Investing in a brand-new software solution will pay off only if you train your staff to use it without any loss in time, money, and productivity. And with today’s L&D professionals being so committed to developing more effective training policies, the only thing you need to do is research and implement.
Here are a few ways you can guarantee a successful software training:
Train Your Employees in Advance
If you make the switch to a new software solution without training your employees how to use it first, you’ll be putting your everyday operations at risk. To avoid unnecessary productivity drops and operational bottlenecks, start training your employees weeks before a new software system launch.
Pitch the Solution to Employees
In theory, employees recognize the importance of continual improvement. However, staying flexible in the ever-changing business environment is very demanding and can lead to burnout. You must find a convincing way of pitching the system transition to your employees, or they may resist the change.
Build a Learner-Centric Strategy
Talk to your HR department (or to your employees themselves) to determine the most appropriate learning strategy for your company’s demographics and culture. You can only ask that much of your staff in their spare time, so make the training learner-centric to show them you respect their time.
Develop Microlearning Modules
In combination with personalized learning, online courses reduce training time and boost engagement and retention rates thanks to advanced eLearning techniques such as microlearning. Break your training into consumable chunks so that it doesn’t require too much time and energy.
Introduce Online Training Tools
Online training tools are extremely helpful when it comes to employee engagement and knowledge retention. Not only do they allow employees to study at their own pace, but they also empower them with self-service knowledge bases and collaborative platforms for real-time knowledge exchange.
Assemble Skilled Support Staff
Having IT experts or trained employees who already know how to use the new system onboard during the training process will enable your staff to get practical advice or demonstration whenever needed. This will additionally lower their training time and help them acquire practical knowledge.
Set Clear Training Course Goals
Setting clear training goals is important because you’ll need to measure your employees’ progress against a certain benchmark. Without this, you’ll hardly be able to determine whether or not training was successful. And how else would you know that your trainees are ready to start using the system?
Collect & Analyze Feedback
You should always plan for the future. The system you’re currently launching will change with time and updates, potentially causing new bottlenecks. You can prevent them with continual L&D, which needs you to improve your training courses based on your employees’ success rates and feedback.
When it comes to software training procedures, two things are of utmost importance. First, you need to start training your employees early on to avoid operational disruption. And second, have a strategy in place, one that is learner-centric, supported with online tools, and aimed toward a clear goal.
For additional IT support along the way, reach out to Fulton May Solutions!
