Training

Training is the acquisition of knowledge, skills, and competencies as a result of the teaching of vocational or practical skills and knowledge that relate to specific useful competencies. Training has specific goals of improving one's capability, capacity, and performance.

Corporate Training
From About Wiki, for About.com Corporate training involves formal or informal education programs designed to improve the skills of executives or workers. It can take the form of teaching a worker to fit into a new job, or it can be designed to improve skills for workers who are already on the job.

Types of Corporate Training

Corporate training can be accomplished in a number of ways, including:

On-the-job training: Employees learn while performing job duties. This is usually done under the guidance of a more experienced worker or some other mentor. Corporate universities: Usually classroom-style training conducted by experienced or professional educators who either work for the company or are brought in from the outside. This type of training can be aimed at building the general skill levels of employees or at updating them on innovations in a rapidly changing field. External learning or outbound trainings: Can take the form of short seminars or formal courses held at a location outside the company or online.

Management of Corporate Training

Corporate training projects are commonly sponsored by members of senior management who are able to determine what skill sets their employees might need improvement upon, or benefit by acquiring. The hands-on management of most training programs, including class scheduling, employee coordination and the hiring and supervision of trainers, is commonly handled by a companys human resources office.

Trends in Corporate Training

Some current trends in corporate training include:

Using non-teachers as trainers: In this case, professional trainers might train a supervisor or mentor to lead employee training projects. The method is to give teaching skills to those who are most familiar with the work skills to be taught. Computer-based training: Online training or self-study can either replace the use of a teacher or be used in conjunction with classroom instruction. Personalized training: Employers are increasingly designing personal development plans for individual employees rather than running large groups through one-size-fits-all training packages. The method allows employees to incorporate training that interests them and allows supervisors to put their workers in programs that best suit them. Just-in-time training: This refers to the concept that training is most effective when an employee can put it to use quickly. Training on a new computer system, for example, is done just before the system goes live, rather than months or weeks before.

Resources for Corporate Training

The American Society for Training and Development provides education and networking for corporate trainers The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development is a professional organization dedicated to human resources officers and corporate trainers in the United Kingdom. The Journal of Workplace Learning is an academic publication devoted to corporate training and development issues.

Outbound Training

Outbound Management Programmes are a training method for enhancing organizational performance through experiential learning. Such programs are often also referred to as corporate adventure training and outdoor management development.

Structure
These programmes generally revolve around activities designed to improve leadership, communication skills, planning, change management, delegation, teamwork, and motivation. Participants are divided into teams and assigned tasks or activities for completion in a specified time. Achievement and performance during these activities is reviewed in group discussions to identify behaviours that enhance performance or lead to failure or decreased performance. Strategies are formulated to deal with factors that hinder, and these strategies are then put to use in the activities that follow, to test their effectiveness

Popularity
The factors behind this method gaining popularity among companies is the enjoyable nature of the activities, and the inputs of the participants themselves leading to development. This is considered to be an important part of adding to the "stickiness" of the learning. The game-like targets also decrease resistance to negative feedback and makes it more likely for it to be accepted and acted upon. The stakes being low, further encourages risks

involved with changing behavior to effect performance and encourages experimentation.

Best Practices INFOSYS

Renowned IT company, Infosys Technologies has built the world's biggest corporate training facility for IT professionals in Mysore.

The Rs. 260 crore corporate training centre has been set up by Infosys, which adds 12,000 employees every year. The US $ 60 million training centre is housed in a 270 acre campus at Mysore. The Infosys Leadership Institute (ILI) with 96 rooms is already located and become functional in this campus in the Hebbal industry area, one of the biggest industry belts in Karnataka State. Built on the most modern lines, the ILI trains about 400 Infosians annually to become `leaders.

Infosys' Chairman and Chief Mentor M.R.Narayana Murthy has described the training centre, located 140 kms off from India's silicon valley, Bangalore, as the biggest corporate training facility in the world. The biggest corporate training facility in the world with 2,000 rooms which can house 4,000 people on a twin sharing basis.

WIPRO Wipro Technology has been awarded by the American Society for Training and Development (ASTD) for its employee training and development activities. Wipro was ranked sixth among the 39 companies, which won the ASTD's BEST awards. Wipro has won the award for the third year in a row. ASTD is an association dedicated to workplace learning. Seven other Indian companies, including Reliance Petroleum, Infosys Technologies, ICICI Bank and Hindustan Petroleum also won the award. Reliance Petroleum made it to the top five.

The company has eight dedicated employee training centers with four in Bangalore. These centers impart training in HR, leadership skills, behavioural skills and cross-culture training. The centers train about 3,500 employees daily. Talent Transformation division's senior vicepresident Selvan D says the programmes have actually helped retain people.

Behavioural skills is what is most needed. People have a lot of technical knowledge but inter-personnel skills are usually lacking. Wipro also has a dedicated learning centre for its Japanese businesses, in Chennai. "The Japanese market is the hardest to penetrate and also very complicated. We try to make sure that we teach our employees their culture.

SONY Since 1970, Sony Training Institute, the industry education leader, has trained thousands of professionals on the latest service technologies and production techniques. In addition to offering production and post production courses taught with digital or a mixture of digital and analog equipment, Sony Training Institute provides workshops designed specifically to put you on the right track in your transition to digital and high definition technology.

Training Methodology: Conventional Methods: You learn the nuances and subtleties of the subject at hand with ease through: Interactive Classroom Training Lively dialogues Question answer and brain storming sessions Live case studies Energisers & ice-breakers Group Discussions Audio / Visual inputs Individual / Group Assignments Psychometric tests ( As and where required) Management Games / Role Plays: Management Games & Role Plays help to bridge the gap between "Knowing & Doing", "Insight & Action" thus pushing you to hear more, see more, feel more and act more. The participants are thus aligned with the concepts being taught and feel more alive as the exercise inspires enthusiasm for learning. The exercises are designed to involve all types of learners: Visual Auditory Kinesthetic Experiential Learning Our Outdoor Experiential Learning Division has been designed to tackle some of the most pressing issues in organizations.

The objective of Outbound Training is to focus on the overall physical and mental development of the trainee through experiential approach towards education. There has been tremendous growth in outdoor education during the last few years due to its immediate results and continued effectiveness. In our residential outdoor training programs, we replace the participants typical home or work environments and take them on a journey into the nature, where the earth, skies and mountains serve as their black boards and power point presentations are replaced by self serving physical and mental assignments. The outdoor experience is a key condition for outdoor activities to become learning experiences; the unfamiliar environment facilitates participants in developing new perspectives about themselves and their normal environments. All Training sessions to be delivered in English, Hindi or Marathi as required for the complete and in depth understanding of the target audience

Training: Training is a formal teaching of skills. It is often undertaken by an organization as a strategic activity aimed at improving the performance of the business by improving the performance of its employees.

Open workshop on Personal Effectiveness conducted at Maratha Chambers of Commerce,Pune

Training the act of changing behaviors and attitude by imparting knowledge and skills is an essential part of the strategy of any organization that needs to move forward. It is a way of changing the way a business works and of making sure that all its employees perform to the best of their abilities. However, deciding what training will benefit an organization is far from a simple process. It is not possible because of financial and time constraints to offer training to all staff willy-nilly. It must be a considered decision taken with the current and the future needs of the company in mind.

The Training Process: Business should have a clearly defined strategy and set of objectives that direct and drive all the decisions made especially for training decisions. Firms that plan their training process are more successful than those that do not. Most business owners want to succeed, but do not engage in training designs that promise to improve their chances of success. A well-conceived training program can help business succeed. A program structured with the company's strategy and objectives in mind has a high probability of improving productivity and other goals that are set in the training mission. The purpose of formulating a training strategy is to answer two relatively simple but vitally important questions: (1) What is our business? and (2) What should our business be? Armed with the answers to these questions and a clear vision of its mission, strategy and objectives, a company can identify its training needs. Training will also give a candidate a major competitive advantage. If an organization has a competent, stable, well-led workforce, it will beat the pants off the organizations competitor who has employees who don't know what they are doing. Training can no longer be an afterthought. It must become an integral part of staffing and business strategy. When it is not properly planned for, any attempt to satisfy a training need will usually result in failure. Therefore, it is necessary to create a written, well-thought out plan for training. Actually, planning the training should be an essential part of the performance management system and career planning for your employees. The training needs analysis: The nature of the training planned for your employees must be the result of a focused and disciplined process to determine what training is actually needed. It's important to remember that once the employee training is planned, the accomplishments should be recorded. Identifying Training Needs: Training needs can be assessed by analyzing three major human resource areas: the organization as a whole, the job characteristics and the needs of the individuals. Begin by assessing the current status of the company - how it does, what it does best, and the abilities of your employees to do these tasks. This analysis will provide some benchmarks against which the effectiveness of a training program can be evaluated. Your firm should know where it wants to be in five years from its long-range strategic plan. What you need is a training program to take your firm from here to there. Second, consider whether the organization is financially committed to supporting the training efforts. If not, any attempt to develop a solid training program will fail. Next, determine exactly where training is needed. It is foolish to implement a companywide training effort without concentrating resources where they are needed most. An internal audit

will help point out areas that may benefit from training. Also, a skills inventory can help determine the skills possessed by the employees in general. This inventory will help the organization determine what skills are available now and what skills are needed for future development. Training must be a stable, continuous part of your company strategy and growth plans. It must be a key factor in the development and retention of employees. And remember, while there may be costs associated with training, it is less than the cost you will incur when you will need to replace an employee who became disgruntled with your lack of support to his or her career development. A training program is an ideal starting point to take action to increase turnover, improve employee performance and initiate loyalty. It is also a strong foundation for developing effective communication within the company or organization. Your organization must have customized corporate training programs that target management teams and staff performance to maximize outcomes and enhance leadership skills. Corporate training needs to be innovatively assessed so that they prove to be winning formulas for creating results that carry a tremendous impact. Training Goals: The goals of the training program should relate directly to the needs determined by the assessment process outlined above. Course objectives should clearly state what behavior or skill will be changed as a result of the training and should relate to the mission and strategic plan of the company. Goals should include milestones to help take the employee from where he or she is today to where the firm wants him or her in the future. Setting goals, helps to evaluate the training program and also to motivate employees. Allowing employees to participate in setting goals increases the probability of success. Training Methods: There are two broad types of training available to small businesses: on-thejob and off-the-job techniques. Individual circumstances and the "who," "what" and "why" of your training program determine which method to use. Evaluation of Training: Training should be evaluated several times during the process. Determine these milestones when you develop the training. Employees should be evaluated by comparing their newly acquired skills with the skills defined by the goals of the training program. Any discrepancies should be noted and adjustments made to the training program to enable it to meet specified goals. Many training programs fall short of their expectations simply because the administrator failed to evaluate its progress until it was too late. Timely evaluation will prevent the training from straying from its goals. Kirkpatrick's Four Level Evaluation Model
The four steps of evaluation consist of:
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Step 1: Reaction - How well did the learners like the learning process? Step 2: Learning - What did they learn? (the extent to which the learners gain knowledge and skills)

Step 3: Behavior - (What changes in job performance resulted from the learning process? (capability to perform the newly learned skills while on the job)

Step 4: Results - What are the tangible results of the learning process in terms of reduced cost, improved quality, increased production, efficiency, etc.?

Impact and Learning of Outbound Training Program

Unlocking the potential of team members. Motivating team members by linking to their individual motivators. Improving team performance by leveraging complementary skills. Building common vision, values and team spirit. Increased collaboration, innovation and productivity. Learning importance of open communication, developing team strategies for getting results, building trust, giving and receiving feedback.