Dear Sir/Madam,
I recently joined a production company as an executive, and here I came across a problem: employees are not interested in attending the training classes. In this situation, how can we motivate the employees to attend the training programs?
Kindly help me in this regard.
Thanks & Regards,
Satya
From India, Hyderabad
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1I recently joined a production company as an executive, and here I came across a problem: employees are not interested in attending the training classes. In this situation, how can we motivate the employees to attend the training programs?
Kindly help me in this regard.
Thanks & Regards,
Satya
From India, Hyderabad
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Dear Satyam,
About five years ago, the same thread had come up for discussion. At that time, the reply I had given still holds true. Please check the following link to refer to it: https://www.citehr.com/316520-how-en...-training.html
Thanks,
Dinesh Divekar
From India, Bangalore
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About five years ago, the same thread had come up for discussion. At that time, the reply I had given still holds true. Please check the following link to refer to it: https://www.citehr.com/316520-how-en...-training.html
Thanks,
Dinesh Divekar
From India, Bangalore
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Dear K A Satyam,
You have not mentioned whether the training programs are for Functional or Behavioral areas. Does the HR department have the blessings of the top management? If yes, it should be easier to get it done. If not, you have to use your tact. If the programs are as per top management, then it can be linked to the format of annual appraisal. In the case of Functional areas, many a management is serious and may even withhold an annual increment if someone does not attend. Behavioral related programs also can add up to this total number of training hours an employee has to attend in a year.
Please remember that in the case of adult learning, two aspects are important. They will learn if they HAVE TO (any compulsion - promotion, increment, by top management pressure one way or the other). They will also learn if they WANT TO (on their own interest: you should facilitate this). Once you analyze on the above lines, you will find ways of motivating them.
V. Raghunathan
From India
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You have not mentioned whether the training programs are for Functional or Behavioral areas. Does the HR department have the blessings of the top management? If yes, it should be easier to get it done. If not, you have to use your tact. If the programs are as per top management, then it can be linked to the format of annual appraisal. In the case of Functional areas, many a management is serious and may even withhold an annual increment if someone does not attend. Behavioral related programs also can add up to this total number of training hours an employee has to attend in a year.
Please remember that in the case of adult learning, two aspects are important. They will learn if they HAVE TO (any compulsion - promotion, increment, by top management pressure one way or the other). They will also learn if they WANT TO (on their own interest: you should facilitate this). Once you analyze on the above lines, you will find ways of motivating them.
V. Raghunathan
From India
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To add to the comments already made here:
People will not attend training if it is of no value or interest to them. You can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make him drink.
Other than essential safety and operational training, no other training should be offered if it is not backed up by a sound Training Needs Analysis. If training is to be conducted, it should be what staff NEED, not what you or management THINK they need.
Secondly, it needs to be proper training, conducted by a trainer qualified to deliver the course. I have discussed at length many times here on CiteHR, the problem of people just asking for generic PowerPoint presentations of training. Standing in front of a group of people and just reading off the words of someone else's PowerPoint designed for some other organization IS NOT TRAINING. All effective training must be designed for the specific organization.
There will always be a hardcore of staff members in any organization who will resist training. That's a given. Forcing them only reinforces the resistance. As others have said, there needs to be incentives, a carrot and stick approach if you will.
Training works well when it is enjoyable, fun, and employees see real benefit from it. If you can get the staff enthused about training, and a good trainer can do this, then the rest is easy.
I know this works from my own experience. I have enjoyed training courses where the trainer was dynamic, enthusiastic, and involved the staff in the training. That is the approach I use when I train people, and the survey sheets have always shown how much people enjoyed my training courses.
To give an example, some years ago, I trained about 5 groups of former staff of an airline which went bankrupt. They were mostly Flight Attendants who had worked all their life for the airline, and now had to find new jobs. These people did training almost every week of their working life, in safety, customer service, airline operations, etc. Almost every single person at the end of the course told me that after 20 or 30 years of continuous training, they enjoyed my training course better than any other they had attended in their lives!
From Australia, Melbourne
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People will not attend training if it is of no value or interest to them. You can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make him drink.
Other than essential safety and operational training, no other training should be offered if it is not backed up by a sound Training Needs Analysis. If training is to be conducted, it should be what staff NEED, not what you or management THINK they need.
Secondly, it needs to be proper training, conducted by a trainer qualified to deliver the course. I have discussed at length many times here on CiteHR, the problem of people just asking for generic PowerPoint presentations of training. Standing in front of a group of people and just reading off the words of someone else's PowerPoint designed for some other organization IS NOT TRAINING. All effective training must be designed for the specific organization.
There will always be a hardcore of staff members in any organization who will resist training. That's a given. Forcing them only reinforces the resistance. As others have said, there needs to be incentives, a carrot and stick approach if you will.
Training works well when it is enjoyable, fun, and employees see real benefit from it. If you can get the staff enthused about training, and a good trainer can do this, then the rest is easy.
I know this works from my own experience. I have enjoyed training courses where the trainer was dynamic, enthusiastic, and involved the staff in the training. That is the approach I use when I train people, and the survey sheets have always shown how much people enjoyed my training courses.
To give an example, some years ago, I trained about 5 groups of former staff of an airline which went bankrupt. They were mostly Flight Attendants who had worked all their life for the airline, and now had to find new jobs. These people did training almost every week of their working life, in safety, customer service, airline operations, etc. Almost every single person at the end of the course told me that after 20 or 30 years of continuous training, they enjoyed my training course better than any other they had attended in their lives!
From Australia, Melbourne
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Dear Nauman Ahmad,
I have some different views than what you have. The members have posted a query to ask how to motivate the employees to attend the training. However, motivation is different from inducements. Once we establish a culture of inducements, it becomes very difficult to change.
Employee training is the organization's requirement. Individuals are trained to enhance the organization's productivity. Therefore, each HOD must be made accountable for the business ratios applicable to his/her department. Employee training is conducted to increase or decrease some ratio associated with the HOD's department.
Partially, problems of this kind arise because of lean manpower. HODs are just unable to spare the manpower for training since they do not have any standby manpower. However, little do they realize that because of inadequate skills, their people overwork or consume excess resources. HODs are just unable to break this cycle of non-training and low productivity.
Thanks,
Dinesh Divekar
From India, Bangalore
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I have some different views than what you have. The members have posted a query to ask how to motivate the employees to attend the training. However, motivation is different from inducements. Once we establish a culture of inducements, it becomes very difficult to change.
Employee training is the organization's requirement. Individuals are trained to enhance the organization's productivity. Therefore, each HOD must be made accountable for the business ratios applicable to his/her department. Employee training is conducted to increase or decrease some ratio associated with the HOD's department.
Partially, problems of this kind arise because of lean manpower. HODs are just unable to spare the manpower for training since they do not have any standby manpower. However, little do they realize that because of inadequate skills, their people overwork or consume excess resources. HODs are just unable to break this cycle of non-training and low productivity.
Thanks,
Dinesh Divekar
From India, Bangalore
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Dear Satya,
This is a relevant question that may be for most HR/L&D professionals. I have also faced this in my over three decades of corporate career.
First of all, this could be a cultural issue, meaning how training is viewed in the organization - essential or non-essential. This may be due to the past experience of the heads of departments and the participants in terms of whether they found the training effective and if they could apply the learnings for better results.
Related to the first point is the second point, i.e., is there support from the heads of the departments. If they see value, they will nominate and ensure participants attend.
Thirdly, does the company take follow-up action where necessary? This could be a few coaching sessions; a review of whether the learnings could be applied, with what results; does the training need a follow-up training, and so on.
Lastly, we may involve heads of the departments in the training needs identification process, if not already done. Also, include some participants in designing the role plays/other exercises and training content. This will help in the customization of training, and heads of the department and the participants will feel included.
I hope some of these suggestions could be of help.
Regards,
Raju Ahluwalia
From India, New Delhi
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This is a relevant question that may be for most HR/L&D professionals. I have also faced this in my over three decades of corporate career.
First of all, this could be a cultural issue, meaning how training is viewed in the organization - essential or non-essential. This may be due to the past experience of the heads of departments and the participants in terms of whether they found the training effective and if they could apply the learnings for better results.
Related to the first point is the second point, i.e., is there support from the heads of the departments. If they see value, they will nominate and ensure participants attend.
Thirdly, does the company take follow-up action where necessary? This could be a few coaching sessions; a review of whether the learnings could be applied, with what results; does the training need a follow-up training, and so on.
Lastly, we may involve heads of the departments in the training needs identification process, if not already done. Also, include some participants in designing the role plays/other exercises and training content. This will help in the customization of training, and heads of the department and the participants will feel included.
I hope some of these suggestions could be of help.
Regards,
Raju Ahluwalia
From India, New Delhi
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Dear Satya,
First, you need to determine if all your employees require training. If so, find out what motivates them and why they may lack interest in training. It could be influenced by their past training experiences. If that is the case, consider rescheduling the training program.
After identifying the reasons behind their lack of interest, explain to them why you are keen on providing the training program.
Thank you.
From India, undefined
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First, you need to determine if all your employees require training. If so, find out what motivates them and why they may lack interest in training. It could be influenced by their past training experiences. If that is the case, consider rescheduling the training program.
After identifying the reasons behind their lack of interest, explain to them why you are keen on providing the training program.
Thank you.
From India, undefined
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