Corporate training plans? From theory to practice
Enterprise companies have long understood that without the support of adequate technological infrastructure, there can be no development, an awareness even more deeply-rooted when related to complex matters that concern the Department of Human Resources and, in more detailed manner, the training of personnel. For some time, similar enterprises have adopted Learning Management Systems to support the training processes of their employees, allocated in places spread worldwide.
The task to understand what is the specific training demand of the staff and how is it possible to analyze the needs of the business at training level, represents a focal point for all organizations that today want to reach an advanced stage of maturity.
In this essay, I assume, we already know the importance of adopting application systems to support the management of Human Resources, so I’d rather enter into the merits of the processes of definition of training plans in complex pronged situations, where the management of employees is played on a three-zero digits.
An accurate definition of training plans, focused on the real needs of a staff that differs in seniority, duties, role, geographic location etc., passes from the use of a tool: the Training Matrix.
Let’s start from a descriptive approach…
What is it? The definition of training needs can be engineered with the help of matrices able to intersect a course to any piece of personal data (e.g. the role, status, age, unit, home, appointments, risks). We can call training matrix a set of rules that, for example, assign to all teachers a public speaking course and to all drivers a license renewal course. The output of the Training Matrix is represented by a “tailored” training plan, stitched on the needs of each individual employee. Depending on your needs, it represents a proposal or a training requirement that could be optimized by manager or HR.
Let’s make this process “adaptive”!
Except for the obligatory courses, all training content calculated from the matrix will be reported as suggestions, proposals and insights, in line with the employee’s profile. Imagine a portal of training with a training offer catalog in plain sight and ready for employees’ self service. Based on the results, offered by the matrices, the system will allow us to “float” specific learning content on the home page, so as to provide the right content in the right priorities. The flotation algorithms in addition to the training matrix take into account the incidence of use, the success, the satisfaction, the strategic priority, intersecting these factors with the characteristics of the employee and his colleagues with similar to him in terms of career, role task, and skill evaluation – both within the company and on the web (think of big data). Through the “floating” content, the learner can choose, compose and build his own training plan, an active participant of the project of his training.
For those who are not satisfied
Similar logics find realization in a matter that is in ascent within HR field now: gamification. To adapt means to teach the learner to be responsible and proactive. He will be given the opportunity to build his own training “package”, by assigning scores for specific courses, slides, videos, Ted Talk, MOOC etc. In this way, each learner will create his own educational path, spending his own training points and becoming a protagonist of his own development.
