Teach Your New Supervisors How to Train Effectively

Do your new supervisors know the importance of training their employees? Do they know the best ways to make their training efforts effective? Today’s Advisor gives you training information to convey to your new supervisors.

Training employees is a big part of any supervisor’s job. Whether it’s formal classroom training, safety meetings, on-the-job training, or coaching, teaching employees how to do their jobs properly is an important part of your supervisory responsibility.

Training improves worker performance and productivity. Formal and informal training should build skills and competence as well as help employees understand:

• Their responsibilities and functions
• Tasks and teamwork
• Equipment and technology
• Policies and procedures
• Standards of quality, behavior, and so on
• How to work safely
• The legal and regulatory requirements that apply to their jobs

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To make your training sessions effective:

• Assess employee training needs and match needs to training objectives.
• Set up a practical training schedule that allows for full employee participation.
• Choose appropriate training methods, such as classroom training, including discussions, lectures, storytelling, and video; PowerPoint® presentations; other computer-based training, including DVD and online; demonstrations; and hands-on practice.
• Specify training objectives so that employees know what they’re supposed to learn.
• Write a well-organized training outline that presents subject matter in a logical order and emphasizes the most important points.
• Incorporate interactive methods into training, such as asking questions or solving problems.
• Provide helpful handouts that highlight training points.
• Plan for questions and answers during and at the end of the training session.
• Evaluate learning with a quiz or practical performance test.

The information in today’s Advisor comes from the BLR® presentation New Supervisors’ Guide to Effective Supervision.

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Why It Matters

• Employees often get promoted to supervisor because they’re good at their jobs and they’ve shown leadership skills.
• But that doesn’t mean they come to the supervisory position with all the skills they need—including the ability to train.
• If you require your new supervisors to train their staff, then train these new trainers in the skills they need to transfer information effectively.