Training That Delivers Results

Too often today, when companies recognize the need for training in a specific topic--business writing, behavior interviewing, customer service, or other--they apply the same standard instruction they utilized the last time they addressed a need for training--which was in a completely different area! But one-size-fits-all approaches rarely work anywhere, especially in the professional world. Training That Delivers Results offers a far better way to educate employees, one that connects learning solutions with strategic business goals.With more than 30 years of experience as a learning and performance improvement professional, author Dick Handshaw proposes that organizations cannot simply tell their trainers what to teach but rather they need to proactively collect data in order to define problems and develop unique training interventions. Handshaw's results-oriented model is systematic, yet flexible, and works for both instructor-led training and e-learning. Readers will learn how to:• Analyze performance gaps • Create targeted performance objectives and connect them with the right measurement tools • Determine the best instructional strategy and the appropriate media • Build consensus with project blueprint meetings • Evaluate the effectiveness of training and use the data to continually improveTraining will not be effective and beneficial in sustaining, rewarding ways unless the employee education experience is successfully linked with the overall business goals. Training That Delivers Results supplies the tools, worksheets, and assessments needed to tie the learning experience to enhanced performance outcomes--and deliver sustainable, quantifiable business results.

Understanding the natural process of how adults learn is critical to delivering training that's interesting, relevant - and most important - gets tangible results. In Turning Training Into Learning, the authors share their original, time-tested method for how to help trainees internalize a skill so that it sticks. In detail, Sheila Furjanic and Laurie Trotman show you how to take the traditional training cycle (assess, design, delivery, evaluate) and align it with their step-by-step system, which they call "Learn." This revolutionary approach examines the adult mind, and shows you how it deals with new information and skills - how it perceives, evaluates, tests, and finally accepts what it has learned. And, Turning Training Into Learning is far more than just an explanation of a training theory. It's packed full of practical advice, guidelines, models, checklists, forms, templates, and other tools.

At last, an answer to the question that has bedeviled trainers for decades. Predictive evaluation enables you to effectively and accurately forecast training's value to your company, measure against these predictions, establish indicators to track your progress, make midcourse corrections, and report the results in a language that business executives respond to and understand. Dave Basarab explains how to begin by identifying the specific goals and beliefs you want to instill in participants. The next step is to determine exactly what these will look like when put into action. Finally you develop quantifiable measures of how employees' adopting the target beliefs and goals will impact the business. A key strength of this process is that it is profoundly collaborative—supervisors and employees work together to establish standards for success each step of the way. A how-to guide filled with worksheets, examples, and other tools, Predictive Evaluation ensures that, rather than being regarded as an expense and an act of faith, training will be seen as an investment with a concrete payoff.

Your service team may represent the first, last, or only interaction point between your customers and your company. Your front-line service professionals make or break countless opportunities, leads, sales, and relationships every day. Completely revised and updated to meet the challenges of a new service landscape, the second edition of Customer Service Training 101 presents proven techniques for creating unforgettable customer experiences. The book covers every aspect of face-to-face, phone, Internet, and self-service customer relations, and provides simple yet powerful tips for: * Projecting a positive attitude and making a great first impression * Communicating effectively, both verbally and nonverbally * Developing trust, establishing rapport, and making customers feel valued * Confidently handling difficult customers and situations New features include "How Do I Measure Up?" self-assessments, and "Doing It Right" examples from the author's extensive customer service experience. Every step-by-step lesson in this comprehensive and inspiring training manual is augmented with instructive sidebars, a summary of key points, practice exercises, and so much more.

This book presents time saving strategies, tactics, and a host of job aids to get the best result from the corporate learning function. It will serve both as a must-have reference tool and as a practical survival guide for workplace learning professionals who face unique challenges in accomplishing their responsibilities. Several strategies and tactics are offered to organize the roles and responsibilities of the training function. There's authoritative advice, too, for managing the function including staff management, communicating expectations, setting the learning agenda, coaching subject matter experts, hiring consultants and vendors, managing content, working with learning portals, setting up and managing a learning resource center, marketing and building internal support for training, and integrating learning into the business.

What makes some training programs successful while others produce disappointing results? The answer, says Ron Stone, lies in the processes trainers employ to determine needs, design and develop programs, deliver the training, and partner to get business results. It is time to reexamine these processes, says the author, and bring them into the twenty-first century. In Aligning Training for Results Stone provides a potent, comprehensive, and versatile resource to help guide trainers through assessing, designing, and delivering training solutions that achieve real and measurable results. Note: CD-ROM/DVD and other supplementary materials are not included as part of eBook file.

Are you a learning and development professional responsible for creating training programs for your organization? If so, you probably know that every training project faces the constraints of time, cost, and quality. Real World Training Design employs the time-tested ADDIE (Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation and Evaluation) model as a starting point in giving you the tools and knowledge you need to implement your training goals. In Real World Training Design, you will learn how to assess the needs training of your company, how to design a program that meets your criteria you face, how to develop the program efficiently and cost-effectively, how to implement your training protocol, and how to evaluate the results of your work so you can demonstrate the benefits and return-on-investment of your plan. Separating Real World Training Design from the rest of the training manual pack is its recognition that real-world challenges and opportunities are part of the process of developing every training program. Rather than gloss over the potential difficulties faced by trainers, managers, and other L&D staff, this book explores and addresses these issues head on, and offers creative and pragmatic advice on how to overcome these obstacles. In addition to an in-depth analysis of the ADDIE protocol and coverage of the potential pitfalls you may encounter, Real World Training Design also delivers useful tools, detailed templates, well-researched case studies, and a list of additional resources to help you create truly productive and cost-effective training programs. Real World Training Design is a tremendously valuable for every professional who is involved with the design, implementation, maintenance, and evaluation of personnel development tools.