ASCEND 2015
 

July/August 2015 Newsletter

 

    With summer in full swing, it's a great time to step back and evaluate your organizational training needs, identify relevant staff development topics, and decide what training delivery methods will work best for your organization going forward. In this issue, our case study highlights a highly successful Train the Trainer project completed for a large employer interested in developing an ongoing in-house training program. The case study is followed by an overview of the benefits of the various types of training methods available to employers: in-house, outsourced, and online options. We hope you find this issue informative and helpful in making your training plans as we move into the second half of 2015 and beyond!

Sue

 

IN THIS ISSUE  ~

q
CASE STUDY:
Training Company Trainers 


Background Ascend Training

 

The Human Resources department of this large Southern California beach city with 1700+ employees sent out a Request for Proposal (RFP) to develop and deliver a Train the Trainer program for the city's employees. Ascend Training Solutions responded to the RFP and was happily selected to handle the project.

 

Program Goals & Challenges

 

The city's immediate goal was to develop an in-house training institute, where courses would be developed and delivered in-house by city employees with professional experience and expertise in specific areas of interest. The broader goal was to provide ongoing professional development for city employees with a focus on issues and activities of concern to the city. Key challenges included scheduling, as a large amount of information needed to be covered within a short period of time. In addition, five very different courses were to be developed by the Train the Trainer participants as a program outcome, which made development of authentic learning experiences a bit more challenging.

 

Program "To-Do" List:

  • Establish clear Train the Trainer program goals.
  • Understand the professional backgrounds of the population to be trained.
  • Develop a robust program and support materials for use by in-house trainers moving forward.
  • Train the program participants in public speaking skills and how to develop an engaging, hands-on learning experience incorporating their professional skills and knowledge.
  • Develop team skills, as the five courses were to be developed by teams of program participants with relevant expertise.
  • Format the Train the Trainer program to best accommodate the needs and work schedules of the attendees.

 

Solution

 

City employees interested in developing training content and becoming in-house trainers were asked to apply to be considered for participation in the program. Their application included an interview where they delivered a short lesson on the topic of their choosing. Ascend participated with the city's HR leadership in the interview process and, as a result, a select group was identified as the first round of in-house trainers to be part of the city's HR Training Institute.

 

The Train the Trainer program developed was 32 hours of training delivered over the course of four weeks, with one 8-hour course held each week. Specific program topics included: Working as a Team; Public Speaking Skills; Curriculum Development; Assessments; Ensuring Engagement; Managing the Room; Ensuring Retention; Challenging Situations, and Presentation of the Final Project.

 

For the final project, each participant was asked to develop and deliver a 5-10 minute presentation designed to be a segment of the training course they were developing with their team. Using a set of rented iPads, each participant was recorded by their teammates as they presented. The group then observed each video and provided feedback based on a set of guidelines and an evaluation document provided by Ascend.

 

Outcome

 

The client and participants were extremely pleased with the training. The HR department requested an additional component to the program where Ascend observed the in-house trainers presenting trial runs of each course developed and provided them with feedback and suggestions. All five of the courses developed by the program participants are now being offered to employees through the city's HR Training Institute.

 

Due to the success of the initial Train the Trainer program, Ascend was asked back the following year to train a second cohort of in-house trainers for the city. Further training with the city on Business Writing is being planned as of this publication!

 

Feedback!

 

"Presenting, being recorded, and watching myself deliver the training on video was daunting, but it was a very valuable exercise. Now I feel better about presenting and have a clear sense of how I'm coming across."

                                                      -Train the Trainer Participant

 

 
- 
TOPIC SPOTLIGHT
Benefits of In-house, Outsourced, and Online Workforce Training

 

"To train, or not to train, that is NOT the question! Rather, what is your preferred mode of training delivery?"

                                                                                    -Ascend Training Solutions

 

There's no doubt that workforce training and development provides employees with valuable knowledge and tools they need to optimally perform their duties and work effectively within an organization. For these reasons and more, staff training is a wise investment for employers and a real win-win scenario for both employers and employees. However, an important consideration in planning employee training is whether to task an external professional organization with the training or to hire and/or train in-house staff (Train the Trainer) to conduct the training. Then, of course, there's the online training option, which lends itself well to some specific types of training and topics, and less so to others. Whether in-house, outsourced, or online, each mode of delivery has its own benefits and advantages, and thus, needs to be weighed and considered in relation to each organization's unique needs and structure. A few points to consider:

 

Employee Training by Ascend

 

Advantages of In-house Training

  • In-house training programs can be developed specifically for the company and the way it conducts business to meet the specific training needs of its employees.
  • Developed in-house training programs are readily available and can be easily revisited and delivered to new groups of employees, as needed.
  • In-house trainers have knowledge of company employees, policies and procedures, enabling them to engage effectively with training that complements employee skills and personalities, and specifically addresses their personal needs and areas for growth.

 

Benefits of Outsourced Training

  • External professional trainers are specialists at what they do, focusing solely on content development, course and materials design, and the latest learning methods to deliver training across a wide variety of industries and to all levels of employees, from the top down.
  • Not only do external professional trainers have extensive training content on a wide variety of topics, they also can quickly come up to speed on an organization's industry, practices, and challenges, and create new training programs tailored to an organization's needs.
  • Professionally developed programs are often filled with various exercises that provide hands-on demonstration of techniques and tools being covered and are likely to get employees thinking about business in a broader sense.

 

Why Online Training?

  • Employees can train anytime, anywhere - whether they're all...

 

 
INFORMATION ABOUT US 


Unified Cert Program WOSB DBE