During the NPE 2009 trade show, an attendee asked me an insightfull question…

I answered, if you’re serious about improving the skills of your production workforce, you need to begin by asking yourself a few questions:

1. What training methods have you used in the past? Were any of these methods effective? Which metrics did you use to measure their effectiveness?

2. What about now…how much time do you devote to training? Which training methods are you currently using and are they working?

3. More importantly, what effect has the current training plan had on your bottom line?

4. Lastly, what are your training goals? What do you hope to achieve by training your workforce? 

Training needs to take place regularly, and time needs to be allocated for this purpose. Proper training requires resources, so it is essential to have the support of management when establishing a training system for your workplace. Make sure that management, as a whole, understands the scope of the training plan – and which metrics can be used to verify its effectiveness.

In the end, training should be purchased to help meet your company’s specific employee development goals. 

-Andy