Training is the cultivation or training in oneself or Others, any acquired skills and knowledge or personal fitness and ability that relate directly to specific practical skills required for day-to-day living. Training has definite objectives of enhancing one’s ability, capability, productivity, performance and achievement. Training and learning can occur in any situation where knowledge and skills are needed to accomplish an assignment, solve a problem, reach a goal, implement a plan or achieve a standard goal. In most cases training is undertaken for development in a particular direction at specific stages of development of the learner.
The key to effective training is active involvement by both the trainer and the learner. Training needs to be as much interactive as possible so that it can be perceived by the learner as a situation in which they have the greatest potential to gain some beneficial practical knowledge and skills. Training can involve formal classroom training or it can involve work place training or it can be carried out during the learners natural daily activities. It can also be undertaken by professionals or in the form of informal study groups and family activities.
Training is normally conducted in distinct phases with differing goals and methods depending on the type of training involved. These goals and methods can be categorized as one of the following: Professional Development, Skill Training, Personal Development, Self-Learning or Team Training. In professional development training sessions the objective is to enhance the learner’s awareness of current job requirements and prepare them for new ones. Skill training is directed at increasing a learner’s skill set or competence in a particular area. Self-learning is a process in which a learner actively experiences and learns new skills and/or information that are relevant to the program.
It is important for trainers to set learning objectives clearly communicate them to the learners. This enables the learners to understand what they are expected to achieve and to meet these objectives. The process of developing learning objectives should include the assessment of each learner’s needs, the identification of their weak points and their possible improvement, the identification of their strengths and the motivation for learning to act towards these strengths and finally the formulation of a program to support the learners.
In some instances, it may be necessary for training programs to comprise more than one session. This can be done in case the objectives of the training have been repeatedly addressed by different trainers. In this case, a series of trial run program may be required to evaluate the effectiveness of the training. Different types of training programs are available for employees such as reinforcement training, behavioral training, and self-help training. Reinforcement training aims to reinforce proper behavior while behavioral training aims to modify the negative behaviors and attitudes of an employee to become more suitable for the tasks at hand.
For training to be successful, trainers need to keep an eye on the behavior of both the learners and the trainers. This is particularly important because in some cases, the behaviors of the learners may not meet the expectations of the trainers. The failure of a training plan to address this issue is to be blamed not only on the trainers but also on the learner. Good training programs are more likely to be successful if they are based on a learning concept and involve the active involvement of both the trainer and the learners. If the learners are left to their own devices, there is little likelihood of their acquiring the skills or behaviors they need to be successful in the job.…