We all know how important training is in the workplace; our new starters can’t get to work without it, existing colleagues can’t support the new offering until they’ve had it and we can’t keep abreast of market developments without it BUT it’s also costly, operationally challenging to deliver and frequently one of the first areas of the budget to be cut when savings need to be made.
Our challenge is to create an effective training environment with a consistently high return on investment despite all these challenges. It’s less about training and more about ongoing engagement, and here are key areas we focus heavily on at Velsera when building training plans that have an ongoing engagement result.
Train the Right Amount to Start
Onboarding new starters can be a challenge; how do we teach them everything they need to know while balancing their limited available time?
Let’s say you’ve appointed a new Medical Director after a lengthy hiring process; we have a highly skilled individual that going to be in demand operationally but also needs to review and approve policies and procedures specific to the laboratory testing.
The answer is to build an engagement plan using digital resources that meets your operational needs rather than an old fashioned, in the room, time and resource-heavy onboarding block. Let’s break that down into some specifics.
First, baseline the skill set needed to operate
What are the absolute basic skills your new Medical Director and other roles need to learn? It’s easy to be overwhelmed at this early stage when you’re looking at a long list of content your new starters need to learn.
At Velsera we start by looking at the absolute basics and laying out a learning plan that teaches someone what they NEED to know to do their job in an order that is logical and easily digestible.
For example, if your new MD was tasked with signing out case reports from our CGW platform we would assign them a three-module engagement plan available through our Zendesk support materials: CGW Platform Basics, General Functionality & Reviewing, Editing & Signing Out Case Reports.
The CGW instruction manual is a complete and comprehensive guide but a maximum of 3 hours of learning using a mixture of self-paced video and written content designed to suit different learning styles provides sufficient role-based learning.
Next, design a plan based on how your team learns and retains information
Long, old-fashioned, classroom-based training blocks can deliver a lot of information to a large group of people in a relatively short space of time, which is great…isn’t it? In theory yes, but not everyone learns in the same way and/or at the same pace, not everyone needs the same content for their roles, and – perhaps most importantly – not everyone will start using these newly gained skills at the same time.
For example, if we spend three hours teaching a group of trainees 100 pages of training material, how long in operational terms will it take them to practically implement that knowledge? And if they don’t use it within a certain period of time, how much of that learning will be lost altogether?
Instead, a more practical approach is to assign each individual the content they need to learn when they need to learn it and let them learn it at their own pace. A module of carefully selected digital learning material like the one shown below with an hour of dedicated time to practice/implement the specific elements from the learning will yield a far better result than a long classroom training experience.
And finally, don’t train too many, don’t train too few to operate
How many staff members do you need to train in order to handle the planned activities? In what roles? How do you handle coverage for planned and unplanned absences? Be sure to carefully consider these factors as you design your plan. Make sure you cover the minimum needed capacity of staff and then you can ramp more team members in over time, as needed.
Every day is a school day
Continuous education is a phrase that gets bandied around easily & often incorrectly. It’s not about pushing training onto people all the time for the sake of it, it’s about creating an environment where people’s skills and knowledge are always considered and have the opportunity to develop in a way that benefits them and the organization.
Creating synergy between those two elements can be really powerful, for example; the organization’s motivation is to stay relevant in its market whether it be new regulatory requirements, changes in market status, etc. If that can be aligned with the employees’ objective to be constantly developing their personal skillsets for career and financial gain everybody wins!
We’ve all been to ‘those’ training courses where it’s a classroom set up for a 2-3 hour session straight after the big lunch that was laid on for everybody, not fun! Bite-size learning materials delivered in multiple formats can be quick and easy to digest and far more engaging than a trainer-led presentation. In the multi-media age we now live in people listen to podcasts or some form of online content on the way to and from work as well as lunch breaks; if that’s how they like to consume information, continuous education training materials are ideally delivered the same way. At Velsera, we’re working on supporting this journey with new, short multi-media learning experiences guided by role.
Cross-skill to benefit both your organization and your employees
After your team is up and running on your new investment, take the time to consider cross-skilling opportunities. Cross-skilling is a great way to build additional skill capacity for the organization but also provides career advancement opportunities for your team members.
Laboratory technologist has a specific role (i.e. sample accessioning), however, online cross-training can allow them to expand their role into variant analysis (i.e. QA/QC metrics review, variant analysis, variant classification, and variant interpretation).
Leveraging existing self-paced, online materials reduces the barriers to upskilling and creates an environment that fosters career growth.
Live training is no longer about one-size-fits-all programs or lengthy classroom sessions. It’s about creating an adaptable, digital engagement plan that prioritizes the right skills at the right time, tailored to each role’s unique needs. By focusing on role-based learning and enabling self-paced, accessible training, organizations can maximize their return on innovation investment while meeting operational demands.
Let us show you how our tailored engagement plans can meet your training needs and drive your organization’s success.
To learn more, please contact us.