Stuff the staff
with knowledge
Internal trainings are often quite an effective way of raising team members’ skills and knowledge and they are pretty cost-effective too.
All they require is one semi-knowledgeable person and several others desiring self-improvement.
It is, however, important to remember several key details:
It is generally more difficult to focus for extended periods of time, especially when learning new things. If the training has to be long, cut it into several short sessions.
It will definitely boost the effectiveness of the training.
It is much easier to follow lectures that concern subjects that are somewhat familiar and understandable. Try to keep the new material simple and anchored to some knowledge trainees already posses.
These meetings aren’t just so that they can be crossed off the agenda.
They are supposed to help the team get better. It is of the utmost importance that the person in charge should take things slow so that everyone has a chance to understand the material. Additionally, being approachable will make people ask questions more willingly (and there will always be questions).
A common and useful practice is to prepare notes with key points and short explanations before the training and send a copy to trainees after the event.
This way they will be able to revise the material easily and coming back to the subject months later will be effortless.
These simple rules will help make internal trainings a really valuable tool team’s development.
Everyone has unique skills and knowledge – it’s great to use that and share them!