Any one fancy a brain storming session?

[deanychip]

Ive got a few things that i could do with fresh eyes to look upon.
Ive got a staff of 75.
They all have to have training on about 20 peices of equipment
I am only able to take them in 2's or at most 3's for training in the day.(for one hour tops)

Questions:

1. how do i communicate/advertise the training?
2. How do i combat apathy and lack of enthusiasm in them?
3. What is the best method of documenting who has done what IT wise because at the mo,my register is a mess and i am rubbish at computers. Any ideas?

1. Do you have an area where you can put up a sign up sheet for the training? This is what we do in our workplace we put it up and everyone who hasn't done it signs up and it gets done on a first come first serve basis.
   If not just send out a memeo as required via email/letter.

2. Try to relax is the main thing I find of you are relaxed they will relax too. I try not to be too serious and if you think something is boring tell them! I find saying things like 'well I'm afraid we've come to the boring bit but please bear with me it does get more interesting' makes them laugh and catches their attention. Might sound daft I know but there isn't much else you can do apart from have a bit of fun with the practical things!

3. Don't use IT we do it the old fashioned way! Have a binder with sign in sheets adn get them to sign at the start of the training. Keep all the sheets together and seperate them with regards to different training.

I hope this helps abit. My methods aren't exactly normal I know but it's what works for us.

how will you cover 20 pieces of equipment in just an hour? what sort of equipment? are you a trainer? i mean, does it have to be you that does it or can you train up a couple of 'ring leaders' that the staf look up to and share the training out?

hm,thanks mama.
We have several whitebourds BUT no one actually SEEs them any more because it is jsut so overrun with info.
I now have a "training white bourd" which has the weeks subjects down.

This is ok.

I am just overwhelmed by it all.
Dont know where to start and feel like i cant do it alone.
Need to train some "key trainers" but no one wants to take any more on.

I train on one piece at a time, my plan is one peice over 2/3 weeks or until 80% are trained up...then onto the next.

Can I ask what line of work you are in?

Could you maybe phone everyone I know it sounds alot but divide your training up as and when you can manage to fit it all in then slot everyone in to dates/times which suits them.

nursing.

I cant ask them to come in on their days off for training so it must be while they are at work.

None of them will take on bieng key trainers to help with the training, they are over worked and swamped.

You need, imo:

a) a spreadsheet showing every staff member (suggest down column a) and all equipment they need training on in rows along the top. You can put YES or NO to denote whether they've been trained on a piece of equipment and then it'll be easy to report on it and keep track of it. You could do pivot tables and stuff if you needed to.

b) you need to put together something to tell them about the training, why they're having it, what the benefit is to them and to the organisation and when and how it's going to happen (once you've established when and how).

c) If you plan the training well and communicate it well that should help towards the apathy and lack of enthusiasm. Can you sell them the benefits of the training?

d) You will need to work out a schedule of who is going to be trained when and send invitations (do you have Outlook or something like that to book appts with people?). If it's mandatory, make sure you tell people it is.

e) Can you do a poster campaign explaining briefly what the training is and why they will benefit from it?

f) It would be good to train some 'super users' who are trained to deliver the training, that way you would achieve more in a shorter time.

g) you will need to think about training materials so process flow documentation if appropriate. Could you do a page on any intranet you have with hints and tips? Could you do some laminated things for people to take away from the training.

h) also think about how you will measure the effectiveness of the training. Can you ask people to fill in a doc on their way in and out of the sessions asking how confident they now feel about using the equipment?

Those are my quick thoughts.

And you need to work out a schedule to show when it will start and end - 75 people is quite a lot to train so it'll probably take a while.

Also, what are the consequences of NOT havng the training? Maybe point that out too as well as the benefits.

Oi deany, did you read my posts?!

nah sorry www, just got the chance now to log on. Busy busy busy.

God points made there thanks.
I kind of do most of what you suggest, the training is all madatory, its just that i havent got structure to any of it yet AND i am trying to raise my confidence in the teaching side of things.

Can i ask, What do you mean by "process flow documentation"? not heard of this before.

I have made a start though and so will jsut chip away.
The documentation side of it all is complex and involved, i want a way to simplify it and make it "at a glance" easy iyswim.
The paperwork is ridiculous, way too much, i need a way of cutting down on this.
Need an overhaul, but difficult to know where to begin.
A million thanks www, you are fab. x

Hi Deanychip, what I meant by that is could people do with some easy to take away reminders of how the equipment works, this is a simple process flow

So in a training example it could mean a document they take away from each session showing:

Step 1 to use the equipment
Step 2 to use the equipment
but put in a process flow if appropriate to show what to do in various scenarios

I think I'd give each person a folder to store process flows, training materials and any notes they make so everyone's got some back up stuff which they can keep after the training's finished.

Good luck with it.

ah i see.
Actually many of the companies give out these, they are all good but each member of staff ends up with a wad of them stuck in their locker gathering dust.

I have been thinking about putting a general information central station type effect on the wall with a laminated copy of each device in it.
Quick reference for them to just access whenever they need it in a prominent point within the dept.
going to price up some display things.
Thanks for all your help WWW, very helpful.

deany - instead of yes/no i'd put the date training was carried out. if they aren't using this stuff routinely, do they need retraining? annual refresher training?

if so, then at least you'd know when they were due etc, and you could search the spreadsheet to find out who would need training in the next month etc.

start as you mean to go on - i know the initial problem is getting them all trained, but best to think of any future use of the documentation too. they may not need annual check at the mo, but it is equally possible that some donkey will decide they do in the future, because someone made a mistake six months after training, when they hadn't used the eqt in the intervening period. or there'll be an accident and someone will say 'when was x trained on this eqt?'

bben there lol. it helps with the board of inquiry.

bben? been!

Thanks Romy, we do have this system in place and documentation is good. Spreadsheet not so good because of my lack of pc skills.
I date every register and get them to sign that they have been trained and are happy with their own competency when using the gear.

My problem is teh apathy.

had a very VERY good day at work today, i just cracked on and they were very willing to have the training. Think this is the way to go, just crack on.

it can be really simple though - you could knock one up in excel pretty quickly.

i can't be doing with apathy lol - no-one really gets a choice, it's oi, come and do x. as long as you smile when you drawl 'todaaaaaaay' you can normally get away with it.
hope it's just as fruitful next week.

can you do cascade training? i.e train 10 people and get each of them to train 7 or 8 more.

Cascade training is a fab idea on the surface BUT policy and procedure make that very complex in my organisation which is shit tbh.

need to look into excel thingy......