The 6 Step Simple Training Plan

• Sonya Buck
• February 12, 2016
• Newsletter Article

Having a training plan gives you a snap shot of what your business needs and your employee’s existing knowledge and capabilities. Here are the simple steps to help you on our way to create a simple training plan.

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Whatever the size of your business it’s important to set aside some time to determine both the capabilities your business requires and if your staff have the knowledge and skills to carry out the work.

It might be easy to assume everyone has been trained to perform their duties effectively and as well as efficiencies, even safety might be a factor which may be affected.

Having a training plan gives you a snap shot of what your business needs and your employee’s existing knowledge and capabilities. Here are the simple steps to help you on our way to create a simple training plan.
 

1. If you are unfamiliar with each employee’s role, grab the position descriptions for each staff member.


2. Open up a new worksheet in Excel or create a table in Word or whatever programs you utilise.


3. Along the top of the spreadsheet fill in each staff member’s position and name. In the left hand column you add the skills required for that role. Some skills are known as ‘soft’ skills such as Customer service, Safety and some ‘hard’ skills, Driving a forklift or how to complete a specific task etc.
   
   Your spreadsheet might look something like this:              = Required in that role
   
   


4. Highlight if the training has taken place and add a date each in cell. In this way you’ll be able to simply determine any training gaps.


5. Add two columns to the right. One for who will be carrying out the training (internal or external party) and the date it is to take place. If required, you may be able carry out training for several staff at once.


6. Follow up that training has taken place and ensure the person who has been trained is satisfied and understands the tasks, policies or procedures. Tip: You can’t assume all staff members have the ability to train another effectively.

It’s important to ensure you add further training as the nature of tasks change and also include new staff members as they commence their employment. Training plans should be part of any employee induction.

Keep copies of any certificates or tickets in each individual staff member’s personnel files.

With many performance reviews taking place only each 12 months, remember it’s too late to find out at this time that your staff are lacking in some aspect of their training.