Understanding Training in the Workplacee - Assignment Example

ILM Level2 Understanding training and coaching in the workplace Place Understanding training in the workplace In the modern workplacewith the rapidly changing business environment, employees obtain new skills almost every day. With the raise of technology, these demands grew and now staff is expected to be highly trained despite organizations to meet certain challenge in this area (Lawson, 1997). In such context, there appeared a dilemma whether companies should hire new employees or retain the old ones but provide a great deal of training to them so the organization could meet its goals and objectives. For such company as Government Utility that provides electricity to its consumers and deals with consultants and contractors as an advicer of similar services, training is essential component of its work. This need is called by the changes in the regulatory sphere of utility provision and collaboration with contractors, whose activities require more knowledge to ensure services to people. Training is called when employees are not able to perform a certain job due to the lack of knowledge, skills or experience. Hence, training is a necessary predisposition for successful accomplishment of work tasks (Elnaga & Imran, 2013). Another reason for training need is the new or changed job procedures, effective implementation of which depends on the level of skills and knowledge of employees. Thus, for Government Utility the need in training is called by the changes in the regulatory sphere of utility provision and collaboration with contractors, whose activities require more knowledge to ensure services to people. Training need is also viewed as the gap between where an individual is now and where organization wants to see it. For the company it is necessary to establish whether there is knowledge, skills or attitudinal gaps (Training and development toolkit, 2015). It is also important that the training environment would be evaluated, where SWOT analysis is a useful tool to apply, as it advocates strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of training development. As workplace training is important for the modern knowledge-based environment, it helps employees to develop those skills and knowledge required in an organization. For that purpose, there are different methods of workplace training, such as mentoring and coaching, on the job training, video conferencing and collaborative tools, business television, e-learning and learning management systems (Workplace training, 2015). As the modern technology has influenced greatly the way employees can obtain knowledge and skills, web-based training provides employees a hands-on and interactive way of obtaining new experience. Videoconferencing allows trainer to share useful information with people in several locations through the network. Along with innovative methods of training, interactive techniques, such as case studies, small group discussions and Q & A sessions are also effective in training of employees. For the Government Utility and its managers who collaborate with contractors, the most effective training technique may be the group discussion and coaching sessions as then they will be able to provide support and encouragement to contractors and also receive a knowledgeable feedback. Sarabdeen (2013) consider that while learning style is an individual approach which is peculiar to the person’s ability to learn, it impacts greatly to the training and development. Hence, trainers and educators should consider various learning styles in transferring knowledge and skills. Thus, developed by Honey and Mumford (Learning styles questionnaire, 1999), there are such learning styles as activist, theorist, pragmatist and reflector (Honey and Mumford, 2015). In Government Utility to ensure effective training of employees and contractors with which the company deals, it is essential to understand what type of learners they are, as activists are easy to learn by doing, theorists will be able to better understand theory under the practice, pragmatists will try to put theories into practice and reflectors will learn by observing and thinking the situation. Thus, while providing advice to the contractors, managers of Government Utility expect these knowledge will be used in practice, hence pragmatists are the most suitable learners for transferring knowledge. It is also important to measure the effectiveness of training and development, since many training programs fail to deliver the expected benefits for organization. Hence having measuring system will help companies to determine the extent of problem. The well-known system that help in measuring effectiveness of training programs is developed by Kirkpatrick and which contains the three levels of evaluating efficiency of training. These are the reaction, learning, behavior and results (Bates, 2004). Applied by a manager in the Government Utility, the method may consist of the participant feedback questionnaire and focus group sessions as level of reaction, prepared self-assessment questionnaire and on the job assessments on the behavior level, and quality reports for the results. The process of identifying, preparation and delivering of training are as important as records documents that contain who were trained and what skills were mastered. In addition, different regulatory agencies require for personnel evaluations and other training records to be well kept. Moreover, training record management can be as simple as complex since these training records can include certificates in the file and electronic database (Dinkel, 2009). As Government Utility is a state organization, its training documentation should be properly maintained. All employees should create own training record files and include necessary items in them. It is also the responsibility of the staff to maintain training records on the ongoing basis and review them by the appointed chief employee. Training records should be also kept in order to enable management to review records for annual staff appraisals and possibility to identify future training needs. Some documents should also be archived and a copy of training record to be filled in the file. Understanding coaching in the workplace As one of the methods of workplace training, coaching is aimed to improve an employee’s performance focusing on the needs of a person in less formal form of training an individual (Workplace training, 2015). Within the workplace, coaching can be applied to motivating employees, delegating and solving problems, teambuilding and development of staff. While in the recent years employees appeared to have more support in order to achieve development, coaching has become an important relationship aimed to give them this support and focus on particular working issues and improvement of job performance. The other need in coaching is called by the direct advice, assistance and attention which organizations need in the modern business environment (Fielden, n,d,). Dealing with contractors and consultants, the Government Utility needs coaching in terms of improvement of performance for both the organization and contractors and consultants they cooperate with. To structure coaching sessions, there are many models that provide a framework and help these sessions to be meaningful conversations. According to Abiddin and Ismail (2012), these models provide different views on helping the coachee in the different ways. The GROW model involves Goal, Reality, Options and What phases, which mean that when the coaching session is conducted, the first what should be set is the goals for individual and the organization. Further the coach should find the real position and generate options with plans to be able to decide what should be done, by whom, when and how. These phases if planned accurately will delineate specific phases of the conversations of coach and will act as memory assistant (Grant, 2011). Applied in the workplace in Government Utility and among its managers, GROW model enables coach to establish the goal which an organization strives to reach; it also sets the position of the matters and proposes options for further work. The effectiveness of coaching sessions can be explained with the help of ongoing performance of employees and the analysis of other job behaviors that increase the job effectiveness. Information about the performance improvement can be given in the form of feedback on the coaching session. The importance here is that such feedback provides a strategic and business context for prioritizing behaviors among employees, explores the root causes of bad behaviors, raises problems which are avoided by the coachee, facilitates discussions and sets goals and provides support to obtain such goals (Seitchik, n.d.). The need to evaluate coaching is called by the practice that is done toward people and its unified professional structure. Evaluation gives coaches an opportunity to analyze and receive feedback on their practice and allow identifying the strengths and weaknesses of their professional approaches. Here an organizational manager, the coach, the HR department and the coachee’s line managers are able to make an evaluation of what coach practices. Based on Kirkpatrick recommendations for coach evaluation (Bates, 2004), there are many programs that enable organization to evaluate coach. Thus, there is a comparative focus which pays attention to the specific indicators with the alternative training of coaching progrramme. Another type of coaching evaluation method is the cost-benefit analysis, which evaluates the relationship between the costs of coaching and the benefits, descriptive focus which explains what appears in the coaching programme and effectiveness focus that indicates to what extent there is an effectiveness of coaching (Gray, 2015). Evaluating the effectiveness of coaching, several instruments are applicable to measure the effectiveness of coaching. Thus, in the sports organizations Coaching Behavior Questionnaire, Coach Behaviour Assessment System are among the main instruments that provide specific guidelines for coaches (Mallett & Cote, 2006). However, in the workplace, these techniques are different. Here the GROW model can be applied in order to provide the structure for coaching discussions. Evaluating focus is given to the measuring of actual behavior that helps to formulate companies’ core values, leadership qualities and manager competencies. For the work environment, such evaluation methods are effective as employing external coaches, developing internal coaching, support of coaching endeavors and the development of team coaching. Kirkpatrick’s model is considered the best in judging the learning process and thus coaching within the working place. Applied in the Government Utility, the model should meet such requirements as the ability to change, knowing what to do, ability to cooperate and organizations’ ability to reward employees. Thus, when there is a need in training of company’s managers and consultants and contractors, there should be provided a coaching session about the gap in the services provided and what should be done for improvement. The revised Kirkpatrick’s model can also be used for planning and evaluation and help the trouble-shooting process. References Abiddin, N. and Ismail, A. 2012. Building Excellent Workforce through Effective Coaching for Coachees’ Development, International Journal of Education, Vol. 4, No. 1, [online] Available at: http://www.macrothink.org/journal/index.php/ije/article/viewFile/1503/1218 [Accessed on May 30, 2015]. Bates, R. 2015. A critical analysis of evaluation practice: the Kirkpatrick model and the principle of beneficence, Evaluation and Program Planning, 27, Elsevier Ltd. [pdf] Available at: https://aetcnec.ucsf.edu/sites/aetcnec.ucsf.edu/files/resources/A%20critical%20analysis%20of%20evaluation%20practice.pdf[Accessed on May 30, 2015]. Dinkel, A. 2009. The importance of keeping training records, Advantage Business Media, [online] Available at: http://www.alnmag.com/articles/2009/10/importance-keeping-training-records[Accessed on May 30, 2015]. Elnaga, A. and Imran, A. 2013. The effect of training on employee performance, European Journal of Business and Management, Vol.5, No.4, [pdf] Available at: http://pakacademicsearch.com/pdf-files/ech/517/137-147%20Vol%205,%20No%204%20%282013%29.pdf [Accessed on May 30, 2015]. Fielden, S. n.d. Literature review: coaching effectiveness- a summary, Modernization Agency Leadership Center, [pdf] Available at: http://literacy.kent.edu/coaching/information/Research/NHS_CDWPCoachingEffectiveness.pdf [Accessed on May 30, 2015]. Grant, A. 2011. Is it time to REGROW the GROW model? Issues related to teaching coaching session structures, The Coaching Psychologist, Vol. 7, No. 2, The British Psychological Society, [pdf] Available at: http://coachingconsultinginternational.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/REGROW-the-GROW-model-Grant-TCP-2011.pdf [Accessed on May 30, 2015]. Gray, D. 2015. Principles and processes in coaching evaluation, International Journal of Mentoring and Coaching Honey and Mumford, 2015. Learning theories, University of Leicester, [online] Available at: http://www2.le.ac.uk/departments/gradschool/training/eresources/teaching/theories/honey-mumford[Accessed on May 30, 2015]. Lawson, K. 1997. Improving On-the-job Training and Coaching, American Society for Training and Development Learning styles questionnaire, 1999. Psych press, [pdf] Available at: http://www.psychpress.com.au/psychometric/products/others/LSQ%20Report%20(Sample).pdf[Accessed on May 30, 2015]. Mallett, C. and Cote, J. 2006. Beyond Winning and Losing: Guidelines for Evaluating High Performance Coaches, The Sport Psychologist, 20, 213-221 Sarabdeen, J. 2013. Learning Styles and Training Methods, IBIMA Publishing, [online] Available at: http://ro.uow.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1476&context=dubaipapers [Accessed on May 30, 2015]. Seitchik, M. n.d. The impact of coaching vs. Feedback, Performance programs, performanceprograms, [online] Available at: http://www.performanceprograms.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Impact-of-Coaching-vs-Feedback.pdf [Accessed on May 30, 2015]. Training and development toolkit, 2015. Tailored training and development programmes, [pdf] Available at: http://www.ibectraining.ie/IBEC/Training/IBECTAD.nsf/vPages/Information_Centre~training-toolkit-25-11-2010/$file/Training%20&%20Development%20Tool%20Kit.pdf [Accessed on May 30, 2015]. Workplace training, 2015. Labour market & career information for Newfoundland and Labrador, [online] Available at: http://www.lmiworks.nl.ca/EmployersResources/WorkplaceTraining.aspx [Accessed on May 30, 2015]. Read More