What is Professional Training Tracking?
There are many different types of training across the world - from training a puppy where to go potty or how to do tricks, or training in the gym or for a marathon. What we learn from these types of training is that developing a schedule for a puppy to go potty helps the puppy learn when and where it is appropriate to go to the bathroom. Similarly, when deciding how to prepare for a marathon - many people have run marathons and have found the ways that work best for a body to get into the proper shape to complete the 26.2 miles without injury. These types of training programs allow others to enjoy best practices without having to develop their own system.
When training a puppy how to sit, we also learn that repetition is important and rewarding the puppy for the proper behavior - in this case, sitting on command - allows the puppy to learned what is desired and improves their ability to repeat the action quicker and quicker each time.
In the professional world, we can learn a lot from these examples, particularly how training tracking is useful in the professional world.
Timetable Creation.
Deadlines are important when training and therefore vital in tracking. From developing a way to countdown to a deadline for finishing a certification program, to reminding employees when their next class begins, defining timetables sets the expectation and clearly provides guidelines for the standards required from the employer or within the industry.
Not only does developing a timetable set expectations, it also provides a way to measure progress to completion. If an employee is required to have a set of skills or knowledge from their hire date - outlining these dates within a system to track training is an organized way to hold employees accountable to results.
Best Practice Adoption.
With so much information about developing training programs and how to create successful employees - there is no need to reinvent the wheel. Instead, we can take this information and develop tools that have best practices embedded. In the marathon example, if we understand that tapering our running patterns by mileage on certain days is the best practice - we would build that into our training system and track our progress. After the marathon, we have a way to go back and review what we believe worked and did not depending on how we felt at the completion of the race.
Likewise, in the professional world, tracking training exposes best practices as we continue to develop systems for employees. The reason certain certifications expire after five years is because the industry is slow to change, in industries that are evolving quickly - certifications that show mastery expire quickly, too. Making certain that you’re tracking your employees progress through training programs and certifications, allows the added benefit of developing best practices of how to reinforce training in the future.
Scalable Repetition.
Similar to a puppy learning a new trick, in the professional world - there are many ways to build in repetition - through re-certification and continuing education credits. This step within training ensures that employees are at the top of their game and comply with industry standards, department expectations, or personal benchmarks for development. Providing a way to track when an employee is required to retrain and retool provides for continued success for the employee and organizations as a result. When developing a training program for employees, understanding the importance of repetition and how it plays into the adoption of skills required within a business or for position mastery. Again, training tracking continues to allow businesses a way to understand how their employees best learn and what is required for success. The measurement of these trainings is integral to the systems triumph.
Tangible Reward Verification.
Education burnout is real, and understanding how to avoid this in the professional world and motivate employees to continue development and education on their own terms is vital. Tracking training provides a tangible way to see an employee's’ progress and reward them accordingly. Susan passed a certification - that qualifies for a bonus. Jack completed his onboarding program, now he is eligible for company sponsored health insurance. Tying training back to rewards is great for motivation, increased compliance, and greater on-the-job success. Tracking that training is a tangible way to understand where each employee is in the training cycle and where they need to go next to reach the next level, get the next promotion, or simply be the best they can be at their job.
These are not the only things that should come from tracking the training of staff - but they are definitely required in successful professional training tracking. Creating a way to manage the training and professional development of employees paves the way for higher engagement at work, robust data to highlight areas of improvement, and ease the mind of potential audits from regulatory agencies.
"Creating a way to manage the training and professional development of employees paves the awy for higher engagement at work, robust data to highlight areas of improvement, and ease the mind of potential audits from regulatory agencies."