Training is a major investment for most businesses, yet too many of them fail to get an acceptable return on that investment. Perhaps part of the reason is that the training programs that served admirably during the Industrial Era are not quite right for the Information Era.
Back in the day, corporate training meant overhead projector slides or PowerPoint decks, and while these tools still make appearances, training can be far more high-tech these days, with mobile learning modules, gamification of training, and automatic collection of training and learning data. Online forms, as part of outstanding workflow software, can significantly enhance corporate training efficiency, however automated or old school it is.
Planning Training Courses
How are training courses planned in your organization? Are some employees required to have training on fixed time schedules, or is training provided on an as-needed basis? Either way, online forms and workflow software should have your back. A simple workflow, for example, to trigger annual training, could begin by alerting training managers and trainers of the upcoming necessity for training starting on a certain calendar date. On-demand training could be triggered when enough query forms come in about how to use the features in a new software update, perhaps. When it’s time to gather the troops to put together a training program, online forms and workflows have paper forms and manual workflows beat soundly.
Preparing Training Courses
Developing, or even purchasing training courses can be a long and involved process. Does your workflow software allow you to, for example, record every instance in which you evaluate a training program along with the “grade” you assign it? This can help you keep training programs straight and help you select the right one, even after you have evaluated so many that you feel overwhelmed. In other words, online workflows are great at recording and organizing pertinent information so you don’t have to worry about keeping it all straight in your head.
Online forms can be great for gathering information from trainers and employees about schedule availability, and about mobile devices, in case training is delivered through that modality. And of course, they are perfect for coordinating sign-ups for training sessions.
Delivering Training Courses
Your trainers won’t waste time with roll call if you create a simple online workflow where training attendees use their smartphones to tap a button when the trainer asks who is present. Workflows can also be created for trainees to submit their questions for Q&A sessions, and to indicate when they have finished a training module, whether that module is completed electronically, or on paper.
Workflows can also be created for electronic quizzes, automatically “grading” them, and submitting information to trainers so they can see right away what aspects of training are reaching learners effectively, and where it may be necessary to revise and review.
Providing Follow-Up
Once a training course concludes, most trainers want to know how effective the trainees thought it was. With the right workflow form software, it’s simple to create online forms and workflows that enable learners to provide feedback on every aspect of the training course. Likewise, trainees could use a follow-up workflow to indicate what they think they may need additional training on.
Follow-up also extends to evaluation by trainers and their training managers. What materials and tools would enable better training programs next time? How might trainee feedback be put to work to make future training programs better?
Automated workflows can’t do the learning for people, but they can certainly take many inefficiencies out of the administrative aspects of corporate training. The right workflow software not only allows you to create fully customized online forms but also automated workflow processes that make use of them. The result is trainers who can spend more time actually training people, and trainees who know every moment spent in the training classroom has value.
PerfectApps is online form creator software that allows the very people who use forms and workflows to design them to exactly suit their needs. With a drag-and-drop interface, PerfectApps can accomplish the simple (like online sign ups for training courses) to the complex (administering and grading quizzes, then reporting results to trainers). Watch our demo video and see how powerful and flexible PerfectApps is. It’s an all-around solution that can help revolutionize your company’s training programs.
