Question

Upon reviewing the following video, “The Corporate Management Training Program at The Kraft Heinz Company”,share an example of an effective or ineffective training program or experience.

• In your opinion what factors made the training program effective or ineffective? State your reasons why you responded as you did.

Answer 1

Training programs in an organization are a systematic way to improve the performance of the employees based on the gap in present level of skill for the effective completion of the job to attain the final goals and objectives of the business. Based on self-initiation and manager’s assessment a set of employees of the organization were identified for the group training program on the topic “Creative Problem Solving and Decision Making”. This training program was part of the organization’s annual initiative towards skill development of their employees. The objective of this training was to increase competence and productivity of the employees who felt the need to improve their skill in this domain and eliminate performance problems. The training was conducted by hiring a highly reputed trainer from an external training agency. This training program turned out to be highly effective and successful as all the employees who participated gave a very high rating to the program and the trainer. Also post-training, during the quarterly reviews, the managers of the employees reported positive difference in the problem solving and decision-making skills of these employees to the Human Resource department.

The factors which influenced the effectiveness and positive outcome of this training program were -

1) A confidential pre-course questionnaire was given by the training agency to be filled by all the participants to clarify -

- Participant’s knowledge of the chosen training topic.

- Individual concerns of each and every participant pertaining to the training subject.

- What were the areas in which they were looking to improve their skills.

- The training needs for the learners.

- To the trainer where to focus more i.e. on common areas of improvement apart from addressing unique individual areas of skill development.

2) The training environment was highly conducive as participants did not have to travel but were in the comfort of our own office meeting room. Therefore they felt like it was a regular office day but more learning oriented. Because of this there was no disturbance due to intermittent phone calls or messages from the office colleagues as all others were aware that a particular set of employees were undergoing the training program. So urgent matters were kept on hold to be catered to during the short breaks in between the training program.

3) Scheduling of the training and catering arrangements for the participants were done as per their choice. This further added to the effectiveness of the training.

4) The trainer was highly experienced and had thorough practical knowledge of the skill set that he was providing training on. He made the session interactive and not a monologue. Even though the training followed a particular flow the trainer encouraged participants to ask questions whenever they felt like.

5) There were a lot of group and individual activities carried out during the session which increased the effectiveness of the training program. There was also a goal sheet shared which each member to measure their current level vs. desired level vs. actual achieved level. This was to be kept by the participants and shared with their superiors, if required. This helped in actual implementation of the learning.

6) The audio visual content of the presentation, personality of the trainer and overall delivery of the training program was very impactful which motivated the employees to implement the learning in their day to day scenario.

7) The material of the training program was full of day to day corporate situations that employees actually faced. It was not a standard format of material but was specifically designed to cater to the needs of the participant based on the pre-course questionnaire filled by them but with maintenance of full anonymity.

8) The training was quite engaging for all the members because it was a skill set which each participant in the group had themselves asked for and it was not something that was forced onto them by their line managers.

Employees who participated in the training program have stated that earlier they would be hesitant in sharing their views even if they knew they were right, would get bogged down seeing a problem at hand and not think creatively or solution oriented, would not be able to bring colleagues or teammates to a common consensus by convincing them about a particular decision, would be afraid to challenges norms and hierarchy. But after attending the training program the learning that they gathered made them consciously apply the knowledge in everyday circumstances brought a huge change in their current level of skills in decision making ability. This was revealed by not just the employee themselves during their quarterly reviews but also adjudged by their superiors and other colleagues as they had given them positive rating and feedback based on their significant development in the skill.