Planning ahead for next year’s challenges requires establishing a resilient and engaged workforce. Training is one of the most common talent development tools that organizations can utilize to fill-in any knowledge gaps and bolster productivity. Its impact, if done well, has the potential to help companies achieve the business results they are looking for in 2018 and beyond.

Training in its simplest form is the transfer of knowledge to others and can be accomplished across any number of learning vehicles such as the classroom, elearning, webinars or coaching. And companies are definitely interested in building their employees’ skills sets any way they can. According to the annual training findings from The 2017 Industry Report, total U.S. training expenditures rose 32.5 percent over last year’s number to $90 billion. In addition to spending more on training, companies provided more hours of training to their employees. Workers received on average, 47.6 hours of training per year, nearly 4 hours more than last year.

Many of the organizations accomplished this through an increase in their training budgets effecting these three key areas: widening the scope of training (67%), adding training staff (54%), and increasing the number of learners served (49%). Presumably, small businesses 10-50 employees would like to increase the number of learners served, as well as widen the scope of training provided too.

Smaller companies often have more limited resources, and rely on knowledge experts and managers in their office to handle the company training. Because training is a huge responsibility, being an effective trainer becomes paramount to successful knowledge transfer. Training Magazine’s November/December issue offers several tips from the experts to help company trainers take control and deliver a valuable learning experience.

1. Keep things simple. Effective trainers master the fundamental training skills like:

• Understanding participant expectations and what they want to learn
• Aligning employee learning expectations with learning objectives
• Focusing on the core content that addresses the main learning objectives

2. Anticipate learning barriers. Good trainers know that nothing can interfere with the learning process, but rarely are the circumstances that ideal. So trainers need to be prepared to respond to those who have years of experience on the topic, those who are resistant to change or have a fear of failure. Training requires the elimination of these types of barriers and the ability to handle the stress and anxiety of workers.
3. Create a roadmap. A good training session will flow effortlessly and provide some key takeaways. This requires executing the planned training program while continually adapting to the needs of those in the session. Acquiring resources and allocating time appropriately, helps training feel and run organically and organized.
4. Help workers “do” not just “hear.” It’s key to have people apply the skills they learn, rather than just listen or observe in a training session. Employees are way more likely to retain learning objectives if they participate and utilize their newfound skills through interactive training activities.
5. Always evaluate and revise. There are many variables in organizations that may require the revision of a training plan. It’s also important to continually adapt to the needs of the learners and improve the course to meet participants’ requirements. Post-session is a great time to identify what went well and what needs improvement for the next time.
6. Add microlearning into the mix. Microlearning is the practice of delivering short-pieces of content either before or after training to either build excitement or to reinforce important concepts learned. This technique is gaining traction as more companies are embracing this approach to supplement their more formal efforts and to help ensure the overall success of their training efforts.