In this blog, I focus on the meaning of the word ‘training and the many benefits it can bring overall. Taking a fresh perspective, I discuss the importance of training, its purpose and how it can assist us in the long run, both personally and in the workplace.

The word ‘training’ is used a lot nowadays but what does it actually mean, and what is the point of ‘training’?

Well, whether we like it or not, we actually undergo training every day without even realizing it! Training is another word for ‘learning’, so every time you learn something new, you are undergoing a form of ‘training’ to be prepared for next time.

Now back in the day, you would probably have got an email from your boss with something along the lines of ‘You have been booked to attend a training seminar on X date to learn about Y’ and I bet this hardly filled you with excitement. So how have things changed? I give to you the world of E-Learning!

Even before the Pandemic hit and we were all stuck at home, E-Learning was on the rise. The ability to complete training at your own pace, in your own time through a website platform and still come out with a certificate or qualification at the end.

“But surely you are not getting the same benefit as being in classroom seminar and are limited to what you learn?“ I hear you say.

When I was studying for my CIPD 2 years ago, the course was for one year and it was all through an E-learning platform. Every month we would have ‘Tutor Sessions’ where we would speak to our tutor about our assessments, or any questions we had with our coursework. In between those sessions, we could still contact our assessor with anything we needed, and they would come back, if not the same day, then by the next day. The tutor and the learning platform were so supportive and attentive, I would almost argue it was better than sitting in a classroom. We would receive weekly emails from our tutors just to say, ‘well done!’ or ask how our week was going and if we needed any help with that week’s coursework. It gave us such a confidence boost to get through our studies and pass our assessments. The platform itself had a lot of interactive tools, and there was even a virtual graduation day! So, I would go so far as to say that the world of E-Learning could completely overtake the ‘Classroom Seminar’ training ethos one day.

As an organisation, training can often fall into becoming a  ‘box ticking’ exercise of needing to put people on training because they have to. Often forgetting the key element about training which is to learn. By investing that time in organising training for someone, you are investing in their career progression, knowledge, and their confidence. It is a great feeling when you have attended some training and then in the work place a question arises and you are able to answer it because you learnt about it when you completed that course your boss enrolled you on a month ago.

A huge part of my job is to write Training Courses for site staff. Yes, there are the topics that ‘have to be covered’ and believe me, I understand learning about Health and Safety or Fire Safety Legislation might not be the most exciting topic in the world, but we need it so how do you make the ‘Not so fun topics’ in a training course more exciting? Here are a few suggestions:

•  Images – The Brain is programmed to identify knowledge by imagery. A person may not remember what was written underneath that image completely, but they will remember the image attached to it. By making your training as visual as possible will help trigger the brain into thinking ‘Why was that image there and what did it mean?’ therefor enabling to trigger the information that went alongside it.

• Quizzes – I am not talking about big scary assessments. I mean every few training slides, have a simple quiz of about 4 – 5 questions that covers the last few previous slides. The reason for this is again, it is triggering the brain to start working to respond to the questions asked rather than reading 15 slides and then trying to cover the whole training in an assessment at the end. By having lots of small quizzes throughout the training helps the person to remember/be prepared for when they are asked about it later on.

Videos – If you can break up your training with videos the better. No one wants to just click through the slides and read. Videos kick start the brain again with visuals and imagery. The person conducting the training will be more likely to remember the visuals from a video rather than a training slide.

• Discussion Boards – Have a ‘Discussion Section’ where users can see what previous people completing the course have commented. This helps to break down any barriers or fear a person may have when completing the course because they will see other people have completed it before them and can springboard off of their answers rather than feeling solely responsible for their one and only answer.

I hope this has given you an insight into the world of training. Next time you are booked to attend a training course, don’t shy away from it - embrace it. You never know what you will learn and when it might come in handy!