Nonprofits and their employees benefit by investing in staff training. That is especially true when you focus on helping employees to transfer what they learn in the workshop to how they behave in the office. Take a look at these 3 strategies for maximizing the impact of your training program.
Spread Your Training Sessions Out:
Learning is more effective when you give employees time to absorb and reflect on new information and ideas. Otherwise, it’s like cramming for exams during college. People are less likely to remember and understand the material long term. Breaking training up gives your staff a chance to alternate between training sessions and their usual tasks, so they can try out what they’re learning.
Tie Workplace Training to Career Development Goals:
One of the best ways to identify training needs is to draw on the career development goals your staff already has. Supervisors and the employees that report to them can put training on their agenda for regularly scheduled one on one meetings and performance reviews. It can also be helpful for supervisors and managers to attend trainings with their staff, so they can share the experience and collaborate on how to use it.
Create Individual and Group Incentives for Training Transfer:
Make training fun and rewarding. Encourage friendly competition between individual employees and teams as they look for practical ways to use what they’ve learned. You might offer a cash bonus for the best performance or give everyone a chance to earn a little time off, especially if they’ve been completing their training while needing to cover their usual daily responsibilities. Get creative about sharing success stories, and using gamification strategies to create a positive learning experience that aligns with your organizational goals.
Contact us at Mainstream Nonprofit Solutions to learn more about how our administrative services can free up time for you to focus on your mission. We are dedicated to success.