the challenges posed by change? Through TRAINING! A successful company needs managers and planners who can see the potential of the...
To stay competitive, today’s organization has to realize maximum productivity from each and every employee. While investing training dollars in specific task skills training, too often, the company ignores the basic skills knowledge gap that exists throughout their organization. Unfortunately, when they take the time to examine that basic skills gap, many find that their employees simply don’t have the basic skills to perform their jobs effectively. A working understanding of applied...