The Importance of Training & Development in the

Workplace
by Shelley Frost, Demand Media
Training presents a prime opportunity to expand the knowledge base of all employees, but many employers
find the development opportunities expensive. Employees also miss out on work time while attending training
sessions, which may delay the completion of projects. Despite the potential drawbacks, training and
development provides both the company as a whole and the individual employees with benefits that make the
cost and time a worthwhile investment.
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Addressing Weaknesses
Most employees have some weaknesses in their workplace skills. A training program allows you to strengthen
those skills that each employee needs to improve. A development program brings all employees to a higher
level so they all have similar skills and knowledge. This helps reduce any weak links within the company who
rely heavily on others to complete basic work tasks. Providing the necessary training creates an overall
knowledgeable staff with employees who can take over for one another as needed, work on teams or work
independently without constant help and supervision from others.
Improved Employee Performance
An employee who receives the necessary training is better able to perform her job. She becomes more aware of
safety practices and proper procedures for basic tasks. The training may also build the employee's confidence
because she has a stronger understanding of the industry and the responsibilities of her job. This confidence
may push her to perform even better and think of new ideas that help her excel. Continuous training also keeps
your employees on the cutting edge of industry developments. Employees who are competent and on top of
changing industry standards help your company hold a position as a leader and strong competitor within the
industry.
Related Reading: Importance of Safety Training
Consistency
A structured training and development program ensures that employees have a consistent experience and
background knowledge. The consistency is particularly relevant for the company's basic policies and
procedures. All employees need to be aware of the expectations and procedures within the company. This
includes safety, discrimination and administrative tasks. Putting all employees through regular training in these
areas ensures that all staff members at least have exposure to the information.
Employee Satisfaction
Employees with access to training and development programs have the advantage over employees in other
companies who are left to seek out training opportunities on their own. The investment in training that a
company makes shows the employees they are valued. The training creates a supportive workplace. Employees
may gain access to training they wouldn't have otherwise known about or sought out themselves. Employees
who feel appreciated and challenged through training opportunities may feel more satisfaction toward their
jobs.
Developing Training Programs for Staff
CHAPTER 1 0 SECTI ONS
Section 1. Developing a Plan for Staff Hiring and Training
Section 2. Preparing Job Descriptions and Selection Criteria
Section 3. Advertising for Positions
Section 4. Interviewing for Positions
Section 5. Developing Personnel Policies
Section 6. Developing Staff Orientation Programs
Section 7. Developing Training Programs for Staff
Main Section

Checklist

Examples

Tools

PowerPoint
WHAT I S A STAFF TRAI NI NG PROGRAM?
WHY RUN A STAFF TRAI NI NG PROGRAM?
WHEN SHOULD YOU RUN A STAFF TRAI NI NG
PROGRAM?
WHO SHOULD BE I N CHARGE OF THE STAFF TRAI NI NG
PROGRAM?
HOW DO YOU ACTUALLY PLAN AND RUN A STAFF
TRAI NI NG PROGRAM?
Let's look at two community-based organizations, the Princeton Parenting and Health Center
(PPHC) and the Gooseneck Parent and Child Support Project (Gooseneck). They do similar
work -- community education in mother and child health and parenting -- in similar
communities. Each has hired a new staff member to make contact with and provide services
to new parents.
Elaine, who has a degree in psychology but has never done this specific type of work before
(and has no children of her own), has relocated to Princeton to take her job with PPHC. On
her first day, after showing her her desk and introducing her to some of the folks she'll be
working with, the director gives her a town map and a list of the names of the families she
will be responsible for, and wishes her luck. After lunch, Elaine sets out to contact the
families in her caseload, a little worried about what she'll do or say when she meets them.
Mark has credentials similar to Elaine's, and has just been hired by Gooseneck. When he
reports for work on his first day, he learns that, for the next week, his job will consist of
orientation and training. Over several days, he is introduced to everyone in the organization,
to several of the families he'll be working with, and to the community.
Mark spends parts of two days going on family visits with veteran staff members, and
discusses with them what they did and why. He reads and discusses with other staff some
social work theory and a lot of material on parenting education and child nutrition. He role-
plays some situations with other staff members, and gets some direct instruction from the
program director in social work practice and community health education, and in the specific
ways those are interpreted by Gooseneck. He also gets a chance to work with the families
he's met, and to get feedback directly from them and, later, from his supervisor, who's
accompanied him on his first visits. By the following week, when he's on his own, he feels
he has a pretty good idea of what he needs to do, and how to go about it. And he knows that
his training will continue.
Which situation would you rather be in? One where you're thrown into the thick of things
with no training whatsoever and expected to figure it all out from scratch, or one where your
training has prepared you for the work you're going to do? You probably don't have to think
too hard about the answer to that question.
This section will help you think about how to plan and run a training program for all the
people in your organization, so that they not only begin their jobs with the tools to do them
well, but continue to develop their skills for as long as they continue in those jobs.
WHAT IS A TRAINING PROGRAM?
For starters, a good training program is just that -- an actual program, which looks at training
as not just a one-time event. What makes a training program different from an orientation
program is that it covers a much broader area.
Orientation is an introduction to the organization, the job, the target population, and the
community. Even if it goes on through the first few months of employment, it is only an
introduction, meant to get a staff member used to her new job.
Training is directly related to the skills, knowledge, and strategies necessary to do a
particular job. It can include teaching staff members new skills, exposing them to unfamiliar
ideas, giving them the chance to practice and get feedback on particular techniques or styles
of working with people, or simply encouraging them to discuss their work with one another.
And it can, and should, be ongoing throughout a staff member's employment.
WHAT I S I NCLUDED I N A TRAI NI NG PROGRAM?
As with much of the Community Tool Box, what follows here is an ideal. Most
small grassroots and community-based groups probably don't have the resources to
do everything, or perhaps even most of the things, on this list. You can do
something, however. The literacy program the author ran for several years used the
talents of its own staff members for a lot of its ongoing training, for instance, and
took advantage of opportunities to partner with other organizations as well.
A comprehensive training program might include the following:
Training for new staff who've never done this particular work before.
Training for new staff who may be experienced in the work of the position, but not in
the particular method or style which your organization uses.
An adult literacy program that had pioneered a particular method of using whole
language reading instruction for adults often hired people who had taught reading
before, but in different ways. Whole language theory and practice were therefore
the subject of much of their initial training, as well as of ongoing staff
development.
Staff development: ongoing training for all staff.
Professional development. While this term is often used interchangeably with staff
development, we've chosen to define it as leading either to specific new knowledge,
or to the next level of expertise. Professional development might encompass several
possibilities:
o College or graduate courses.
o Attendance at conferences.
o Study circles: groups of professionals who meet regularly to discuss readings
and/or members' writing and research on topics of mutual interest. A study
circle may have a facilitator to help guide reading and discussions, or members
may take turns acting as facilitator.
o Field-generated courses or workshops: courses or workshops that grow out of
the needs of practitioners, who find people to teach them.
o Institutes: Courses run by non-academic institutions, often involving
observation and hands-on practice instead of or in addition to lectures,
discussion, and reading.
Both staff and professional development require a certain amount of organizational
support. At the very least, ongoing training and professional development need to
be viewed as part of every staff member's job, and a certain amount of paid time
should be devoted to them. Other types of organizational support can include:
Payment of some or all tuition for academic courses (usually limited to a specific
amount of money or coursework per semester).
Registration fees and travel reimbursement for conferences or institutes up to a certain
amount.
Release time (paid release from one's job during work hours) for specific training
activities.
Finally, a training program should apply to everyone in the organization, from administrators
to line staff to support staff. All need, and should have the chance, to become continually
better at what they do, improving both their own and the organization 's effectiveness.
WHY RUN A TRAINING PROGRAM?
A training program looks like it might involve a fair amount of work and cost some money.
Does your organization really need one? The answer is yes, for a number of reasons.
For new staff, there's what seems an obvious answer: a training program is necessary so they
can start their jobs with some idea of what they're supposed to do and how to do it. But there
are a number of other ways in which a training program can help new staff members:
It shows them that the organization is serious about what it does, and therefore
encourages them to be serious about it, too.
It makes them feel that the organization is supportive of them.
Having the proper training boosts their confidence in their ability to do their jobs.
A training program can help to convince new staff members of the value of the
organization's philosophy and methods.
It enlists them as "regulars" in the organization by giving them a vocabulary and way
of looking at their work similar to those of others in the organization.
It shortens the time needed for them to become competent at their jobs.
It reduces their need to ask other staff for advice or information, and thus increases
their independence and decreases the drain on other staff members.
It greatly diminishes the chance that they'll make mistakes that cost the organization
in prestige, public relations, credibility, lawsuits, or money.
For veteran staff, a training program also has numerous benefits:
It helps them to become continually more competent at what they do.
It increases their knowledge of the field by introducing them to the latest research and
theory, and can expose them to new ideas which ultimately may improve their own
effectiveness and that of the organization.
By keeping them from becoming bored and stale, it helps them to maintain interest in
and enthusiasm for their work.
It can expose them to other practitioners with different -- and perhaps better --
methods.
It gives them one more reason to stay with the organization.
It keeps the organization as a whole dynamic: thinking, growing, and changing. A
dynamic organization is almost always a healthy and effective one.
In short, a good ongoing training program for all staff increases organizational effectiveness
and keeps it increasing, rather than allowing the organization to stagnate.
WHEN SHOULD YOU RUN A TRAINING
PROGRAM?
Training for new staff should clearly be conducted as soon as possible after they're hired.
The ideal is that it be part of their orientation -- if the orientation period is long or
comprehensive enough -- or that it at least starts before they begin work, so they'll know
what they're doing. But a well-planned training program should run all throughout the life of
the organization.
Staff development should be scheduled regularly, as part of the normal operation of the
organization. Probably, at minimum, everyone in the organization should have the
opportunity for some ongoing training at least once a month. Some organizations may
conduct or sponsor ongoing training much more often, sometimes as part of a weekly or
biweekly staff meeting. Such training opportunities could be as low-key as a half-hour
presentation at a staff meeting, or as formal as a presentation or workshop by a nationally
known expert in the field, depending upon the organization's resources.
Many state or federal grants and contracts require and fund staff development, and
union contracts sometimes include paid staff or professional development time.
Professional development opportunities may be more difficult, because they generally
require money. Most small organizations simply don't have the resources to pay for staff
members' college or graduate courses, and may not even be able to afford conference fees.
While some staff members may be more than willing to pay for their own conferences or
courses, it would be unfair to require everyone to do so. A compromise might be to ask staff
members to take advantage of at least one professional development opportunity per year.
Some of those opportunities - study circles, for instance - are free or almost free, and can be
arranged by staff members themselves, or by the organization.
WHO SHOULD BE IN CHARGE OF THE TRAINING
PROGRAM?
This question really refers to two different aspects of running a training program. The first is
that of who actually controls the program ( i.e. who determines the subject matter, frequency,
and form of the training). The second is that of who conducts the training itself. The two may
be, but need not be, the same person or group.
There is actually a third facet to running a program as well: coordination. Someone has to be
responsible for scheduling, communication, finding outside presenters if necessary, etc.. The
question of who coordinates in this way may or may not be less loaded than the others. A
member of the support staff might, in fact, coordinate training as part of his job, or the
director might insist that she be the training coordinator. However your organization does it -
- and having the responsibility rotate among staff members is a possible answer -- it's
absolutely crucial to have effective coordination, usually invested in a single person. Without
it, a training program will get lost in loose ends and unfinished business.
CONTROL OF THE TRAI NI NG
There are a number of choices for who or what controls a training program:
The director, program director, another administrator, or training coordinator, with or
without input from other staff members. In a large organization, there might even be a
training coordinator for each department, or for each group of services.
Organizational policy: the subject matter, form, and frequency of training may be
specified by the organization itself, either in the bylaws or in personnel policy.
A particular staff member or group of staff members.
All staff collectively (including administrators and support staff).
Staff and other interested parties, such as participants, who may have knowledge of
the training needs of the organization.
An outside facilitator or organization.
Federal adult literacy funding mandates that each state have, in effect, a staff
development resource. In Massachusetts, the Department of Education supports
SABES (the System for Adult Basic Education Support). This organization
provides free staff development for staff members of all Department of Education-
funded adult literacy programs. The five regional SABES centers periodically
survey administrators and line staff in the programs in their regions, and organize
workshops, courses, and study circles in the areas of most interest to practitioners.
SABES also conducts regular trainings for staff members new to adult literacy.
While many adult education programs conduct internal training in addition to
whatever SABES activities their staff members attend, many others rely totally, or
at least partially, on SABES for their staff development and training.
A combination of some or all of these.
Yet another possibility is joining with other organizations with similar needs to
conduct joint trainings. Especially where none of the organizations alone has the
staff or financial resources to conduct a full-fledged training program, this can be a
great way to provide high-quality staff and professional development.
Even if the organizations have different specific purposes, the trainings could
cover areas in common. Trainings on substance abuse, domestic violence, or youth
issues, for instance, could be relevant to many community organizations besides
those particularly working on those issues. Training in counseling skills or conflict
resolution would be useful to almost anyone.
Such joint training can also be made available to the public. This can educate
people about the issues and gain support for the organizations in the community.
Please see Examples #1 and # 2 for some successful joint training ventures.
As is stated many times elsewhere in the Community Tool Box, it is extremely important for
organizations to live their beliefs. Effective organizations usually have a consistent view of
how they treat people, whether those people are members of their own staffs, of the target
population, or of the larger community. Toward this end, an organization should ask itself
some important questions before deciding who should control its training.
What are the political implications of your choice? If the director determines the
course of training, even with the input of other staff members, that says something
specific about the distribution of power in the organization. The same is true if the
control of training is a joint responsibility of all staff.
How important is it that training in your organization be participatory? What is the
organization's stake in doing things in an inclusive and democratic way?
How does the control of training reflect the organizational philosophy? If the
organization tries to foster a collaborative atmosphere, then training should be viewed
as a collaborative effort as well. If the organization seeks to empower its target
population, it's important that it also empower staff. An empowered staff would have
at least some control over its own training.
How distinctive does the training need to be? Does the organization use a self-
developed or very unusual method, and has it developed a specific course of training
as a result? If that is the case, how much room is there for flexibility and the
introduction of other issues and ideas?
Are many or all staff members already knowledgeable in the field, or are they one-
sided in their knowledge (i.e. are most familiar with only one of several possible
methods for doing what they do)?
In general, staff members are far more likely to actually use what they get from a
training program if they have at least some control over it. It makes sense, for
instance, for those actually working in the field to determine what they need to do
better, or what they need to know more about in order to do their jobs well. A
training program imposed from above becomes simply a chore, another boring
meeting to go to.
A model that often works well is one where staff members take turns being
responsible for staff development sessions. Staff members collectively determine
their training needs, and then divide up the responsibility for providing training in
the areas selected.
Some staff people may have the expertise -- or want to do the research to develop
it -- to conduct trainings themselves. Others may know or find appropriate outside
presenters or materials (a video on the topic, for instance). Still others may use
their turns to present ideas or methods that they have learned about or used
elsewhere, or to discuss issues they care about. The important thing is that those
who are to be trained make the final decisions on what the training will be about.
CONDUCTI NG THE TRAI NI NG
In many ways, deciding who will conduct the training is simpler than deciding who will
control it. Possibilities are a program or training director, other staff members, outside
presenters (including participants and other community members) or organizations, or some
combination.
There is also the possibility here, perhaps with the exception of initial training, of
individual staff members planning and carrying out their own programs. See the
material below on training contracts for one way this can be accomplished.
Again, there are questions an organization should ask itself here:
Who has the expertise? The answer to this question will probably vary from topic to
topic. Some or most training might be conducted in-house by staff members with the
right background and experience. At other times, an outside source might be
necessary.
Is it important to involve the community -- either members of the target population or
people from the community at large?
Do you need special training that no one on staff is competent to provide?
What, if anything, can you afford to pay for training?
HOW DO YOU ACTUALLY DEVELOP AND RUN A
TRAINING PROGRAM?
There are four major considerations in developing and running a training program. In the
order you need to look at them, they are:
Planning
Methods
Logistics
Evaluation
We'll examine each of these in turn.
PLANNI NG
General rules for planning a staff training program
Involve staff members in the planning and implementation of training
programs. Whether they are in direct control of the training or not, the people who do
the work are in the best position to figure out what at least some of their needs are.
Even new staff can participate in planning in this way. What are they most nervous
about? In what areas do they feel least prepared or least competent? The answers to
these questions can help to structure a useful and effective initial training.
For both new and veteran staff, there is always the tension between what they
know they need and what they don't know they need. If you can foster the
understanding that exposure to new ideas and techniques is an important part of
any staff member's growth, then exposure to such can become an accepted and
valued part of your staff training program.
In addition, staff participation in planning and conducting a training program gives staff
members ownership of that program, making it far more likely that they will take it seriously
and benefit from it.
Respond to staff members' needs. If they're involved in the planning of training, make
sure that involvement isn't just nominal, but leads to specific workshops, sessions,
etc.. Some things you can do to ensure that needs are met:
o Cover the topics that staff members identify as important. This doesn't mean
you can't add to these topics, but simply that the ones they identify should be
addressed. If, for some reason, this isn't practical, that should be discussed and
a rationale presented for what will be covered. (Some organizations identify
topics by doing an annual -- or more frequent -- staff training needs
assessment.)
o Try to arrange the training in the forms and situations staff members most
want: study circles, particular presenters, etc.. Just as important, don't set up
situations that staff members particularly dislike -- if everyone expresses
distaste for lecture-style presentations, don't plan any.
o Find materials that address the issues appropriately and interestingly.
Schedule training around staff member's needs. For new staff, that means as soon as
they report for work, so that they can get the foundation they need. For staff
development, it means several things:
o Schedule at times convenient for as many people as possible.
o Schedule well in advance so that you can get the presenters you want,
assemble materials for staff to examine beforehand, get readings together, etc..
o Build in enough flexibility or unscheduled time to address real issues that
come up in the work when they need to be addressed.
REMEMBER THAT YOU' RE PLANNI NG A PROGRAM
A training program is more than just a series of unrelated workshops. It should reflect a way
of looking at what your organization does, as well as the needs of the staff. Some
organizations plan training a year at a time, choosing to focus on one or a small number of
topics, and scheduling discussions or presentations months in advance. Others see a training
program as a progression as staff members build their skills and knowledge from the initial
training throughout their time in the organization. Still others see a program as covering the
areas that staff members need to do their jobs well, which often means responding to
immediate concerns (We're getting a lot of participants who are using heroin. How do we
deal with that?).
All of these are legitimate ways of looking at a staff training program, and there are others as
well. What's necessary is that your staff training plan end up with a program that has some
reason behind its structure. An unrelated series of presentations or activities might have some
value, but it will benefit neither the staff nor the organization as much as a training program
that forms a coherent whole.
DECI DE WHAT AREAS YOUR STAFF TRAI NI NG SHOULD COVER
Obviously, the decision here will depend on the work of the organization and the expressed
needs of staff members, but it will also vary with the philosophy and intent of the
organization. Some organizations may want a training program to address issues that aren't --
or don't seem to be -- directly related to their stated goals.
If an organization whose stated goal is job training believes that work readiness is dependent
on individual development, it might therefore include information on psychological
development in its training program. Organizations concerned with empowerment might
include training on how the organization expects staff members to interact with and treat
participants. Less introspective organizations are more likely to focus training only on job
skills -- vaccinating children, teaching literacy, understanding federal regulations.
That said, there are some general areas that most training programs should address
Specific job skills and information. Any training, especially initial training, should
cover the particular skills and information people need to do their jobs. Teaching
techniques, federal regulations, and new medical information might all be training
topics for one organization or another.
In some cases, of course, people in your group have been hired specifically
because they already had most of the skills and information they needed. (You
don't have to teach an RN how to take blood pressure, for instance.) Training
should take that into account, and focus on upgrading skills, or on information
that's new or specific to the organization.
Skills unique to your organization. If you have self-developed or unusual ways of
doing things, it's obviously important that staff members understand both how to use
these methods and why your organization uses them.
New techniques, developments, theories, policies, laws, etc., in your field.
Other areas that staff members need to be familiar with, over and above their job
skills, in order to do their jobs well (strategies to deal with someone who's suicidal,
for instance, or to resolve conflicts). Into this category falls most training in such
areas as interpersonal skills, cultural sensitivity, and diversity.
Specific issues of importance to the organization. Depending upon the nature of the
work and of the target population, some possibilities here could be domestic violence,
the spread of AIDS, welfare reform, ADA (the Americans with Disabilities Act), the
economics of particular neighborhoods or regions, trends in federal funding, etc..
These issues might not be related directly to the goals of the organization, but may
have great impact on its work because of their effect on participants.
DETERMI NE HOW MUCH TRAI NI NG YOUR STAFF NEEDS, AND WHEN I T
SHOULD HAPPEN
Initial training. How long should training for new staff last? When are you going to
need it (i.e., do you know when you're likely to be hiring)?
Staff development. How much staff development should each staff member engage in
during a year? How often should it take place, or does that matter?
Professional development. Should there be an organizational standard for the amount
of professional development a staff member should be involved in each year? If so,
should there be any time considerations placed on that standard (i.e., professional
development has to be completed by a certain time each year)?
Some organizations approach all these questions through the use of an individual
training contract with each staff member. In this case, each person in the
organization -- often in consultation with supervisors, other staff, etc. -- plans his
own training program for the year. A program may include courses, workshops,
conferences, study circles, observations at other organizations, research, self-
directed reading, etc. -- in other words, any activity that will enhance his skills or
knowledge.
Once the program is finalized, the organization and the staff member sign a
contract, with the staff member agreeing to participate in the activities named, and
the organization agreeing to provide specific support (a certain amount of tuition
for a course, release time for observation visits, etc.). The staff member may be
required to check in with a supervisor or mentor a certain number of times during
the year, or the contract may simply be reviewed at the end of the year.
This method has the advantage of constructing a program for each staff member
that should speak directly to his needs. It has the disadvantage of staff members
going off in different directions, and not necessarily informing one another of what
they've learned. An organization might compromise by running its own, somewhat
shortened, training program in addition to negotiating training contracts with each
individual, and/or to end the year with a seminar in which each person shares what
she's learned.
METHODS
There are some general guidelines to keep in mind when considering what methods to use in
a staff training program.
If the training is meant to teach a method or technique, it should be conducted
using the method or technique in question. If you're trying to teach group
facilitation skills, for instance, then you -- or whoever is conducting the training --
should be demonstrating those skills in the presentation itself.
Similarly, training methods should be consistent with the mission and philosophy
of the organization. If the organization is collaborative, for instance, then the
training program should assume that everyone has some relevant knowledge and
experience to contribute. The training should be viewed as a collaborative effort,
rather than as an authority offering some of his knowledge to others who are
essentially ignorant.
Vary presentation methods to keep people interested and excited. This is true
whether training is in-house or is largely conducted by outside presenters. Among the
many methods available are:
o Discussion/study circles
o Group activities: small-group problem-solving, collaborative projects, etc.
o Multimedia: audio-visual presentations (videos, audio tape, overheads), use of
computers and the internet, etc.
o Physical activities: movement, manipulation of materials
o Individual problem-solving
o Role plays and simulation, including interactive theater
o Journals or other writing activities
o Arts activities: creating pictures, structures, poems, etc., either as individuals
or in groups
o Individual or group research
o Readings
o Lecture
You may notice that lecture, which is probably the most common method of
presentation, is listed last here. The reason is that studies have shown that lecture is
the least effective method of learning for most people. For most subject matter,
group learning and/or hands-on involvement are usually more effective: the give-
and-take of a group discussion, even if the group is only two, is far more helpful to
most people than listening to someone tell them something, and actually practicing
the activity is even more powerful.
Discussion is interactive: it gives people the chance to wrestle with ideas, to
translate those ideas into their own terms, and to make them their own. The same is
true of several of the other methods listed above, particularly the use of physical
activities, role plays, and the arts.
Be aware of different learning styles. There are many descriptions of different
learning styles, but all come down to two issues: how people take in information; and
how they organize and use it. Although most people can use a range of different styles
when they need to, everyone seems to have a style that they prefer, and which they
can use best.
A common way of looking at cognitive style is to divide an area into four. Each of
the two lines - one vertical and one horizontal - that divide it into four squares (see
diagram) represents a way of handling information. Although different theories use
different names for the styles they discuss, most actually describe the same
possibilities.
In most cases, one line forms a progression from sequential (in logical order,
already fitting together) to random or intuitive (a piece here and a piece there, with
their fitting together coming as a mental "click into place" at some point). The
other line forms a progression from "chunking" information (seeing the big picture,
often referred to as "abstract") to dealing with information as a group of separate
details ("concrete").
An individual's cognitive style is defined as the area into which she falls when
scored on a questionnaire designed to see both where she falls on the line between
sequential and intuitive, and where on the line between abstract and concrete. The
diagram below gives a picture of the four areas.


Thus, someone might be described as "abstract-random" or "abstract-sequential."
Each description brings with it a particular preference for interpreting the world.
It's often said, for instance, that engineers are concrete-sequential: they deal in
concrete issues, and they want everything in logical order. If issues aren't concrete
and sequential, then they try to make them that way.
Teaching to as many different learning styles as possible helps everyone develop
their ability to use a variety of strategies. Different kinds of problems demand
different kinds of solutions, and the more easily a person can switch styles when
necessary, the better learner and problem-solver he'll be. In the long run, it's one of
the best ways to make sure that everyone learns what he needs to.
You may notice that lecture, which is probably the most common method of
presentation, is listed last here. The reason is that studies have shown that lecture is
the least effective method of learning for most people. For most subject matter,
group learning and/or hands-on involvement are usually more effective: the give-
and-take of a group discussion, even if the group is only two, is far more helpful to
most people than listening to someone tell them something, and actually practicing
the activity is even more powerful.
Discussion is interactive: it gives people the chance to wrestle with ideas, to
translate those ideas into their own terms, and to make them their own. The same is
true of several of the other methods listed above, particularly the use of physical
activities, role plays, and the arts.
You can address different styles by planning either individual activities or a series of
activities that include several of these ways of presenting information:
There are various ways to approach this issue. Asking people to draw pictures or to act out
something often engages "right-brain" functions; asking people to make a list or to create a
statistical profile prompts "left-brain" learning. One of the reasons that role plays and the like
are often such powerful learning tools is that, through the use of feedback after the
experience, they engage both, and help people to integrate them. Thus, when they've learned
something in that way, they both "know" it intuitively and understand it intellectually.
Use visual - through the eyes (slides, video); auditory - through the ears (tapes,
lecture); and kinesthetic - through movement and touch (games, things to build with,
etc.); and similar methods of presenting information.
Provide opportunities for people to work in large groups, small groups, pairs, and
alone, since some people learn best in each of these situations.
Pay attention to "right brain-left brain" differences. Although this common
description can be misleading (these activities are not actually dichotically divided
into right and left sides of the brain), the differences to note here are between the
emotional/intuitive/artistic (right brain) and the logical/sequential /mathematical (left
brain) ways of thinking. Some people respond more to ideas in sequence, for instance,
and others to ideas connected to anecdotes or to literature.
There are various ways to approach this issue. Asking people to draw pictures or to
act out something often engages "right-brain" functions; asking people to make a
list or to create a statistical profile prompts "left-brain" learning. One of the reasons
that role plays and the like are often such powerful learning tools is that, through
the use of feedback after the experience, they engage both, and help people to
integrate them. Thus, when they've learned something in that way, they both
"know" it intuitively and understand it intellectually.
Try to address both the big picture -- an overall view of the ideas or techniques you're
introducing, and how they fit into your organization and the field -- and the smaller
details that make up that big picture.
Use humor, games, and other fun activities as much as possible. Virtually
everyone learns more, and more quickly, when they are having fun than when they
feel bored or under pressure.
Especially if there are skills or techniques to learn, try to design activities with as
much opportunity for feedback as possible.
Feedback - a constructive critical response - is one of the most important tools
available for training of any sort. Having a chance to practice a skill or explore an
idea with feedback from observers or other participants can be a tremendously
powerful learning experience. (This experience can be even more meaningful when
the practice is in a real-life situation under the supervision of a veteran staff
member or supervisor, as in the case of practice teaching.)
To use feedback well, it's important to understand that it has a serious effect on
people at whom it's aimed. If you're not careful, it can be devastating. A few
guiding principles can help you employ feedback in a way that's almost always
helpful:
Feedback should be positive first. Remember that, in most cases, the person it's
directed at is often doing something she's still a beginner at. Find something good to
say before you address problem areas.
Feedback should be clear and concrete. Rather than "You didn't do that well," try
"You seemed to have some difficulty when X happened. What were you
thinking/feeling there? What might you have done to make things go differently?" or
"What if you had tried A instead of B in that situation? What do you think might have
happened?"
Feedback should be directed toward mastery of the activity, not toward criticism of
the person. "You really stank that up" is not helpful. Approaching feedback as a joint
problem-solving activity is much more so. Responses like those in number 2 above
both involve the person in problem-solving and indicate support for her learning.
Feedback should actually be useful to the trainee in a real situation. It should help him
understand the situation more clearly, and give him some tools to use when that
situation arises again.
There are many ways to provide feedback besides third-person observation.
o Video- or audiotaping the trainee provides a record of the activity, which she
can then react to alone or with others.
o Video- or audiotaping someone else -- a veteran staff member, perhaps --
doing the same thing the trainee was taped doing can furnish her with another
model.
One advantage of these strategies is that you can repeat parts of the activity as
many times as necessary in order to analyze what's happening and to understand
what went right or wrong in those particular instances.
Giving feedback can be just as powerful a learning experience as getting it. Just as the
best way to learn something is to teach it, the best way to understand the dynamics of
a situation may sometimes be to watch it and comment, rather than to be directly
involved in it. It's crucial, therefore, that everyone have the chance to provide
feedback as well as to receive it.
LOGI STI CS
The logistics -- the nitty-gritty of arranging everything so that the training can take place --
may not be the most exciting part of a training, but it's absolutely crucial. How well you take
care of the details may have a lot to do with the success of your training program, so you
have to start thinking about them early. For most organizations, the important issues will be
location, setup, and materials.
Location. Do you want -- or do you have -- to hold training or staff development
sessions at your workplace, or would it be better to go elsewhere? Other possibilities
include people's houses; (free) institutional space (a library or college, for instance);
rented space; space loaned by another organization; outdoors; or rented conference
space, which may be far from home and very different from the normal work
environment.
Your organization's resources -- probably not huge -- will go a long way toward determining
whether you can rent space or not. Your organization's philosophy and style may help to
determine whether you want to rent space or you would rather spend the money directly on
the work you do.
Time and the amount of space needed can also be determining factors. If your staff
development takes place during staff meeting time, for instance, then it's almost undoubtedly
going to be in your workplace. If you're planning activities that involve a lot of physical
movement, you'll need more space than you will just for chairs.
Setup. How are you going to set up the space? How formal or informal do you want it
to be? Do you want comfortable furniture? Chairs in rows, or in a circle? Tables or
desks to write on? Blackboards? These questions might influence your choice of
location as well.
In addition, you need to consider trainees' comfort. Does your space have enough light,
natural or otherwise? (Remember that fluorescent lights buzz, a noise that some people don't
mind or don't hear, and that others can't stand.) Is there enough air circulation? (Rooms
without adequate ventilation put people to sleep.) How's the temperature? (If you're too hot
or too cold, it's hard to concentrate.)
Food changes the dynamics of any situation, making it friendlier and more relaxed. Do you
want to include food, and, if so, will the organization provide it, or will people share the cost
or take turns?
In general, creating an informal atmosphere is more conducive to discussion and to
learning. The best learning comes out of thrashing out ideas among people, and
that kind of interchange is more likely in an informal environment. Such an
arrangement also creates less of a distance between the facilitator and participants
in a training session. The partnership encouraged by informality leads to more
ownership of the training by participants and more effective learning.
Materials. Training materials will, of course, be dependent on the nature of your
training and the methods you choose. No matter what you do, however, there will
almost undoubtedly be a fair amount of text and other paper that needs to be
distributed (although it may also be posted to be downloaded from a web site or
computer network), and other materials needed for particular training sessions. These
have to be available at the right times, and that's probably the responsibility of the
coordinator.
Having materials ready when they're needed can be a big job. It may mean getting many
pages copied; typing text into a web site; making overheads, videos, or CD-ROMs (as well
as finding the hardware to display them); creating Power Point presentations; assembling
enough art materials for everyone to use; etc.. It may even mean putting together or writing a
training manual, which might include some of these materials.
The planning you've done becomes crucial here. The more lead time the coordinator has to
get materials ready, the more likely they are to be there when they're required, and the more
flexible the training program, as a whole, will be able to be.
Publicity may or may not be a fourth issue here. It depends on the size of your
organization (if you have a staff of 20 or fewer, informing everyone of a training
opportunity isn't difficult, although you still have to do it), and, probably more
importantly, on whether the training will be open to other organizations or to the
public. If you're advertising it publicly, you'll need to follow some general rules for
getting your message out:
Use as many different outlets as possible (fliers and posters; advertisements, articles,
and press releases in print and broadcast media; direct mail or e-mail; community
bulletin boards; etc.).
Use language that's easily understood by your target audience (including languages
other than English when appropriate).
Put your message where your target audience will see or hear it -- in their
neighborhoods, in stores they patronize, on radio stations they listen to, etc..
EVALUATI ON
Like all your work, your training program should be dynamic, constantly changing to
improve its effectiveness and meet the evolving needs of the organization. The way you
assure this dynamism is through regular, careful examination and evaluation of what you're
doing and how you do it.
There are some obvious ways to determine the effectiveness of your training program.
Feedback from staff members, both on individual sessions and on the training
program as a whole. Obtaining honest feedback could be difficult if the level of trust
in the organization isn't high. (Lack of trust is another problem, but not for this
section. Both group discussions and individual conversations are the best ways to get
real information. They allow for give and take, and give people a chance to polish
their thoughts as they hear those of others.
You can also ask people to fill out a survey (anonymous or not). This may be
somewhat less revealing, but it may also give you accurate feedback on how helpful
and interesting your training is. (Please see Tool #1 for a sample survey on training.)
The important questions are whether staff members feel that the training program, in
general, was useful, and how it can be improved. Can they point to specific training
that has had a practical effect? Do they use any of the ideas or techniques they learned
or were exposed to? Are they more open to innovation in their work than before? Has
training improved their confidence or their feeling of competency? Does the training
feel supportive? Would they consider the time spent on it a valuable part of their
jobs? What areas of concern weren't covered? What would they like to see added or
dumped in the future?
Feedback from participants, target populations, community members, etc.,
about the competence of the organization in the areas that the training program
addressed. Have there been changes in the ways things are done or changes in the
effectiveness of the organization? Have there been changes in the way the
organization is perceived?
Observation and supervision of staff members in job situations. How easily did
new staff members adapt to the techniques, ideas, and attitudes presented in initial
training? Is there improvement, or a drive toward improvement, in the work of
veteran staff? Have any of the ideas proposed in training been adopted in practice,
and how well are they working? Do supervisors see differences in people 's attitudes,
methods, or competency? Do staff members discuss training issues with supervisors
and with one another?
The goal of both initial and ongoing training is to help staff members become more
effective at what they do. For various organizations, that may mean being more
creative or more innovative, serving more people, having more success with current
participants, involving more people from the community, or having greater political
impact. Whatever your goals for staff effectiveness, you'll be many steps closer to
reaching them if you have a well-planned and well-executed training program.
IN SUMMARY
A good staff training program is just that -- a program, with a structure and logic to it that
make sense for your organization. It should continue throughout the life of the organization
and include initial training for new staff, staff development (ongoing training for all staff),
and professional development (the opportunity to gain new knowledge or skills, or to move
to the next level of expertise).
Creating such a program involves planning that includes the people to be trained, and looks
at both what kind of shape the training program should take and what areas it should cover.
The development of a training program also requires thinking about methods (how the
training will be presented), logistics (where and when training will be held, what's necessary
to make it all go well, etc.), and evaluation (how you'll find out what was valuable and what
was not, and what you should do to improve the program over time).
Developing a training program that meets the needs of both staff members and the
organization, and keeps the organization growing and changing for the better, is a big job.
But, the benefits to be gained will far outweigh the effort.
Contributor
Phil Rabinowitz
File Upload
chapter_10_section_7_-_diagram_of_cognitive_styles.png
Print Resource
Staff training/staff development
Online Resources
Staff development in schools from the perspective of the Kansas Department of Education
National Staff Development Council, the national staff development professional
organization for K-12 education.
Staff Development, by Jocelyn A. Butler. Close-up #12 in the School Improvement Research
Series. From Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory
Prince George's County (MD) Public Schools Some good general information on staff
development, as well as material specific to schools.
SABES, the Massachusetts Adult Basic Education staff development support system.
Excerpts from the Integrated Staff and Program Development Handbook, a staff
development model for adult literacy education in Massachusetts.
"Staff Development and Change Process: Cut from the Same Cloth" Issues...About Change,
vol. 4, no. 2, 1994. An article on the connection between staff development and change from
the website of the Southwest Educational Development Laboratory.
Links for educational staff development
Cognitive/learning styles
Difference Is Not Deficiency Research on differences in cognitive style suggests minority
students could contribute far more than they do now if given the chance. An interview with
James Vasquez from In Context, the journal of the Context Institute.
LdPride Information and links on learning styles and multiple intelligences.
A synopsis of learning and teaching styles by Dr. Richard Felder of North Carolina State
University. It includes a self-graded learning style assessment with explanation.
SNOW Adapting teaching to learning styles (audial/visual/tactile) as well as assessment of
teaching style and teaching style inventory.
Entrepreneurial Training Program
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UW-Eau Claire Continuing Education
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Understanding the full scope of what it takes to start and run a small business is overwhelming. The
Entrepreneurial Training Program is a resourceful set of classes designed specifically to help you
develop a solid plan and learn what it takes to build a thriving business.
Put your business idea to the test
Build a plan that will attract investment
Explore real-world possibilities
Reduce costly trial and error and increase your chances of success
Get answers to your tough questions from our experienced facilitators and instructors
Use case studies, activities and readings to learn how others like you succeeded
Utilize weekly feedback to make your plan work

The Entrepreneurial Training Program has a proven record of success. What are you waiting for?
In the last 5 years:
100% of the students who were in business and took the ETP are still in business.
27% of students in the ETP started a business after taking the ETP
...of those students, 90% are still in business today.
72% of students in the ETP completed a comprehensive business plan.

A comprehensive business plan is the most critical part of your new venture
Serves as your objective decision guide
Reduces costly trial and error
Required by lenders if seeking financing
Will attract potential investors
Greatly increase your chance of SUCCESS

Whether your business is brand-new or expanding, writing a business plan is essential. The
toughest parts are doing the research, organizing the information, and taking the time to write the
plan. When you finish the weekly assignments in the Entrepreneurial Training Program, you will
leave with a completed dynamic business plan.
Entrepreneurial Training Program
Designed by entrepreneurs to help you run a better business
Lively pace, efficient design, and useful take-home materials
Utilizes case studies, activities, readings and presentations that are pertinent to business start-
ups
Each week tackles a different concern critical to your business plan
Facilitators provide professional services to small business (accounting, marketing, financing,
legal) or are UW-Eau Claire faculty who teach business management at the university
Feedback is given weekly by a trained business counselor

ETP Content
Writing a Business Plan
Financial Management
Basic Accounting and Finance
Legal and Risk Management
Marketing Needs and Planning
E-Commerce and Web Site Development
Technology Involved with Your Small Business
Customer Service and Time Management
Hiring and HR Issues
Record Keeping and Taxes


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running a business.
Convenient format and meeting site
Meet in the Continuing Education building, 210 Water Street, Eau Claire
Tuesday evenings from 6:309:15 p.m.; conducted spring and fall in Eau Claire
Free parking is available across Water Street in the University parking lot north of the Haas Fine
Arts building.
Class size limited so individual questions can be addressed.
Private, confidential counseling by advisors from the Small Business Development Center is
available to cover concerns which are not addressed in the ETP content.
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Entrepreneurship Education and Training
Programmes: A Review and Evaluation -
Part 1.
ISSN 0309-0590

Literature review of problems associated with entrepreneurship education and training
programmes.
Thomas N. Garavan and Barra O'Cinneide
Introduction
Entrepreneurship is in vogue. A wide range of factors have contributed to the revival
of interest in entrepreneurship and small business in both Europe and the USA in the
1990s. In recent years, many industrialized countries have suffered from economic
recession, high unemployment rates and fluctuation in international trade cycles to a
degree not experienced since World War II. This situation has tended to increase the
attention paid by policy makers and political decision makers to the potential role of
entrepreneurs as a possible solution to rising unemployment rates and as a recipe for
economic prosperity. Particular interest is being focused on the role of small business,
both because of its ability to adapt to a changing environment and because its
structure allows it to adjust itself to technical change at a rate fast enough for survival.
Many countries have now recognized this and are preparing new policy measures to
support small firms and entrepreneurship. Specific efforts are also being directed at
promoting innovative activities and to improving innovative capabilities.
There is now a wide acceptance within the European Union (EU) that future
prosperity hinges on the creation of vibrant indigenous businesses that are deeply
rooted in the local economy. For this to occur, there is a need to expand the pool of
local entrepreneurial talent to develop and manage new business ventures. For the
aspiration to become a reality, effective support structures are required to harness
local initiatives and nurture new enterprises that are capable of creating sustainable
employment. In the past, emphasis was (and continues to be) primarily placed on the
corporate entity with the area of small business being largely ignored.
There is much discussion about the possibility of developing entrepreneurs. Some
biographies of successful entrepreneurs often read as if such people entered the world
with an extraordinary genetic endowment. But there are almost as many counter
stories of those who hit on the entrepreneurial jackpot without the benefits of genetics.
It is clear that these traits and genetics do not fall into any sensible pattern for start-up
successes. Banfe[1] suggests that there is a serendipity of unpredictable events that
does not have much to do with family heritage.
Successful new ventures are as much the result of a driving entrepreneur with an
abundance of luck and timing. The literature suggests that, on balance, it is desirable
to come from two learned, successful entrepreneurial parents; it is also beneficial to
gain work experience and get adequate education. This scenario will substantially
enhance the probability of success. So, many factors are unrelated to genetics and
support the counter paradigm that "entrepreneurs are often made, not born".
The debate on whether entrepreneurs can be taught still rears its head from time to
time. Not everyone has what it takes to be an entrepreneur but, then, our society does
not need everyone to be an entrepreneur. While many of the aspects of
entrepreneurship can be taught, it also requires a certain flair or attitude towards
taking risks. There is, and always will be, a role for the gut feeling in
entrepreneurship, and indeed that is what may mark out a successful entrepreneur
from the unsuccessful one. That said, however, there is clearly a major role and need
for entrepreneurship education and training. The responsibility for teaching
entrepreneurship does not rest entirely with the educational world. Indeed, at public
level there is a need for the creation of an atmosphere that will encourage
entrepreneurship and recognize the reasons for entrepreneurial failures without
immediately penalizing such failures. Failures themselves can be an essential part of a
learning process[2].
This article aims to address some of the issues surrounding entrepreneurship
education and training in Europe while at the same time reporting on specific
initiatives in five European countries. This article is divided into two parts. Part 1
considers some of the issues and difficulties highlighted in the literature on
entrepreneurship education and training. Part 2 presents a comparative analysis of the
design features of six entrepreneurship and training programmes conducted within the
European Union. The outcomes of these programmes, in terms of projects, new
ventures and employment potential are considered.
Entrepreneurship Education and Training Programmes: Key Issues
Entrepreneurship Enterprise and Small Business - Some Definitions
The literature and practice illustrate much confusion between the terms
"entrepreneurship", "enterprise" and "small business". Gibb[3] points out, for
example, that the term "entrepreneurship education" is commonly used in Canada and
the US but is much less commonly used in Europe. The preferred term in the UK and
Irish context is "enterprise" rather than "entrepreneurship education" and it is
primarily focused on the development of personal attributes. The term "enterprise"
does not necessarily embrace the small business project idea or the entrepreneur.
However, Gibb[4] suggests it is substantially linked with the developing notion of an
enterprise culture.
For the purposes of this article a clear distinction will be made between "enterprise
education" and "small business and entrepreneurship education and training". The
major objectives of enterprise education are to develop enterprising people and
inculcate an attitude of self-reliance using appropriate learning processes.
Entrepreneurship education and training programmes are aimed directly at stimulating
entrepreneurship which may be defined as independent small business ownership or
the development of opportunity-seeking managers within companies[5].
Sexton and Bowman[6] suggest that a clear distinction can also be made between
"entrepreneurship" and "small business". Small businesses can vary widely from
simple forms of self-employment, such as digging gardens, erecting fences, running a
post office or corner shop, to the management of a high technology company on a
scale which, relative to others in a particular sector, is small. It must not be forgotten
that while all entrepreneurs are self-employed, not all self-employed persons are
entrepreneurs. The move from self-employment to entrepreneurship as a career is
conceptually and pragmatically different. Carland et al. (quoted in[6]) provide a
useful conceptual distinction between entrepreneurs and small business owners;
entrepreneurs are characterized by innovative behaviour and employ strategic
management practices, the main goals being profit and growth. Small business owners
are people whose businesses consume most of their time and resources and provide
most of their income. Unlike the entrepreneur, the small business owner is seldom
engaged in innovative practices. Similarly, when it comes to education and training,
the terms "entrepreneurial education" or "training for entrepreneurship" are widely
used phrases, often intended to take on a generic meaning[7]. However, many small
business education activities have little to do with promoting "entrepreneurship" in
any strict sense. Bannock[8] concurs with this distinction and suggests that it is the
marriage of ownership and control, and therefore exposure to complete responsibility
and associated risk, that is the important ingredient of entrepreneurship.
It is clear from the above discussion that many self-employed scarcely match the
populist "entrepreneur" image outlined earlier. While some people may innately
demonstrate more entrepreneurial attributes than others, Gibb[4] argues that
experience and circumstances can make very different demands on these attributes
and can facilitate, or otherwise, their development. It is reasonable to assume that
entrepreneurial attributes are likely to be stimulated by the nature of the task structure
and other work circumstances in the owner-managed business, and developed by
experience. The strength of the stimulus will be a function of the nature of the
business and the environment in which it is operating. The logical conclusion,
therefore, is that the entrepreneurial minimum attribute threshold required to enter
into, and survive in, business will vary in nature and extent, contingent on the type of
business[4]. In particular, it will be contingent on a number of factors relating to the
simplicity or complexity of the production and marketing environment in which the
firm operates, and the degree of certainty or uncertainty it faces in the environment.
Research on Entrepreneurship Education and Training
Research on entrepreneurship education and training is sparse, with the development
of the literature in the area only in the past two decades. While the field is expanding,
most of the research has tended to be fragmented and with an exploratory, descriptive
orientation. Sexton and Kasarda[9], commenting on this, suggest that most of the
research questions tend to be germane to a particular programme and focus on the
more immediate measures of effectiveness, i.e. participant interest and affect,
participant knowledge acquisition, satisfaction with a particular instructor, programme
content, etc. Others, such as Sexton and Bowman[6]; Hills[10]; McMullan and
Long[11] and Vesper[12], have found that there is a lack of accepted paradigms or
theories of entrepreneurship education and training. The lack of a clear consensus on
the definition of an entrepreneur contributes to the confusion; it is therefore
understandable that the content of entrepreneurship education and training
programmes varies according to the trainer's personal preferences as to definition and
scope. Some programmes stress practical application at the expense of conceptual
development, while still others tend to emphasize planning issues. Other common
problems, as cited by Sexton and Bowman[6], include the use of faculty members and
trainers who are neither schooled, nor interested in entrepreneurship per se.
Entrepreneurship, as an academic discipline, lacks an appropriate forum - a number of
articles presenting the results of entrepreneurial research frequently appear in journals
but research related to curriculum development, programme content and problems
associated with programme development, have, for the most part, gone unnoticed.
Longitudinal research designs, using control groups to compare participants with
individuals who did not have entrepreneurial educational experience, are needed to
examine the lasting effects of entrepreneurship education and training interventions.
Objectives of Entrepreneurial Education and Training
That the entrepreneurial role can seemingly be culturally and experientially
acquired[8] indirectly gives support to the view that it might also be influenced by
education and training interventions. When education is linked with desirable
behavioural outcomes, then this is where some very close parallels can be drawn
between it and entrepreneurship. Ryle[13], for example, makes a widely accepted
point concerning the importance of education in terms of results and behaviour, in
particular in terms of reinforcing innovation, creativity, flexibility, capacity to respond
to widely different situations, autonomy, self-direction and self-expression. More
recent commentators such as Raven[14] also support this view.
Sexton and Kasarda[9] advance the notion that the two goals of most business
education programmes are to prepare people for career success and to increase their
capacity for future learning. Equally important is the learner's personal fulfilment and
contribution to society. The ultimate measure of entrepreneurship education and
training is how well it fosters all these aspirations and leads to start-ups.
While virtually every career in business involves some combination of knowledge,
technique, and people skills, few involve the integration and combination of all
functional knowledge and skills to the extent that entrepreneurial activities does. In
entrepreneurship, however, commentators argue that, while there is a good deal of
fundamental business knowledge required which can be taught in a classroom, there is
not yet a guiding theory to assist the would-be entrepreneur in dealing with the
uncertainties which surround any new business venture. And even if there were, the
real test is performance under actual conditions, with all the real-world pressures over
a period of several years.
Three major features of innovators and entrepreneurs are their knowledge, skills and
attitudes. In most formal education situations, the first is treated thoroughly and in an
analytical manner; the second receives sketchy attention and is harder to impart within
formal educational systems; the third is hardly addressed at all. Yet this later topic of
attitudes, the psycho-social forces of the individual and the cultural context, is of
prime importance in influencing innovative and entrepreneurial behaviour patterns. If
entrepreneurship education and training is to be effective, the contention is that it must
be so not only through factual knowledge and the limited skills acquirable in the
classroom, but also through the stimulation of new ventures, the success of those
ventures and the increasing capacity of the entrepreneur to pursue even greater
success.
The following are the most commonly cited objectives of entrepreneurship education
and training programmes:
to acquire knowledge germane to entrepreneurship;
to acquire skills in the use of techniques, in the analysis of business situations,
and in the synthesis of action plans;
to identify and stimulate entrepreneurial drive, talent and skills;
to undo the risk-adverse bias of many analytical techniques;
to develop empathy and support for all unique aspects of entrepreneurship;
to devise attitudes towards change;
to encourage new start-ups and other entrepreneurial ventures.
Such a multiplicity of objectives poses significant design problems which we will now
consider.
Difficulties and Deficiencies with Entrepreneurial Education and Training
The history of entrepreneurship in Anglo-Saxon societies is replete with examples of
the relatively poorly educated but successful entrepreneur. Sociological treatments of
entrepreneurial activities, beginning with Weber's work[15,16], continually stress the
marginal position of groups and communities with high levels of entrepreneurial
activity. "Outsiders" of whatever kind are hard to reach through conventional
educational and training institutions.
In the USA, where "education for entrepreneurship" has become highly developed in
recent years, research by Vesper[12] illustrates that whatever merits such programmes
might have, and these may be considerable, the promotion of "entrepreneurship" has
probably not been one. Even where programmes put great emphasis on participants
producing new ideas for business ventures, the results are generally disappointing.
Curran and Stanworth[7] develop this theme further and argue that many established
programmes can point to participants who have subsequently generated highly
successful and genuinely entrepreneurial businesses, but a hard-headed assessment
might question the resource effectiveness of producing a few successes for the large
throughput of participants usually involved. Additionally, they argue that the apparent
rarity of the psychological and behavioural attributes which constitute
entrepreneurship, the problems in establishing exactly what these attributes are
(particularly at the psychological level) so that promotional strategies can be devised,
plus the evidence that entrepreneurs may be apathetic towards education and training
in most forms, all tell against entrepreneurial education and training interventions
being resource effective.
One also has to ask - what can be taught that is specific to entrepreneurship per se?
There is no body of well researched and developed knowledge which might form the
basis of such programmes, a fact which has been consistently emphasized in the
literature[4,9]. If entrepreneurship is seen as a highly creative economic process, there
may even be doubts that conventional forms of small business education are helpful or
supportive. Management techniques tend towards order, rationality, predictability,
tried and tested methods and the general depersonalization of economic endeavour.
This emphasis appears difficult to integrate into the more charismatic approach of
genuine entrepreneurs without damaging their special potential.
Entrepreneurship education and training programmes are frequently of very short
duration compared to other educational programmes concerned with helping people
embark on a major career. Some researchers, such as Gibb[17], Sym and Lewis[18]
and Curran and Stanworth[7], have found that most small business entrepreneurship
programmes last as little as a few days, though a few extend over longer periods. On
the face of it, the length of such programmes currently on offer seems absurd when set
against the knowledge and complexities of the multifunctional task of successfully
operating a small business which often involves considerable capital investment and
responsibility for meeting the needs of customers and employees.
While there is evidence that many of those on small business entrepreneurship
education and training programmes are already highly committed to the owner-
manager role and that trainers are successful in raising commitment even higher, as
well as reducing doubts, there is parallel evidence to suggest that this mental
preparation does not go nearly far enough and that, indeed, it represents one of the
major weaknesses of many entrepreneurial education and training programmes.
Curran and Stanworth[7] suggest that the vital element of any career education
programme is what they describe as the "affective socialization element". This is the
inculcation of attitudes, values, psychological mind sets and strategies necessary for
the subsequent taking on of the occupational role in question. Most educational
programmes include a significant element of this kind of socialization - the skilled
manual worker is instilled with the values of craftsmanship, the accountant with high
standards of financial probity and responsibility, the medical graduate acquires the
psychological "distancing" that makes it possible to cope with human pain and death
and to carry on delivering a high technical standard of medical care. They argue that
the occupational socialization process of the would-be owner-manager should be a
reflection of the exceptional demands the role makes on its occupants. It is, in the first
instance, a highly isolated and only semi-structured role; owner-managers typically
work alone or with few partners and it is a role with an inherently high level of
uncertainty. The owner-manager is a risk taker, a decision maker with few others to
refer to and whose relations with others - employees, customers, suppliers, etc. - are
often tension ridden[19]. It is also a role from which it is difficult to disengage. Unlike
occupations with set hours and a sharp separation of work and non-work life, the
owner-manager role can take over the whole of the holder's waking hours, particularly
in the early years of operation. Yet there is little indication that those who embark on
small business ownership are properly prepared for the severe psychological
exigencies of their future role. The perceived deficiencies of much of the available
small business education, according to Curran and Stanworth[7], might be countered
to some extent if follow-up programmes were widely available to help those already
in business.
There is widespread agreement that venture start-ups are characterized by a lack of
predictability in the initial phases - the opportunities are many but the goals are not
well defined. There is also a well developed hypothesis which suggests that
management skills are built up on a gradual basis, largely as a result of "trial and
error", and for those who make a success of the venture on the first attempt, there is a
large element of luck involved. In a start-up situation, problems encountered tend not
to be one-dimensional but highly integrated, incapable of being solved by a single
expert. Many entrepreneurs are specialists within a particular field and tend to have a
poor grasp of the intricacies of managing across the range of functions. It is in these
situations that entrepreneurial skills are demanded, to work across boundaries on
complex, interrelated problems requiring the ability to take a holistic view and
exercise skills of analysis and synthesis.
A Multiplicity of Entrepreneurship Education and Training Programmes
The recent literature highlights the existence of four main types of education and
training programmes for entrepreneurs:
Education and Training for Small Business Ownership
As many new start-ups involve either replicating or acquiring an existing enterprise,
small business education provides practical help in making the change from ordinary
employment to self-employment. The help that start-ups need appears easy for
business educators' to provide - instruction on how to raise finance, legal regulations,
choosing premises, taxation, simple accounting, employing people, marketing
problems, etc. Devising programmes and accompanying teaching strategies should
present few problems - those who come on to a programme of this kind are, after all,
usually highly enthusiastic and receptive. The research by Gibb[17] highlights a
number of problems which have emerged from the evaluation of such programmes.
Three key problems are cited:
the differing perceptions of teachers and potential small business owners on
what start-up programmes should ideally contain;
indications of deficiencies in many current start-up programmes;
the length of such programmes.
Gill suggests that trainers often try to accommodate too wide a range of start-up
businesses within a single programme. It is usual to group together people who are
starting a diverse range of small businesses and to offer them a more or less common
skills programme, plus some personalized tuition in preparing their individual
business plans. These findings are also reflected by Sym and Lewis[18] who suggest
that many of those taking these classes find them too general.
More specifically, there are indications that trainers and small business owners
disagree about the emphasis on particular aspects of running a business. For example,
a US study of small business owners who had experienced various kinds of
entrepreneurship training programmes placed budgeting and cash flow management,
followed by people management, at the top of their priority list[20]. However, a
parallel sample of small business programme directors, while agreeing on the
importance of budgeting and cash flow management, ranked managing people
seventh, slightly ahead of production and stock control which the small business
owners ranked twelfth. Carswell[21] also found from a study of different industry
sectors that, in the clothing and textile industry, owner-managers felt that the areas of
greatest management skill deficiency were in production. In the engineering sector, on
the other hand, sales and marketing were seen as the management skills most in need
of enhancement. An assumption can therefore be made that a wider range of economic
activities would reveal other patterns of perceived training needs among owner-
managers.
Some, such as Curran and Stanworth[7], agree that the essential aspects of many
entrepreneurial education and training programmes - content, teaching strategy and
evaluation of their effectiveness - remain largely unresearched. The one exception to
this statement might be some "start your own business" programmes for the
unemployed which are designed to help those with little work experience or skills, and
with little or no capital. Such trainees are unlikely to have ready access to
conventional sources of finance and may have low levels of self-confidence because
of lack of previous success in the job market.
Because such programmes are taught by trainers who use a "down to earth" approach
and play down the academic aspect, many writers such as Kiesner[20], Clarket
al.[22], Sym and Lewis[18] and Johnson[23] agree that this approach is frequently
more successful because participants demand very practical and specific programmes.
Entrepreneurial Education
In terms of small business start-ups, entrepreneurship education, in the sense of
focusing on the creation of new economic entities centred on a novel product/service,
is very rare. While many social scientists have attempted to identify the conditions
favourable to its occurrence, the connections remain largely unmade[15, 24-27]. The
one notable exception to this argument might be modern technological entities where
the creation of small new enterprise is based largely upon scientific know-how in
areas such as electronics. Therefore, because entrepreneurship is a highly creative
economic process, there may even be doubts that conventional forms of education are
always helpful or supportive. If there is something about an entrepreneur which
differentiates him/her from the rest of the population, and, if management techniques
stress order, predictability, rationality, etc. then these emphases appear difficult to
integrate into the more charismatic approach of genuine entrepreneurs without
damaging their special potential.
Continuing Small Business Education
This is a specialist version of adult continuing education designed to enable people to
enhance and update their skills. This form of training is available through many
business schools in the form of one-day training modules. It is problematic from a
number of perspectives. It is more difficult to organize than the conventional start-up
programme which has the politically attractive possibility of adding to the new
venture start-up population. Second, research suggests that marketing continuing
small business education is an uphill struggle, as many small business owners are very
demanding and easily disappointed with what they regard as a programme too
generalized for their needs.
Small Business Awareness Education
This form of education is aimed at increasing the number of people who are
sufficiently knowledgeable about small business as an economic activity to consider it
as a career alternative. This is the type of programme which is suitable for inclusion in
secondary school syllabuses and undergraduate programmes. Such education has the
objective of increasing awareness of industry and making participants more sensitive
to the small firm. Vesper[12], reporting on the American situation, concludes that,
despite the use of the term "entrepreneur", most of the courses are actually aimed at
increasing student awareness of the small firm and providing basic information on
setting up and running a business. Others, such as Sym and Lewis[18], would also
argue that many of the large number of introductory business ideas and brief "start
your own business" programmes currently on offer are also awareness education.
Many of the programmes rarely provide much more than a widening of the
participant's appreciation of both the opportunities and problems associated with
starting a business. Serious training often only begins if the participant proceeds to
some further and usually rather longer programme.
Inappropriate Pedagogical Models in Entrepreneurial Education/Training
The portfolio of skills of many entrepreneurs is relatively narrow. It is unusual to find
breadth and depth of knowledge at the same time - many tend to be specialists not
general managers. It is probable that the typical entrepreneur would have in-depth
knowledge in the production area - whether product development, organization,
design, or other, but this leaves a clear gap and need for consulting expertise in other
aspects, i.e. finance and sales. The core skill which an entrepreneur requires is not
necessarily a competence in production. The competence required is closely related to
the ability to plan and to organize. The real entrepreneur is a person who can organize
others and tap into the knowledge and expertise required on all aspects of
establishment and start-up.
Traditionally, management and entrepreneurship were treated as two very distinct
disciplines. Whereas teaching and training within the management area has been
changing and using more subtle methods like action learning and project management,
it appears that entrepreneurship teaching has not undergone significant change. The
paradigm behind the education and training of entrepreneurs is still basically of a
technical nature, i.e. give a quick fix programme in those disciplines which the
participants are not familiar with from their work experience, i.e. accountancy,
budgeting, marketing, law and personnel. Obviously these aspects are very important
if totally unknown, but the education and training accomplishes little more than giving
a basic insight in single disciplines to enable the entrepreneur to talk to experts in each
field. The approach to teaching entrepreneurship skills takes no account of the reality
that entrepreneurship has to do with the management of loosely coupled systems[27].
Gibb[4] suggests that the education system is emphasizing a set of values and abilities
which is inimical to an entrepreneurial spirit. Davies and Gibb[29] go further and
suggest that using traditional education methods to develop entrepreneurs could be
interpreted as teaching "to drive using the rear mirror". Some contrasts between a
university/business school learning focus and that required in an entrepreneurial
situation are presented in Table I.
Table I. University/Business School versus Entrepreneurial Education/Training Focus

Table I illustrates the differences between the two approaches. The emphasis in many
business schools is on understanding, feedback, critical judgement, analysis of large
amounts of information, making assumptions about behaviour in order to develop
models, and seeking correct answers, largely in the classroom setting with information
from authoritative sources and with evaluation by written assessments. In contrast, the
entrepreneur with limited resources is operating with gut feeling, trying to understand
the filters through which information passes, recognizing the hidden agendas in terms
of other people's goals and, because of this, is making decisions on the basis of
judgement of the trust and competence of those involved. Only some of his/her
information is from authoritative sources. The rest is gleaned personally from any and
everywhere, and success (evaluation) is by the judgement of others personally and/or
by the marketplace. Moreover, the pressure is always there to find appropriate
solutions quickly, and often under severe constraints, in contrast to the continued
situation in solving of the business school programme.
Moving from the left to right of Table I, that is moving from business school learning
towards a more entrepreneurial focus, would involve changes in the way learning
takes place, together with a greater concern about its utilization in practice, rather than
in the context of learning itself. For example, in the business school, there is often a
high degree of control in the classroom and dependence on "authority" and "expert"
validation. In contrast, particularly in an entrepreneurial position, the individual must
develop a new learning style in which deeper aspects of self, emotions and values are
actively influencing the learning process. Thus, in the education system, Gibb[4]
suggests that it should be possible, without abandoning some of the basic values, to
move more flexibly towards encouraging students to cope in new ways with the real
world by, for example:
learning by doing;
encouraging participants to find and explore wider concepts relating to a
problem from a multi-disciplinary viewpoint;
helping participants to develop more independence from external sources of
information and expert advice, and to think for themselves - thus giving
ownership of learning;
encouraging use of feelings, attitudes and values outside of information; this,
in general, will place greater emphasis on experience-based learning;
providing greater opportunity for building up of networks and contracts in the
outside world linked with their learning focus;
helping participants to develop emotional responses when dealing with
conflict situations, and encouraging them to make choices and commitments
to actions in conditions of stress and uncertainty.
Thus, the major challenge of entrepreneurship in relation to education and training is
the appropriateness of curricula and training programmes for preparation for learning
in the outside world. Gibb suggests that the inadequacy of many of the existing
approaches has already been challenged by providers of training in the management
arena.
Learning Styles Issues and Entrepreneurial Education and Training
To be effective, the entrepreneur, like any other learner, needs to employ different
learning styles - concrete experience, reflective observation, abstract
conceptualization and active experimentation[28]. For example, a deficiency in
concrete experience may lead to an inability to formulate plans, and a deficiency in
active experimentation may lead to an inability to implement the plans. Given the
personality characteristics of the entrepreneur within the framework of Kolb et
al.'s[29] learning style model, what can be inferred about the learning style preference
of an entrepreneur? Table II presents a grid of learning styles and pedagogical
techniques.
Table II. Conceptual Grid of Learning Styles and Pedagogical Techniques

On the active experimentation/reflective observation dimension, our understanding of
entrepreneurial behaviour indicates a primary preference for action. Opportunities and
innovative ideas must be followed through to activate entrepreneurship. Thus, an
entrepreneur would be expected to favour active experimentation rather than reflective
observation. It should be noted, however, that action in the absence of reflection
precludes learning[29]. On the abstract conceptualization/concrete experience
dimension, the preference of the entrepreneur is not so distinct. In fact, the conflict
between concrete experience and abstract conceptualization leads to what Kolb et
al.[29] refer to as "creative tension". To be creative, one must be free of the
constraining focus of abstract concepts in order to experience anew. Schrage[31]
found that an accurate awareness of the environment was more important than either
achievement or power motivation in distinguishing the successful entrepreneur from
others. McMullan[32] describes the creative process as a synthesis of the concrete
process of problem solving and the abstract process of insight. A creative person is
able to co-ordinate each of the two models of learning. Thus, both abilities are
important for entrepreneurs, with the balance between them dependent on whether
problem finding or problem solving is more important for innovation.
The entrepreneur as presented in Table II is someone who prefers one of the active
learning styles, whether that of the accommodator or converger. The findings of a
number of researchers, including those of Borland[33], Brockhaus[34], Rapsey[35],
and Sexton and Bowman[6], indicate that individuals who express entrepreneurial
intentions exhibit psychological traits which differ from those of other individuals and
are characteristic of entrepreneurs. Therefore, such individuals would be expected to
have similar learning style preferences. The pedagogical methods which are best
suited to an entrepreneurial learning style are those presented in quadrants III and IV
of the learning grid.
In practice, however, in the typical educational and training situation, the future
entrepreneur is most likely to encounter the reflective style depicted in quadrant I[36].
This traditional teaching approach focuses on developing a participant's mastery of
various abstract concepts which can be integrated into a framework for a given
business discipline[37]. Performance is evaluated by testing the participant's ability to
recall various abstract concepts. The rational approach performs its intended purpose
well, i.e. the acquisition of knowledge on the part of the participant. Participant
participation, however, is solely reflective. The traditional approach does not reach for
the more complex outcomes associated with experiential learning, i.e. application,
analysis, synthesis and evaluation[36].
The entrepreneurial-directed alternative to the traditional teaching approach is one
which requires the instructor to become a learning process facilitator. Such an
approach entails extensive use of learning exercises such as role playing, management
simulations, structured exercises or focused learning feedback situations in which the
participant must take an active role. The traditional "listen and take notes" role of the
participant is minimized. After participating in the learning exercises, participants
reflect on their experience and develop generalizations through small discussion
groups. The discussion groups develop hypotheses, based on their learning
experiences, which are further tested with additional learning exercises. In this way,
all four learning abilities are eventually used and developed, much as they would be in
the typical entrepreneurial situation.
Trainers may hesitate to experiment with such an entrepreneurial-directed approach
for the following reasons:
This approach takes more of the trainer's time in the initial stages, dealing
with performance evaluation expectations. Continual feedback to the
participant is an integral part of the learning/education process, through all
four stages of learning. The trainer's challenge is in establishing the validity of
the performance evaluation process which may be perceived to be subjective.
Significant institutional resources are needed for both the trainer and
participant, across a wide range of disciplines, to undertake an
entrepreneurial-directed approach since it may require smaller class size
and/or place greater demands on the physical facilities than the more
traditional approach. However, research by Sexton and Upton[38] suggests
that many of these problems can be surmounted.
Clearly, just as Kolb's model does not favour one learning style over others, neither is
there one best pedagogical approach for all programmes. Randolph and Posner's[30]
contingency decision-tree approach is useful for evaluating which of the four
pedagogical techniques is best under a given set of circumstances.
References
1. Banfe, C., Entrepreneur - From Zero to Hero, Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York,
1991.
2. Murray, T.A. and White, A., Education for Enterprise - An Irish Perspective,
National Council for Education Awards and the Industrial Development Authority of
Ireland, Dublin, 1986.
3. Gibb, A.A., "The Enterprise Culture and Education. Understanding Enterprise
Education and its Links with Small Business Entrepreneurships and Wider
Educational Goals", International Small Business Management Journal, Vol. 11 No.
3, 1993.
4. Gibb, A.A., "Enterprise Culture - Its Meaning and Implications for Education and
Training", Journal of European Industrial Training, Vol. 11 No. 2, 1987.
5. Colton, T., Enterprise Education Experience. A Manual for School Based Inservice
Training, CA SDEC, 1990.
6. Sexton, D.L. and Bowman, N.B., "Entrepreneurship Education Suggestions for
Increasing Effectiveness", Journal of Small Business Management, Vol. 22 No. 2,
April 1984.
7. Curran, J. and Stanworth, J., "Education and Training for Enterprise: Some
Problems of Classification, Evaluation, Policy and Research", International Small
Business Journal, Vol. 7 No. 2, January/March 1989.
8. Bannock, G., The Economics of Small Firms: Return from the Wilderness, Basil
Blackwell, Oxford, 1981.
9. Sexton, D.L. and Kasarda, J.D., The State of the Art of Entrepreneurships, P.W.
Kent Publishing Co., Boston, MA, 1991.
10. Hills, G.E., "Variations in University Entrepreneurship Education: An Empirical
Study of an Evolving Field", Journal of Business Venturing, No. 3, 1988, pp. 109-22.
11. McMullan, W.E. and Long, W.A., "An Approach to Educating
Entrepreneurs", The Canadian Journal of Business, Vol. 4 No. 1, 1983, pp. 32-6.
12. Vesper, K.H., "Research on Education for Entrepreneurship" in Kent, C.A. et al.
(Eds), Encyclopaedia of Entrepreneurship, Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1982.
13. Ryle, G., The Concept of the Mind, Penguin, Harmondsworth, 1963.
14. Raven, J., Competence in Modern Society, H.K. Lewis Publishing, London, 1983.
15. Weber, M., The Protestant Work Ethic and the Sport of Capitalism, Allen &
Unwin, London, 1965.
16. Weber, M., Economy and Society, University of California Press, Berkeley, CA,
1978.
17. Gibb, J., Factors Affecting the Survival and Growth of the Smaller Company,
Gower, Aldershot, 1985.
18. Sym, L.A. and Lewis, J.W., "Educational Needs of Small Business Start-ups: An
Investigation of Short Course Revision", paper presented to the 10th National Small
Business Policy and Research Conference, Cranfield, November 1987.
19. Gumpert, D.E. and Boyd, D.P., "The Loneliness of the Small Business
Owner", Harvard Business Review, Vol. 62, November/December 1984.
20. Kiesner, W.F., "Small Business Course Content, Training and Other Critical
Factors in the Success of Small Business Training Courses", paper presented to the
30th Annual World Conference of the International Council for Small Business,
Montreal, Canada, June 1985.
21. Carswell, M., "Management Training Needs of Small Firms. A study of the
Engineering, Clothing and Textile Industries", paper presented to the 10th National
Small Firms Policy and Research Conference, Cranfield, 1987.
22. Clark, B.W., Davis, C.H. and Harnish, V.C., "Do Courses in Entrepreneurship Aid
in New Venture Creation", Journal of Small Business Management, Vol. 22 No. 2,
1984.
23. Johnson, R., "The Business of Helping the Entrepreneur", Personnel
Management, March 1987.
24. McClelland, D.C., The Achieving Society, Van Nostrand, Princeton, NJ, 1981.
25. McClelland, D.C., "Achievement Motivation can be Developed", Harvard
Business Review, Vol. 43, November/December 1965.
26. Jones, T. and McEvoy, D., "Ethnic Enterprise: The Popular Image" in Curran,
T. et al. (Eds), The Survival of the Small Firm, Gower, Aldershot, 1986.
27. Ward, R., "Ethnic Entrepreneurs in Britain and Europe", in Coffee, R. and Scape,
R. (Eds), Entrepreneurship in Europe, Croom Helm, London, 1987.
28. Davies, L.G. and Gibb, A.A., "Recent Research in Entrepreneurship", The Third
International EIASM Workshop, Gower, 1991.
29. Kolb, D., Rabin, M. and McIntyre, J.M., Organisational Philosophy: An
Experiential Approach, Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1974.
30. Randolph, W.A. and Posner, B.Z., "Designing Meaningful Learning Situations in
Management: A Contingency Decision Tree Approach", Academy of Management
Review, July 1979, pp. 459-67.
31. Schrage, H., "The R & D Entrepreneur; Profile of Success", Harvard Business
Review, November/ December 1982, pp. 404-8.
32. McMullan, W.E., "Creative Individuals' Paradoxical Personages", The Journal of
Creative Behaviour, fourth quarter, 1976, pp. 265-275.
33. Borland, C., "Locus of Control Need for Achievement and Entrepreneurship", Phd
thesis, University of Texas, 1978.
34. Brockhaus, R.H., "IE Locus of Control Scores as Predictions of Entrepreneurial
Intentions", Proceedings of the Academy of Management, 1975, pp. 443-45.
35. Rapsey, R.H., "Entrepreneurial Potential and Assessment", Phd thesis, Pepperdine
University, 1978.
36. Chikering, A.W., Experiential Learning Change, Magazine Press, New York, NY,
1977.
37. McMullan, W.B. and Cahoon, A., "Integrating Abstract Conceptualism with
Experiential Learning", Academy of Management Review, July 1979, pp. 453-667.
38. Sexton, D.L. and Upton, N.B., "Evaluation of an Innovative Approach to
Teaching Entrepreneurship", Journal of Small Business Management, Vol. 25 No. 1,
January 1987, pp. 35-43.
Further Reading
Gibb, A.A. and Ritchie, J.R., Entrepreneurship Part I: Entrepreneurialism as a Social
Process, Durham University Business School/Shell UK Ltd, 1981.
Gibb, A.A. and Ritchie, J.R., Entrepreneurship Part II: Understanding the Start-up
Process, Durham University Business School/Shell UK Ltd, 1981.
Gibb, A.A. and Ritchie, J.R., "Understanding the Process of Starting Small
Businesses", European Small Business Journal, Vol. 1 No. 1, pp. 26-45, 1982.
Herlau, H., Lindved, K. and Momsted, M., Ivorr Hsoellerimitiateur 1, Centre for
Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Copenhagen, 1988.
Lessman, D., "Start a New Business: Start a New Life", Journal of Enterprise
Management, Vol. 3 No. 2, 1981.

Thomas N. Garavan is Lecturer in Employee Development and Barra O'Cinneide is
Professor of Marketing, both at the University of Limerick, Ireland.

Journal of European Industrial Training, Vol. 18 No. 8, 1994, pp. 3-12, MCB
University Press Limited, 0309-0590

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Plan It! An Entrepreneur's Guide to
Success


Program Description
Neighborhood Development Center (NDC) partners with community-based organizations to
offer 11-week entrepreneur training programs in 20 neighborhoods and ethnic communities
throughout the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area and suburbs. The main focus of the
entrepreneur training program is to create a viable business plan.
Training includes eleven classroom sessions and a graduation (hosted by NDC's community
partners) with 8-12 students, taught by a culturally-sensitive professional business trainer, and
up to 10 hours of one-on-one consultation with the trainer.
The program is offered twice each year (spring and fall) in five languages: English, Hmong,
Oromo, Somali and Spanish.
Classes meet one evening a week for two hours; class start dates vary based on community.
Topics covered include accounting, marketing, operations management, and more.
Program fees are determined on a sliding scale ($100-$650), based on household income and
family size.
Application deadlines vary by neighborhood. Please contact us for deadlines.
Download an application in English
Download an application in Spanish
Download an outline of the Plan it! Curriculumn
Applications can be mailed directly to:

Neighborhood Development Center
c/o Emma Spillman
663 University Avenue, Suite 200
Saint Paul, MN 55104
For more information or to request an application, please contact:
Emma Spillman
(651) 379-8432
espillman@ndc-mn.org
Purpose & Outcomes
Neighborhood Development Center (NDC) believes that residents, businesses and
organizations in allcommunities have the talent, energy and ideas to revitalize their own
communities. NDCs Entrepreneur Training Program helps emerging entrepreneurs build vibrant
businesses that create employment opportunities, provide needed goods and services, serve as
role models, and establish community gathering places that contribute to community
revitalization. The program is specifically targeted to residents of historically low-income
neighborhoods who do not have access to traditional resources and want to learn the skills to
successfully start and operate a business.
Since 1993 NDC has trained over 4,250 aspiring entrepreneurs, more than 450 of whom are
currently in business. Program graduates operate successful businesses in child care, graphic
design, catering, landscaping, auto repair, restaurants, and many other industries.
NDC entrepreneurs have created and now maintain more than 2285 jobs locally.
NDC entrepreneurs return $46 million to their communities each year in the form of payroll,
taxes, rent, and subcontracts.
Ongoing Support
Entrepreneurs who successfully complete the program, write a business plan, and locate their
business in target neighborhoods are eligible for NDCs ongoing business support, including:
Professional consulting services for program graduates in business
Access to low-cost accounting services
Access to Pro Bono Legal services. (Note: Pro bono services are not available to participants
whose household or business income exceeds NDC Guidelines or those residing or operating
their businesses out of the NDC targeted service area. Pro Bono legal services are available on
a limited basis and are subject to attorney availability. Client is responsible for any out-of-pocket
expenses, such as filing or recording fees.)
Eligibility to apply for loans from $500$50,000
Invitation to the Annual Entrepreneur Awards honoring outstanding program graduates
Workshops and Mini-Courses
NDC offers free and low-cost workshops on a variety of business topics at both the Rondo
Library in St. Paul and the North Regional Branch Library in North Minneapolis. View workshop
calendar
NDC offers 'mini-courses' throughout the year. Mini-courses are specialized classes on a
specific business topic. View upcoming mini-courses
Industry Specific Courses:
SECTION 3 CONTRACTOR TRAINING PROGRAM
Do you work in the construction trades and have your own business or want to start your
own business? This training will help you:
Think about organizing and positioning your business
Learn how to become section 3 certified (and how section 3 certification can help your business)
Understand your cost structure
Learn how to market your business and secure more work
Understand how to apply for and secure financing
Instructors: Claudia Osterman and Eugene Johnson have more than 40 years combined
experience operating small businesses and working with small contractors
Download Course Flyer
The Benefits of Youth Entrepreneurship Training: What the Research
Shows
Entrepreneurship programs can be a lot of fun for teensbut beyond the fun, they can
achieve very positive results. By learning how academic skills connect to real business
opportunities and hopes for success, students can be motivated to work harder in school.
Entrepreneurship programs also give wide scope to student creativity and energy and offer
a positive way for students to channel their talents.
If you are considering launching a youth entrepreneurship program, you may find it helpful
to publicize and emphasize the positive benefits of such endeavors to your potential funders
and volunteers. The two most obvious are that such programs can create employment
opportunities (if students actually start new enterprises) and that they provide youth with
an opportunity to develop new skills and enjoy new experiences. The collection below of
additional research-based findings can help you make the case for your program.
Key Benefits
May help the socio-psychological problems and delinquency that come from
unemployment
Consumers gain by increasing market competition
Supporting research: Curtain, R. (2000), Towards a Youth Employment Strategy. Report
to the United Nations on Youth Employment.
Provides goods and services to the community
Revitalization of the local community
Promotes innovation and resilience
Allows disadvantaged youth the ability to succeed regardless of their background
Supporting Research: OECD (2001), Putting the Young in Business: Policy Challenges for
Youth Entrepreneurship, The LEED Programme, Territorial Development Division, Paris.
Promotes social and cultural identity
Builds a stronger sense of community
Gives youth, especially at-risk youth, a sense of meaning and belonging
Supporting research: White and Kenyon (2000). Enterprise-Based Youth Employment
Policies, Strategies and Programmes. Draft Report to ILO, Geneva.
Entrepreneurship: Its in Demand by Students
A key survey by the Gallup Poll indicates that many students, particularly minority youth,
have a strong interest in entrepreneurship:
69% of high school students said that they wanted to start their own business
75% of black youth said that they wanted to start their own business
73% of the students said that independence was their primary motivation for wanting to
start a business (and not monetary benefits).
68% of the students said that it was very important for successful entrepreneurs or
business owners to give something, in addition to providing employment, back to the
community
80% of black students said that it was very important for successful entrepreneurs or
business owners to give something, in addition to providing employment, back to the
community
Moreover, the survey indicated that youth are not getting the training they want:
9 out of 10 students rate their entrepreneurial knowledge as poor or fair at most
when asked to answer questions demonstrating basic entrepreneurial knowledge, high
school students on average were only able to answer 44% of the questions correctly
85% of students said they had been taught practically nothing about or very little
about business and how it works
only 27% of students reported that they had taken a class in business or
entrepreneurship
84% of students said that it is important (36%) or very important (48%) that schools
teach more about entrepreneurship and how to start a business
67% of black youth said that it is very important that the nations schools teach
students about entrepreneurship and business
Supporting research: Gallup Organization, Inc. & National Centerfor Research in Economic
Education. (1994). Entrepreneurship and Small Business in the United States: A Survey
Report on the Views of the General Public, High School Students, and Small Business
Owners and Managers. (Available from the Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership,
Inc., Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, Kansas City, MO.)
How to Take Advantage of Online
Training Tools
BY NANCY MANN JACKSON | October 31, 2012|
10 Comments |

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Image credit: Fishbowl Inventory
As options for learning online continue to expand, a growing number of entrepreneurs are using
them to keep their staff on the cutting edge. Using tools for online training, including videos,
apps, and webinars, rather than sending employees to expensive training seminars or bringing
in pricey consultants to train on site, can save startups and growing businesses both money and
time.
Companies with fewer than 500 employees represent one of the fastest-growing markets
for lynda.com, an online learning library with more than 1,450 video courses. "Small businesses
are turning to online training for cost, quality, and access reasons," says Nate Kimmons, vice
president of enterprise marketing at lynda.com. "Gone are the days of sending employees off to
a two-day, in-person class. Online trainingserves as a 24/7 resource that the learner can access
anytime, anywhere at their own pace from any device. It's simple to use."
If you are thinking of trying online training, here are five things to consider and examples of tools
to get you started.
1. Get specific. One of the advantages of online education is the sheer volume of possibilities.
There's no need to attend a general seminar about Internet marketing if you really just need a
specific course about how to create daily deals that people will buy.
"Online, we can find training options for very specific and sometimes obscure topics," says John
Walsh, president of Total Mortgage Services in Milford, Conn. "We've found that if we can think
of it, then someone has put together a video, slides, or a podcast covering it."

Related: Olympic Training Tips for Coaching Employees to Greatness
For instance, Dave Handmaker, CEO of online printing company Next Day Flyers, says his
business has benefited from online training in online marketing from Market Motive. The
company offers courses in Internet marketing fundamentals, search engine optimization,
analytics, and conversion. Self-paced courses start at $299 and courses with a personalized
coach are $3,500 for 12 weeks.
2. Allow for flexibility. With face-to-face training, you usually get one chance to soak it all in.
But many online programs are on-demand, meaning learners can move at their own pace and
watch presentations again and again if needed.
"The added flexibility allows everyone to work at his or her own pace and better fit the training
into a busy schedule," Walsh says. "For instance, the technology training that we buy for our
developers consists of a series of videos covering a topic. During the videos, the instructor
works on a project and our developers follow along, recreating that same project. They're
constantly pausing, rewinding, or replaying the videos. The developers prefer this style of
training, and it's not possible offline."
For a monthly subscription fee of about $50, Treehouse offers unlimited access to more than
650 training videos, including quizzes and challenges, to keep employees updated on
everything related to designing and developing programs for the web and mobile devices.
3. Go mobile. Online education also allows for flexibility across technology formats. Employees
can learn at home, on the job, or anywhere they use their smartphone.
Related: How to Build and Manage a Website With Your iPhone
During the past year, mobile apps have become more popular, according to Kimmons. For
instance, AppSumo offers hundreds of training apps and e-books selected specifically for
entrepreneurs, on topics including design, analytics, marketing, advertising and productivity,
ranging in price from $10 to about $500.
4. Learn from top dogs. The Internet allows for opportunities to learn from those who are true
experts in their chosen fields. For example, Walsh says online training allows his technology
team to learn from programmers and software engineers who have experience working at
Google, Facebook and other cutting-edge companies.
For instance, Digital Royalty University (DRU) offers courses in utilizing social media for small
business, created and taught by social media experts who have run social media campaigns for
major brands like Shaquille O'Neal, the Chicago White Sox and DoubleTree by Hilton. DRU
offers a free introductory class on shaping a social media strategy. Other classes on topics such
as Facebook, Twitter, and creating an online brand, start at around $40.
5. Do your research. Not every online course is worth the money. Chad Grills, co-founder of
educational software company Applet Studios, learned that the hard way, when he purchased a
large marketing training package and realized it contained very little actionable content.
Related: How to Create an E-Mail Marketing Campaign That People Will Notice
To avoid that disappointment, once you've decided which online training works for your
company, research your choice. "If I think a training program is really valuable, and comes from
a person who I respect, I'll often contact them with questions to test their customer service, says
Grills. "Then, I can make an informed decision. If you can't get a hold of them or a support
associate, that's a red flag."
You can also try a Google or Twitter search for reviews of the learning program you're
considering, and look for courses that have courses that have some sort of follow up questions
or quiz.
Training and development programs:
Butteriss on human resources
There are a number of ways that training and development plans can be implemented, each of which has its
advantages and disadvantages. The methods chosen will be suggested by the specific circumstances and
needs of the company. We will look at six types of training programs:
1. On-the-Job Training and Development
2. Computer-Based Training
3. Self-Study and Learning
4. Internal Training Programs
5. One-on-One Coaching
6. Outside Training Opportunities
Most of these approaches will probably require the company to provide time and money to allow individuals to
ensure that they are able to develop themselves.
1. On-the-job training and development
Most in-house training and development is done by learning while doing the job. This may involve specific
training in particular skills or equipment being given by a colleague or supervisor.
Advantages Disadvantages
The training is done during work hours.
Training may be subject to interruptions that
make it difficult for the individual to learn.
Training is customized to the specific needs of
the individual and his or her pace of learning.
It may interfere with work in progress.
The unique ways of the company are taught.
The person doing the training may not be a
good trainer.

2. Computer-based training
A number of companies are using computer-based programs such as CD-ROMs to train their staff. This is
particularly useful for technology and computer application training but is being widely used by many
organizations.
Advantages Disadvantages
It can be relatively inexpensive.
Not everyone likes learning from a computer
screen; many employees need some human
interaction in order to learn effectively.
The training can be easily updated.

It offers flexibility of use, which is
particularly valuable for shift people and
those who work non-standard hours.

Training can be done at the learning pace
of the individual.


3. Self-study and learning
Many organizations believe that individual employees are responsible for their own training and development.
As noted earlier, the development needs of an individual are best identified through the performance
review process, and the second crucial step of this process is a plan to address these development needs.
Such a plan can be a self-learning program that is put in place as a result of the performance review.
Self-study and training may take the form of reading, self-paced learning, or attendance in an external program
at night or on weekends.
Advantages Disadvantages
Individuals who do this form of training are likely to be
very committed and motivated to learn since it is done
on their own time.
Some employees may not learn quickly
and thoroughly through a self-directed
method.
The learning acquired will fit in the employees
particular needs.


4. Internal training programs
If there is a need for a number of people to learn a particular process or set of skills, it is often more cost-
effective to set up an internally run training program. Such programs can be delivered by either suppliers or
internal experts.
Advantages Disadvantages
This type of training is specific to the
companys training needs.
Training is ineffective when an in-house expert is
chosen who is not a skilled trainer.
It is usually conducted by experts in a
given field.
Some people do not learn well when they are with
their colleagues.
It does not interfere with production and
work in progress.

People learn faster with fewer
interruptions.


5. One-on-one coaching
One-on-one coaching is an intensive and highly effective way of teaching specific skill sets and of training
employees who do not respond well in group training situations or who may be slow learners. It is certainly
becoming more popular as a development technique judging by the number of books and articles on the
subject.
The development coach is required to spend a specified amount of time with the trainee answering questions
and providing advice. Coaches are frequently used by executives and managers to provide them with advice
on running their business. It is usually helpful, if possible, to have a coach from outside the organization.
Executives and managers find it extremely helpful to have people from outside because they themselves often
need coaching in areas in which they are reluctant to admit their weaknesses and shortcomings to colleagues.
They are not likely to be as honest and open with someone from inside the company and therefore may not
come up with development plans that will help them improve. It is really helpful in these cases to bring in
outside coaches if you want the group to develop.
Advantages Disadvantages
Since the coach is selected specifically to help an
individual with his or her development needs, the
likelihood of success is great.
It takes longer than the other ways of
training and development.
The coach is usually someone with significant The coach will need to devote a
experience and therefore can quickly and effectively
pass on knowledge.
specified and significant amount of time to
the protg.

6. Outside training opportunities
External training programs are effectively used when the needed skill is not to be found in the company and
there is no one to teach it, or when a specific technical or professional designation (such as those for a
professional engineer or accountant or trade designations) is required and must be earned through an
accredited avenue.
Many suppliers of materials or services will provide courses for their clients, including training the employees of
client companies. Sometimes the cost of these courses is built into the price charged for the materials or
services, or there is a nominal charge.
Advantages Disadvantages
This type of training can bring in up-to-date
knowledge from external educational sources.
Employees may have to take time off work
to attend.
It enables employees to meet other people from
similar firms, which, in itself, can provide even more
learning through communications about similar
experiences.
Courses may not meet the specific needs of
an individual since they are designed for
general training and development
requirements.
It is usually conducted by expert and seasoned
trainers.


Copyright 1999 by Margaret Butteriss. All rights reserved. Published by John Wiley& Sons Canada, Inc.
http://www.amazon.ca/Help-Wanted-Complete-Resources-Entrepreneurs/dp/0471643882
References
Butteriss, M. (1999).Help Wanted: The Complete Guide to Human Resources f
Inclusive entrepreneurship
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Inclusive entrepreneurship is about a set of attitudes, competences and skills which allow people
to turn their dreams into concrete projects or enterprises and then see these through to fruition. It is
about more than starting an individual business. Inclusiveentrepreneurship can be applied to self-
employment, starting or growing micro or small enterprises and to social enterprise using business
based approaches driven by social mission. Indeed the personal qualities required for
entrepreneurship are essential for success in the knowledge economy whether this be in the
private or public sectors.
The use of the word 'inclusive' indicates a belief that entrepreneurship is for all and that the personal
qualities and conditions required for entrepreneurship are not the prerogative of a privileged, highly
educated few. Indeed millions of people across the globe take complex decisions, manage risk, find
new innovative solutions, and collaborate with others just to survive in their daily lives. However the
obstacles and risk they face when trying to make the leap from survival to long-term sustainability
are proportionally far greater than those involved in launching a new company on the stock
exchange.
Inclusive entrepreneurship is about supporting entrepreneurs from all backgrounds by creating a
genuinely level playing field. This involves understanding and then overcoming the barriers faced by
different people in different places. It is about unleashing the creative potential that people have
within them and using this to create a more sustainable future for all of us.
EU community of practice[edit]
Major progress on inclusive entrepreneurship has been made through the EU's EQUAL Community
Initiative which included a theme on business creation that was taken up in approximately half the
EU Member States. This action research has led to the development of acommunity of practice on
inclusive entrepreneurship called COPIE. COPIE was led by Flanders and Germany with partners in
Spain, Portugal, and the UK and observers in France, the Netherlands, Ireland, the Czech Republic
and Romania. COPIE developed a series of tools to facilitate the assessment of enterprise support
systems from the point of view of a wide range of specific groups (e.g. women, minority ethnic
groups, migrants, people with disabilities, young people and older people). Much of its learning has
been capitalised on a wiki at http://www.wikipreneurship.eu.
Following the end of EQUAL, COPIE 2, a learning network under the Learning for
Change programme, has been established. Again led by Germany, it includes Flanders, Wallonia,
the Czech Republic, Spain, Andaluca and Lithuania. It has working groups on:
policy co-ordination
access to finance
entrepreneurship education
coaching and mentoring
quality management and inclusive business support
a European diagnostic & benchmarking tool
Syracuse University project[edit]
Inclusive Entrepreneurship is also the name of a project which evolved from the Start-Up NY Pilot
Project funded by Office of Disability Employment Policy by DOL in Onondaga County, Syracuse
University.
It defines inclusive entrepreneurship as:
A strategy and process for assisting people with diverse disabilities and/or economic and
social disadvantages to become entrepreneurs through business planning training, use of
customized business development goal and support planning, and access to financial
resources utilizing the resources of diverse public and private partners working within a
consensus-driven, collaborative framework.
(Definition courtesy of Gary Shaheen from BBI and Mirza Tihic from Whitman School of
Management (Syracuse University))
Inclusive Entrepreneurship utilizes practices and partnerships developed through the three
year (2006-2009) US Department of Labor/Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP)-
funded Start-Up NY program and the five year (2009-2014) Small Business Associations
Program for Investment in Micro-entrepreneurs (SBA-PRIME). Start-Up NY brought a
personal multidisciplinary team consisting of business consultants, disability experts,
benefits counselors, mentors, and any identified peer and family supports together with the
participant to merge their knowledge and resources, and provide a customized micro-
enterprise training, assistance, and counseling resource.
Inclusive Entrepreneurship is led by Syracuse University and its Whitman School of
Management/Department of Entrepreneurship and Emerging Enterprises (EEE) together
with the Burton Blatt Institute (BBI). However, it is important to note that the success of
Inclusive Entrepreneurship as a university and community-based initiative is also based
upon the development of key partnerships that are necessary to helping entrepreneurs
develop their businesses. These can include the local Small Business Development Center
(SBDC) and One Stop Career Center as well as key local stakeholders that work with low-
income individuals, including low-income people with disabilities, to help them achieve
economic self-sufficiency.
Why is Inclusive Entrepreneurship Important?
Inclusive entrepreneurship goes beyond business ownership. It benefits everyone by
fostering a fundamental understating of business, community stakeholders, community
collaboration, benefits, and the skills and confidence needed for personal and community
success. The participants exposed to inclusive entrepreneurship through Start-Up NY and
SBA Prime frequently express that they have more opportunity to exercise creative
freedoms, develop higher self-esteem, better financial literacy, and an overall greater sense
of control over their own lives. Community partners were able to save time and money by
implementing a seamless process of inclusive entrepreneurship.
External links[edit]
Training, Education, Exercises, and Experimentation Sub-PCC
R&S Interagency Training Strategy


Section I. Overall Scope of Training:

The Overall Scope of Training outlines the plan for the S/CRS-coordinated interagency training for R&S
operations under National Security Presidential Directive (NSPD)-44 authorities. It addresses training
needs anticipated over the next five years, as the United States Government (USG) develops a broad
capacity to respond to countries at risk of, in, or emerging from crises. The training is intended for
Civilian Stabilization Initiative (CSI) personnel as well as other relevant USG civilian and military
personnel working in and supporting planning for implementation of USG R&S operations, including but
not limited to when the Interagency Management System (IMS) for R&S has been activated. The
members of the CSI include the Active Response Corps (ARC), the Standby Response Corps (SRC), and
the Civilian Reserve Corps (CRC). Other relevant personnel may include existing Embassy/Mission staff,
regional/functional bureau staff, S/CRS staff, members of the strategic or implementation planning
teams (including the National Security Council), USG civilian agencies, and counterparts within military
and international institutions.

Types of Training: The types of training that will be delivered include: Orientation, Annual, Pre-
deployment, In-theater Continuity, and Reintegration.

A. ARC/SRC/CRC Orientation Training: The mandatory orientation training for each group will be
two-three weeks in length, and will include a mixture of online, classroom, and field-based
activities. This training will normally occur within three months of selection into a Corps. While
there will be significant overlap in content, CRC orientation will be conducted separately from
the ARC/SRC to address differing program procedures and USG experience. All personnel,
especially members of the CRC, will be required to undergo the statutory training requirements
on ethics and equal employment opportunities. The CRC orientation training will allow S/CRS to
evaluate reserve candidates and determine their suitability for service, as well as providing
participants a final opportunity to withdraw themselves from or commit to CRC service. The
majority of the orientation training for all groups will be in classrooms, and will include exercises
and simulations based on R&S scenarios for hands-on application and practice of learned
methodologies. To supplement classroom activities, online courses will provide introductory
lessons on subject matter, while field-based exercises will be used to apply classroom and online
learning. Orientation training content includes:
1. R&S Principles, Authorities, and Theories;
2. Corps Member Roles, Responsibilities, and Linkages with Key Actors;
3. Communications in R&S Environments; and
4. Administrative, Personal, and Logistical Support for Deployment

B. ARC/SRC/CRC Annual Training: Each Corps member will be required to take up to two weeks of
training that will include a mixture of online, classroom, and field activities. Components of
annual training will be mandatory for specific positions (e.g. Police Advisors, Lead Interagency
Planners, etc.) prior to consideration for deployment. To quickly build capacity, additional
training will be made accessible to accommodate orientation and annual training in the same
year, pending availability of resources and personnel. Annual training content includes:
1. General R&S Training increases ability to utilize key systems, methods, and tools for R&S
operations through the application of best practices and lessons learned;
2. Specialized Training adapts and increases sector knowledge, skills, and functional
expertise for working in R&S environments within USG and international mission
frameworks;
3. Certification, Qualification, and Refresher Training certifies, qualifies, and reviews
specialized training that is mandatory for designated personnel, e.g. field communications
equipment, weapons qualification, etc.;
4. Leadership Training enhances leadership and communication skills for working in cross-
institution and post-conflict cultural settings within R&S environments;
5. Planning Training improves capabilities and increases interagency partners capacity for
developing civilian and military strategic planning for R&S operations. Planning training
will be mandatory for most ARC members; and
6. Exercises reinforce classroom, online, and technical skills training through application and
practice in planned civilian-military exercises/experiments. Participation in joint civilian-
military exercises and experiments will be coordinated through the agreed upon
interagency Civilian-Military Activities Review Team (CMART), and will be in accordance
with the Exercises and Experiments Strategy.

In addition to meeting the annual training requirements described above, ARC members will
also need to complete mandatory basic safety and security training for non-permissive
environments and participate in planned field-based exercise(s) replicating typical field
operations (e.g. the US Army Civil Affairs capstone Certain Trust exercise, or the UK Stabilization
Units HELP course). Training exercises should provide cultural exchanges between different
actors operating in the field, e.g. NGOs, IOs, etc. with an emphasis on interactions with the
military and DoD civilians. Annual training for ARC members at minimum will be eight weeks
per year.

C. ARC/SRC/CRC Pre-deployment Training: Pre-deployment training will be determined by the
operational readiness of personnel and USG needs, lasting approximately 2-28 days in length.
Training content will focus on mission-specific country context; cultural norms; basic language;
USG country strategy; foreign policy goals; programs and operations; international
organizations, NGOs, and third country actors operating in the country; communications
equipment; and reporting procedures. This will also include security, safety, and health training
(including the psychological health effects associated with complex environments) for
deployments to permissive, semi-permissive, and non-permissive environments. Training will
provide limited time for administrative requirements and health screening. Pre-deployment
training may include some field-based exercises that will simulate the organizations, partners,
structures, and environment to their mission.

As noted above, ARC personnel will be required to maintain operational readiness at all times,
and will complete mandatory basic safety and security training for non-permissive environments
as part of their Annual Training before any deployment has been identified.

D. ARC/SRC/CRC In-Theatre Continuity Training: As appropriate and feasible, Corps members will
receive in-theatre training with the organization to which they have been assigned, or people
with whom they are likely to be operating, to provide any additional training needed to maintain
continuity of operations. This training will be mission-specific and designed to rapidly bring
participants up to speed on issues relevant to ongoing operations. The goal is to establish
overlapping deployments between transitioning personnel so that outgoing personnel can
mentor incoming personnel ensuring continuity of operations and preservation of institutional
knowledge.

E. ARC/SRC/CRC Reintegration Training: Deployments place a heavy burden on individuals, their
families, and those around them. Reintegration training will be a requirement to ensure that all
Corps members returning from deployments to hardship/danger posts are provided adequate
support and resources to facilitate their readjustment to life back in the United States. The
training will include a debriefing period to allow members to distance themselves from the field
and to capture lessons learned.

F. Language Training Requirements for CSI Personnel: Because of the transient nature of most
assignments to which Corps members will deploy, it is impractical to provide the in-depth
language training necessary for operations; however short-language courses may be considered
when appropriate. An exception to this is ARC personnel on non-rotational assignments for
which it may be possible to send personnel to existing language institutions.

CSI language capacity can be supported with incentives and opportunities for personnel to
pursue language training on their own time. Examples may include providing bonuses and other
perks for those who demonstrate language proficiency. It can also include access to online, or
distance learning programs through which motivated personnel can learn and practice on their
own.

Identifying critical languages for ongoing or potential operations and designating individuals
throughout CSI personnel for specific geographical region assignments will facilitate readiness of
language capability. However, this will not preclude individuals from deploying to other
geographical locations.

G. Training for Other Relevant USG Staff: In consultation with, and in accordance with MoAs
between participating USG civilian agencies and the military, training courses will be developed
for relevant personnel who are not members of any Corps, but remain critical to the success of
R&S operations. These include Department of Defense (DoD) uniformed and civilian personnel,
USG civilians from throughout the interagency community engaged in R&S operations, and the
Department of State (DoS) and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)
regional/functional bureaus, headquarters, and field staff at Embassies/Missions. Such
individuals will interface with Corps members in Washington, D.C., at Geographic Combatant
Commands, and multinational planning headquarters, and in the field when performing duties
under the IMS and in other R&S operations. A list of training courses offered by different USG
agencies and the military is being developed for each segment of relevant USG personnel. This
is also inclusive of exchange programs between the civilian agencies and the military. Course
lists will be reviewed annually for relevance and effectiveness by the proposed Interagency R&S
Training and Education Systems Training and Education Division.

Training plans for the first five years of this program envision non-CSI personnel comprising
approximately 20 percent of those receiving orientation training. Dependent on space and
availability, annual training programs will also be open to other relevant USG personnel,
Congressional staffs, the Military, and international organizations. Mission and Embassy
personnel going to potential R&S country assignments will be eligible for pre-deployment
training.

H. Revision of Training Courses: The training curricula in this plan will be continually evaluated
both immediately following delivery and lessons learned from field experience. No later than
twelve months after implementation each type of training will be reviewed and revised as
necessary through the proposed Interagency Training and Education Systems Training and
Education Division. As part of this review, optional methods of delivery will be analyzed to
increase effectiveness of the overall program.
Section II. Interagency Reconstruction and Stabilization Training and Education System: Summary of
Functions

The proposed Interagency Reconstruction and Stabilization Training and Education System (from herein
referred to as the System) performs, monitors, and administers the functions necessary to train the ARC,
SRC, and CRC elements of the CSI. The System will be run by S/CRS and will address day-to-day
operational level issues relevant to interagency related R&S training. The System oversees three main
functions:
1. Leadership through coordination and policy advice;
2. Logistics through curricula, facilities, and equipment identification; and
3. Administrative and Budgetary Management through personnel, financial management, and
budgetary requirements support.

The System is designed to function and support policy and implementation issues only at the day-to-day
operational level. The System receives higher-level policy guidance directly from the R&S PCC or via the
subordinate PCC on Training, Education, Exercises, and Experimentations, which will coordinate higher-
level policy issues with the relevant Sub-PCCs on Operations, Planning, Readiness, and Best Practices.
The System is comprised of three integrated elements: the Training and Education Division; the
Interagency Training and Education Committee; and the Education Technical Assistance Committee.

Training and Education Division: The Division is an operational-level body that is responsible for day-to-
day planning and implementation of the System. The Division will be integrated into S/CRS structure. It
will be supported by a core of professional and administrative support personnel available to S/CRS, and
in consultation with the appropriate agencies will include four detailed staff members from USAID, DoS,
DoD, and the Department of Justice (DoJ) who will be supervised by S/CRS in accordance with a MoA.
The four detailed staff members will assist the Division by providing and integrating the views and
positions of the interagency community.

Interagency Training and Education Committee: This Committee will be a deliberative body for the
Systems policy and curricula issues, reporting to the R&S Training, Education, Exercises, and
Experiments Sub-PCC for higher policy guidance. The Committee will be chaired by the Systems
Training and Education Division, and, in consultation with each relevant agency/department, will include
Training Coordinators who will represent the interests and resources of their own agencies. Training
Coordinators will maintain responsibility for synchronizing training and education activities for the
civilian response members in their agency, working in cooperation with their agencys Response Corps
Coordinator. To leverage existing organizations and resources, the Chair of the CMART, which
harmonizes agency participation in joint civilian-military exercises and experiments in accordance with
the Exercises and Experiments Strategy, will be a representative to the Committee.

Technical Assistance Committee: The Technical Assistance Committee is an additional body of
independent subject matter experts from within and outside the USG to leverage existing organizations
and resources. The Committee will provide assistance to the Systems Training and Education Division.
The Committee will provide independent and objective reviews on proposed courses, including whether
such courses fulfill the curricular requirements and standards established by the Interagency Training
and Education System. The Committee is not a decision-making body, and its recommendations are
non-binding and without implementation authority.
Scope of the training catalogue


Ask your question?

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Objectives of Training and the Role of the Trainer

Ricky Ortan, Yahoo Contributor Network
Aug 4, 2008
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Objectives of Training
The objectives for the training of employees:
1. To increase productivity- Instructions can help employees increase their level of performance on
their present assignment. Increased human performance often leads to increased operational
productivity and increased company profit.
2. To improve quality- Better informed worked are less likely to make operational mistakes.
Quality increases may be in relationship to company product or service or in reference to the
intangible organizational employment atmosphere.
3. To help a company fulfill its future personnel needs- Organizations that have a good internal
programme for development will have to make less drastic manpower changes and adjustments
in the event of sudden personnel alterations. When the need arises organizational vacancies can
be easily staffed from maintaining an adequate instructional programme for both its non-
supervisory and managerial employees.
4. To improve organizational climate- An endless chain of positive reactions result from a well
planned training programme.
5. To improve health and safety- proper training can help prevent industrial accidents. A safer
atmosphere leads to more stable mental attitudes on part of employees. Managerial mental
status would also improve, if supervisors know they can better themselves through company
designed development programmes.
6. Obsolescence prevention- Training and development programmes foster the initiative and
creativity of employees and help to prevent manpower obsolescence due to age, temperament,
or motivation or the inability of a person to adapt himself to technological changes.
7. Personal growth- Employees on a personal basis gain individually from their exposure to
educational expressions. Management development programme seems to give participants a
wider awareness, an enlarged skill and enlightens realistic philosophy and make personal
growth possible.
Role of Trainer
The conventional view about the role of a trainer is to conduct training programmes. A good
trainer must necessarily be able to take sessions in different training courses. His ratings in
these training programmes would mostly determine his success or otherwise as a trainer. While
this is still considered important I do not think it all that important in the changing
circumstances. A brief explanation is necessary. Because of the industrial revolution there has
been a stress on manufacturing function as the industrial Revolution was brought about by the
technology of mass production. Personnel Managers and Manpower Development Managers
working in the manufacturing culture of organizations took a manufacturing approach to
development of human resource. This approach starts with the belief that as a raw material by
processing is converted into the final product, so is a human resource, which when put through
different management development programmes, is converted into a good management
resource. Thus, the trainer became a 'manufacturer' of training programmes.
Trainer or facilitator
The time has come to develop a new perspective, to shift from a manufacturing approach to an
agricultural approach towards development of human resource. What is this agricultural
approach? A parallel can be drawn between a seed and human resource. All an agriculturist does
is to provide a conductive climate by providing water and fertilizer around a seed so that it
grows to be a plant and the plant into a giant tree.
The same is true of the development of human resource. Hence the trainer's role will have to
change from one of conducting training programmes to that of being a facilitator. The stress has
to be on learning rather than on teaching. A facilitator should facilitate learning as I believe
management cannot be taught. It can only be learned.
General Electric Company in a research study found out four simple principles of development.
The most important of them was that all development is self development. No development can
take place in an apathetic or a hostile manager. An interest for development has to be created
within the manager. The trainer's role is to create that interest.
training programme evaluation
training and learning evaluation, feedback
forms, action plans and follow-up
This section begins with an introduction to training and learning evaluation,
including some useful learning reference models. The introduction also
explains that for training evaluation to be truly effective, the training and
development itself must be appropriate for the person and the situation. Good
modern personal development and evaluation extend beyond the obvious
skills and knowledge required for the job or organisation or qualification.
Effective personal development must also consider: individual potential
(natural abilities often hidden or suppressed); individual learning styles; and
whole person development (life skills, in other words). Where training or
teaching seeks to develop people (rather than merely being focused on a
specific qualification or skill) the development must be approached on a more
flexible and individual basis than in traditional paternalistic (authoritarian,
prescribed) methods of design, delivery and testing. These principles apply to
teaching and developing young people too, which interestingly provides some
useful lessons for workplace training, development and evaluation.

introduction
A vital aspect of any sort of evaluation is its effect on the person being
evaluated.
Feedback is essential for people to know how they are progressing, and also,
evaluation is crucial to the learner's confidence too.
And since people's commitment to learning relies so heavily on confidence
and a belief that the learning is achievable, the way that tests and
assessments are designed and managed, and results presented back to the
learners, is a very important part of the learning and development process.
People can be switched off the whole idea of learning and
development very quickly if they receive only negative critical test
results and feedback. Always look for positives in negative results.
Encourage and support - don't criticize without adding some positives, and
certainly never focus on failure, or that's just what you'll produce.
This is a much overlooked factor in all sorts of evaluation and testing, and
since this element is not typically included within evaluation and assessment
tools the point is emphasised point loud and clear here.
So always remember - evaluation is not just for the trainer or teacher
or organisation or policy-makers - evaluation is absolutely vital for
the learner too, which is perhaps the most important reason of all for
evaluating people properly, fairly, and with as much encouragement as the
situation allows.
Most of the specific content and tools below for workplace training
evaluation is based on the work of Leslie Rae, an expert and author on the
evaluation of learning and training programmes, and this contribution is
greatly appreciated. W Leslie Rae has written over 30 books on training and
the evaluation of learning - he is an expert in his field. His guide to the
effective evaluation of training and learning, training courses and learning
programmes, is a useful set of rules and techniques for all trainers and HR
professionals.
This training evaluation guide is augmented by an excellent set of free
learning evaluation and follow-up tools, created by Leslie Rae.
There are other training evaluation working files on the free resources page.
It is recommended that you read this article before using the free evaluation
and training follow-up tools.
Particularly see the notes on this page about using self-assessment
in measuring abilities before and after training (i.e., skills improvement and
training effectiveness) which specifically relate to the 3-Test tool (explained
and provided below).
See also the section on Donald Kirkpatrick's training evaluation model, which
represents fundamental theory and principles for evaluating learning and
training.
Also see Bloom's Taxonomy of learning domains, which establishes
fundamental principles for training design and evaluation of learning, and
thereby, training effectiveness.
Erik Erikson's Psychosocial (Life Stages) Theory is very helpful in
understanding how people's training and development needs change
according to age and stage of life. These generational aspects are increasingly
important in meeting people's needs (now firmly a legal requirement within
age discrimination law) and also in making the most of what different age
groups can offer work and organisations. Erikson's theory is helpful
particularly when considering broader personal development needs and
possibilities outside of the obvious job-related skills and knowledge.
Multiple Intelligence theory (section includes free self-tests) is extremely
relevant to training and learning. This model helps address natural abilities
and individual potential which can be hidden or suppressed in many people
(often by employers).
Learning Styles theory is extremely relevant to training and teaching, and
features in Kolb's model, and in the VAK learning styles model (also including
a free self-test tool). Learning Styles theory also relates to methods of
assessment and evaluation, in which inappropriate testing can severely skew
results. Testing, as well as delivery, must take account of people's learning
styles, for example some people find it very difficult to prove their
competence in a written test, but can show remarkable competence when
asked to give a physical demonstration. Text-based evaluation tools are not
the best way to assess everybody.
The Conscious Competence learning stages theory is also a helpful
perspective for learners and teachers. The model helps explain the process of
learning to trainers and to learners, and is also helps to refine judgements
about competence, since competence is rarely a simple question of 'can or
cannot'. The Conscious Competence model particularly provides
encouragement to teachers and learners when feelings of frustration arise
due to apparent lack of progress. Progress is not always easy to see, but can
often be happening nevertheless.

lessons from (and perhaps also for) children's
education
While these various theories and models are chiefly presented here for adult
work-oriented training, the principles also apply to children's and young
people's education, which provides some useful fundamental lessons for
workplace training and development.
Notably, while evaluation and assessment are vital of course (because if you
can't measure it you can't manage it) the most important thing of all is to be
training and developing the right things in the right ways. Assessment and
evaluation (and children's testing) will not ensure effective learning and
development if the training and development has not been properly designed
in the first place.
Lessons for the workplace are everywhere you look within children's
education, so please forgive this diversion..
If children's education in the UK ever actually worked well, successive
governments managed to wreck it by the 1980s, and have made it worse
since then. This was achieved by the imposition of a ridiculously narrow range
of skills and delivery methods, plus similarly narrowly-based testing criteria
and targets, and a self-defeating administrative burden. All of this perfectly
characterises arrogance and delusion found in X-Theory management
structures, in this case of high and mighty civil servants and politicians, who
are not in the real world, and who never went to normal school and whose
kids didn't either. A big lesson from this for organisations and workplace
training is that X-Theory directives and narrow-mindedness are a disastrous
combination. Incidentally, according to some of these same people, society is
broken and our schools and parents are to blame and are responsible for
sorting out the mess. Blaming the victims is another classic behaviour of inept
governance. Society is not broken; it just lacks some proper responsible
leadership, which is another interesting point:
The quality of any leadership (government or organisation) is defined by how
it develops its people. Good leaders have a responsibility to help people
understand, develop and fulfil their own individual potential. This is very
different to just training them to do a job, or teaching them to pass an exam
and get into university, which ignores far more important human and societal
needs and opportunities.
Thankfully modern educational thinking (and let's hope policy too) now seems
to be addressing the wider development needs of the individual child, rather
than aiming merely to transfer knowledge in order to pass tests and exams.
Knowledge transfer for the purpose of passing tests and exams, especially
when based on such an arbitrary and extremely narrow idea of what should
be taught and how, has little meaning or relevance to the development
potential and needs of most young people, and even less relevance to the
demands and opportunities of the real modern world, let alone the life skills
required to become a fulfilled confident adult able to make a positive
contribution to society.
The desperately flawed UK children's education system of the past thirty
years, and its negative impacts on society, offer many useful lessons for
organisations. Perhaps most significantly, if you fail to develop people as
individuals, and only aim to transfer knowledge and skills to meet the
organisational priorities of the day, then you will seriously hamper your
chances of fostering a happy productive society within your workforce,
assuming you want to, which I guess is another subject altogether.
Assuming you do want to develop a happy and productive workforce, it's
useful to consider and learn from the mistakes that have been made in
children's education:
the range of learning is far too narrowly defined and ignores individual
potential, which is then devalued or blocked
the range of learning focuses on arbitrary criteria set from the policy-
makers' own perspectives (classic arrogant X-Theory management - it's
stifling and suppressive)
policy-makers give greatest or exclusive priority to the obvious 'academic'
intelligences (reading, writing, arithmetic, etc), when other of the multiple
intelligences (notably interpersonal and intrapersonal capabilities, helpfully
encompassed by emotional intelligence) arguably have a far bigger value in
work and society (and certainly cause more problems in work and society if
under-developed)
testing and assessment of learners and teachers is measuring the wrong
things, too narrowly, in the wrong way - like measuring the weather with a
thermometer
testing (the wrong sort, although none would be appropriate for this) is
used to assess and pronounce people's fundamental worth - which
quite obviously directly affects self-esteem, confidence, ambition, dreams,
life purpose, etc (nothing too serious then..)
wider individual development needs - especially life needs - are ignored
(many organisations and educational policy-makers seem to think that
people are robots and that their work and personal lives are not connected;
and that work is unaffected by feelings of well-being or depression, etc)
individual learning styles are ignored (learning is delivered mainly through
reading and writing when many people are far better at learning through
experience, observation, etc - again see Kolband VAK)
testing and assessment focuses on proof of knowledge in a distinctly unfair
situation only helpful to certain types of people, rather than assessing
people's application, interpretation and development of capabilities, which is
what real life requires (see Kirkpatrick's model - and consider the
significance of assessing what people do with their improved capability,
beyond simply assessing whether they've retained the theory, which means
relatively very little)
children's education has traditionally ignored the fact that developing
confident happy productive people is much easier if primarily you help
people to discover what they are good at - whatever it is - and then building
on that.
Teaching, training and learning must be aligned with individual
potential, individual learning styles, and wider life development
needs, and this wide flexible individual approach to human development is
vital for the workplace, just as it is for schools.
Returning to consider workplace training itself, and the work of Leslie Rae:

evaluation of workplace learning and training
There have been many surveys on the use of evaluation in training and
development (see the research findings extract example below). While
surveys might initially appear heartening, suggesting that many
trainers/organisations use training evaluation extensively, when more specific
and penetrating questions are asked, it if often the case that many
professional trainers and training departments are found to use only
'reactionnaires' (general vague feedback forms), including the invidious
'Happy Sheet' relying on questions such as 'How good did you feel the trainer
was?', and 'How enjoyable was the training course?'. As Kirkpatrick, among
others, teaches us, even well-produced reactionnaires do not constitute
proper validation or evaluation of training.
For effective training and learning evaluation, the principal questions should
be:
To what extent were the identified training needs objectives achieved by
the programme?
To what extent were the learners' objectives achieved?
What specifically did the learners learn or be usefully reminded of?
What commitment have the learners made about the learning they are
going to implement on their return to work?
And back at work,
How successful were the trainees in implementing their action plans?
To what extent were they supported in this by their line managers?
To what extent has the action listed above achieved a Return on
Investment (ROI) for the organization, either in terms of identified
objectives satisfaction or, where possible, a monetary assessment.
Organizations commonly fail to perform these evaluation processes, especially
where:
The HR department and trainers, do not have sufficient time to do so,
and/or
The HR department does not have sufficient resources - people and money
- to do so.
Obviously the evaluation cloth must be cut according to available resources
(and the culture atmosphere), which tend to vary substantially from one
organization to another. The fact remains that good methodical evaluation
produces a good reliable data; conversely, where little evaluation is
performed, little is ever known about the effectiveness of the training.

evaluation of training
There are the two principal factors which need to be resolved:
Who is responsible for the validation and evaluation processes?
What resources of time, people and money are available for
validation/evaluation purposes? (Within this, consider the effect of variation
to these, for instance an unexpected cut in budget or manpower. In other
words anticipate and plan contingency to deal with variation.)
responsibility for the evaluation of training
Traditionally, in the main, any evaluation or other assessment has been left to
the trainers "because that is their job..." My (Rae's) contention is that a
'Training Evaluation Quintet' should exist, each member of the Quintet having
roles and responsibilities in the process (see 'Assessing the Value of Your
Training', Leslie Rae, Gower, 2002). Considerable lip service appears to be
paid to this, but the actual practice tends to be a lot less.
The 'Training Evaluation Quintet' advocated consists of:
senior management
the trainer
line management
the training manager
the trainee
Each has their own responsibilities, which are detailed next.

senior management - training evaluation
responsibilities
Awareness of the need and value of training to the organization.
The necessity of involving the Training Manager (or equivalent) in senior
management meetings where decisions are made about future changes
when training will be essential.
Knowledge of and support of training plans.
Active participation in events.
Requirement for evaluation to be performed and require regular summary
report.
Policy and strategic decisions based on results and ROI data.

the trainer - training evaluation responsibilities
Provision of any necessary pre-programme work etc and programme
planning.
Identification at the start of the programme of the knowledge and skills
level of the trainees/learners.
Provision of training and learning resources to enable the learners to learn
within the objectives of the programme and the learners' own objectives.
Monitoring the learning as the programme progresses.
At the end of the programme, assessment of and receipt of reports from
the learners of the learning levels achieved.
Ensuring the production by the learners of an action plan to reinforce,
practise and implement learning.

the line manager - training evaluation
responsibilities
Work-needs and people identification.
Involvement in training programme and evaluation development.
Support of pre-event preparation and holding briefing meetings with the
learner.
Giving ongoing, and practical, support to the training programme.
Holding a debriefing meeting with the learner on their return to work to
discuss, agree or help to modify and agree action for their action plan.
Reviewing the progress of learning implementation.
Final review of implementation success and assessment, where possible, of
the ROI.

the training manager - training evaluation
responsibilities
Management of the training department and agreeing the training needs
and the programme application
Maintenance of interest and support in the planning and implementation of
the programmes, including a practical involvement where required
The introduction and maintenance of evaluation systems, and production of
regular reports for senior management
Frequent, relevant contact with senior management
Liaison with the learners' line managers and arrangement of learning
implementation responsibility learning programmes for the managers
Liaison with line managers, where necessary, in the assessment of the
training ROI.

the trainee or learner - training evaluation
responsibilities
Involvement in the planning and design of the training programme where
possible
Involvement in the planning and design of the evaluation process where
possible
Obviously, to take interest and an active part in the training programme or
activity.
To complete a personal action plan during and at the end of the training for
implementation on return to work, and to put this into practice, with
support from the line manager.
Take interest and support the evaluation processes.
N.B. Although the principal role of the trainee in the programme is to learn,
the learner must be involved in the evaluation process. This is essential, since
without their comments much of the evaluation could not occur. Neither
would the new knowledge and skills be implemented. For trainees to neglect
either responsibility the business wastes its investment in training. Trainees
will assist more readily if the process avoids the look and feel of a paper-
chase or number-crunching exercise. Instead, make sure trainees understand
the importance of their input - exactly what and why they are being asked to
do.

training evaluation and validation options
As suggested earlier what you are able to do, rather than what you would like
to do or what should be done, will depend on the various resources and
culture support available. The following summarizes a spectrum of possibilities
within these dependencies.
1 - do nothing
Doing nothing to measure the effectiveness and result of any business activity
is never a good option, but it is perhaps justifiable in the training area under
the following circumstances:
If the organization, even when prompted, displays no interest in the
evaluation and validation of the training and learning - from the line
manager up to to the board of directors.
If you, as the trainer, have a solid process for planning training to meet
organizational and people-development needs.
If you have a reasonable level of assurance or evidence that the training
being delivered is fit for purpose, gets results, and that the organization
(notably the line managers and the board, the potential source of criticism
and complaint) is happy with the training provision.
You have far better things to do than carry out training evaluation,
particularly if evaluation is difficult and cooperation is sparse.
However, even in these circumstances, there may come a time when having
kept a basic system of evaluation will prove to be helpful, for example:
You receive have a sudden unexpected demand for a justification of a part
or all of the training activity. (These demands can spring up, for example
with a change in management, or policy, or a new initiative).
You see the opportunity or need to produce your own justification (for
example to increase training resource, staffing or budgets, new premises or
equipment).
You seek to change job and need evidence of the effectiveness of your past
training activities.
Doing nothing is always the least desirable option. At any time somebody
more senior to you might be moved to ask "Can you prove what you are
saying about how successful you are?" Without evaluation records you are
likely to be at a loss for words of proof...
2 - minimal action
The absolutely basic action for a start of some form of evaluation is as
follows:
At the end of every training programme, give the learners sufficient time and
support in the form of programme information, and have the learners
complete an action plan based on what they have learned on the programme
and what they intend to implement on their return to work. This action plan
should not only include a description of the action intended but comments on
how they intend to implement it, a timescale for starting and completing it,
and any resources required, etc. A fully detailed action plan always helps the
learners to consolidate their thoughts. The action plan will have a secondary
use in demonstrating to the trainers, and anyone else interested, the types
and levels of learning that have been achieved. The learners should also be
encouraged to show and discuss their action plans with their line managers on
return to work, whether or not this type of follow-up has been initiated by the
manager.
3 - minimal desirable action leading to
evaluation
When returning to work to implement the action plan the learner should
ideally be supported by their line manager, rather than have the onus for
implementation rest entirely on the learner. The line manager should hold a
debriefing meeting with the learner soon after their return to work, covering a
number of questions, basically discussing and agreeing the action plan and
arranging support for the learner in its implementation. As described earlier,
this is a clear responsibility of the line manager, which demonstrates to senior
management, the training department and, certainly not least, the learner,
that a positive attitude is being taken to the training. Contrast this with, as
often happens, a member of staff being sent on a training course, after which
all thoughts of management follow-up are forgotten.
The initial line manager debriefing meeting is not the end of the learning
relationship between the learner and the line manager. At the initial meeting,
objectives and support must be agreed, then arrangements made for interim
reviews of implementation progress. After this when appropriate, a final
review meeting needs to consider future action.
This process requires minimal action by the line manager - it involves no more
than the sort of observations being made as would be normal for a line
manager monitoring the actions of his or her staff. This process of review
meetings requires little extra effort and time from the manager, but does
much to demonstrate at the very least to the staff that their manager takes
training seriously.
4 - training programme basic validation
approach
The action plan and implementation approach described in (3) above is placed
as a responsibility on the learners and their line managers, and, apart from
the provision of advice and time, do not require any resource involvement
from the trainer. There are two further parts of an approach which also
require only the provision of time for the learners to describe their feelings
and information. The first is the reactionnaire which seeks the views,
opinions, feelings, etc., of the learners about the programme. This is not at a
'happy sheet' level, nor a simple tick-list - but one which allows realistic
feelings to be stated.
This sort of reactionnaire is described in the book ('Assessing the Value of
Your Training', Leslie Rae, Gower, 2002). This evaluation seeks a score for
each question against a 6-point range of Good to Bad, and also the learners'
own reasons for the scores, which is especially important if the score is low.
Reactionnaires should not be automatic events on every course or
programme. This sort of evaluation can be reserved for new programmes (for
example, the first three events) or when there are indications that something
is going wrong with the programme.
Sample reactionnaires are available in the set of free training evaluation tools.
The next evaluation instrument, like the action plan, should be used at the
end of every course if possible. This is the Learning Questionnaire (LQ), which
can be a relatively simple instrument asking the learners what they have
learned on the programme, what they have been usefully reminded of, and
what was not included that they expected to be included, or would have liked
to have been included. Scoring ranges can be included, but these are minimal
and are subordinate to the text comments made by the learners. There is an
alternative to the LQ called the Key Objectives LQ (KOLQ) which seeks the
amount of learning achieved by posing the relevant questions against the list
of Key Objectives produced for the programme. When a reactionnaire and
LQ/KOLQ are used, they must not be filed away and forgotten at the end of
the programme, as is the common tendency, but used to produce a training
evaluation and validation summary. A factually-based evaluation summary is
necessary to support claims that a programme is good/effective/satisfies the
objectives set'. Evaluation summaries can also be helpful for publicity for the
training programme, etc.
Example Learning Questionnaires and Key Objectives Learning Questionnaires
are included in the set of free evaluation tools.
5 - total evaluation process
If it becomes necessary the processes described in (3) and (4) can be
combined and supplemented by other methods to produce a full evaluation
process that covers all eventualities. Few occasions or environments allow this
full process to be applied, particularly when there is no Quintet support, but it
is the ultimate aim. The process is summarized below:
Training needs identification and setting of objectives by the organization
Planning, design and preparation of the training programmes against the
objectives
Pre-course identification of people with needs and completion of the
preparation required by the training programme
Provision of the agreed training programmes
Pre-course briefing meeting between learner and line manager
Pre-course or start of programme identification of learners' existing
knowledge, skills and attitudes, ('3-Test' before-and-after training example
tool and manual version (pdf) and manual version (xls) and working file
version - (I am grateful to F Tarek for sharing this pdf file - Arabic
translation 'three-test' version and the same tool as a doc file - Arabic
translation 'three-test' version.)
Interim validation as programme proceeds
Assessment of terminal knowledge, skills, etc., and completion of
perceptions/change assessment ('3-Test' example tool and manual
version and working file version)
Completion of end-of-programme reactionnaire
Completion of end-of-programme Learning Questionnaire or Key Objectives
Learning Questionnaire
Completion of Action Plan
Post-course debriefing meeting between learner and line manager
Line manager observation of implementation progress
Review meetings to discuss progress of implementation
Final implementation review meeting
Assessment of ROI

Whatever you do, do something. The processes described above allow
considerable latitude depending on resources and culture environment, so
there is always the opportunity to do something - obviously the more tools
used and the wider the approach, the more valuable and effective the
evaluation will be. However be pragmatic. Large expensive critical
programmes will always justify more evaluation and scrutiny than small, one-
off, non-critical training activities. Where there's a heavy investment and
expectation, so the evaluation should be sufficiently detailed and complete.
Training managers particularly should clarify measurement and evaluation
expectations with senior management prior to embarking on substantial new
training activities, so that appropriate evaluation processes can be established
when the programme itself is designed.
Where large and potentially critical programmes are planned, training
managers should err on the side of caution - ensure adequate evaluation
processes are in place. As with any investment, a senior executive is always
likely to ask, "What did we get for our investment?", and when he asks, the
training manager needs to be able to provide a fully detailed response.

measuring improvement using self-assessment
The '3-Test' before-and-after training example (see manual version
(pdf) and manual version (xls) andworking file version) is a useful tool and
helpful illustration of the challenge in measuring improvement in ability after
training, using self-assessment.
A vital element within the tool is the assessment called 'revised pre-trained
ability', which is carried out after training.
The 'revised pre-trained ability' is a reassessment to be carried out
after training of the ability level that existed before training.
This will commonly be significantly different to the ability assessment made
before training, because by implication, we do not fully understand
competence and ability in a skill/area before we are trained in it.
People commonly over-estimate their ability before training. After training
many people realise that they actually had lower competence than they first
believed (i.e., before receiving the training).
It is important to allow for this when attempting to measure real improvement
using self-assessment. This is the reason for revising (after training) the pre-
trained assessment of ability.
Additionally, in many situations after training, people's ideas of competence in
a particular skill/area can expand hugely. They realise how big and complex
the subject is and they become more conscious of their real ability and
opportunities to improve. Because of this it is possible for a person before
training to imagine (in ignorance) that they have a competence level of say 7
out of 10. After training their ability typically improves, but also so does
their awareness of the true nature of competency, and so they may
then judge themselves - after training - only to be say 8 or 7 or even 'lower'
at 6 out of 10.
This looks like a regression. It's not of course, which is why a reassessment of
the pre-trained ability is important. Extending the example, a person's revised
assessment of their pre-trained ability could be say 3 or 4 out of 10 (revised
downwards from 7/10), because now the person can make an informed
(revised) assessment of their actual competence before training.
A useful reference model in understanding this is the Conscious Competence
learning model. Before we are trained we tend to be unconsciously
incompetent (unaware of our true ability and what competence actually is).
After training we become more consciously aware of our true level of
competence, as well as hopefully becoming more competent too. When we
use self-assessment tools it is important to allow for this, hence the design of
the '3-Test' before-and-after training tool - see also manual version
(pdf) and manual version (xls).
In other words: In measuring improvement, using self-assessment, between
before and after training it is useful first to revise our pre-trained assessment,
because before training usually our assessment of ability is over-optimistic,
which can suggest (falsely) an apparent small improvement or even
regression (because we thought we were more skilled than we actually now
realise that we were).
Note that this self-assessment aspect of learning evaluation is only part of the
overall evaluation which can be addressed. See Kirkpatrick's learning
evaluation model for a wider appreciation of the issues.
I am grateful to F Tarek for sharing this pdf file - Arabic translation 'three-test'
version and the same tool as a doc file - Arabic translation 'three-test' version.

the trainer's overall responsibilities - aside from
training evaluation
Over the years the trainer's roles have changed, but the basic purpose of the
trainer is to provide efficient and effective training programmes. The following
suggests the elements of the basic role of the trainer, but it must be borne in
mind that different circumstances will require modifications of these activities.
1. The basic role of a trainer (or however they may be designated) is to offer
and provide efficient and effective training programmes aimed at enabling the
participants to learn the knowledge, skills and attitudes required of them.
2. A trainer plans and designs the training programmes, or otherwise obtains
them (for example, distance learning or e-technology programmes on the
Internet or on CD/DVD), in accordance with the requirements identified from
the results of a TNIA (Training Needs Identification and Analysis - or simply
TNA, Training Needs Analysis) for the relevant staff of an organizations or
organizations.
3. The training programmes cited at (1) and (2) must be completely based on
the TNIA which has been: (a) completed by the trainer on behalf of and at
the request of the relevant organization (b) determined in some other way by
the organization.
4. Following discussion with or direction by the organization management who
will have taken into account costs and values (e.g. ROI - Return on
Investment in the training), the trainer will agree with the organization
management the most appropriate form and methods for the training.
5 . If the appropriate form for satisfying the training need is a direct training
course or workshop, or an Intranet provided programme, the trainer will
design this programme using the most effective approaches, techniques and
methods, integrating face-to-face practices with various forms of e-technology
wherever this is possible or desirable.
6. If the appropriate form for satisfying the training need is some form of
open learning programme or e-technology programme, the trainer, with the
support of the organization management obtain, plan the utilization and be
prepared to support the learner in the use of the relevant materials.
7. The trainer, following contact with the potential learners, preferably
through their line managers, to seek some pre-programme activity and/or
initial evaluation activities, should provide the appropriate training
programme(s) to the learners provided by their organization(s). During and at
the end of the programme, the trainer should ensure that: (a) an effective
form of training/learning validation is followed (b) the learners complete an
action plan for implementation of their learning when they return to work.
8. Provide, as necessary, having reviewed the validation results, an analysis of
the changes in the knowledge, skills and attitudes of the learners to the
organization management with any recommendations deemed necessary. The
review would include consideration of the effectiveness of the content of the
programme and the effectiveness of the methods used to enable learning,
that is whether the programme satisfied the objectives of the programme and
those of the learners.
9. Continue to provide effective learning opportunities as required by the
organization.
10. Enable their own CPD (Continuing Professional Development) by all
possible developmental means - training programmes and self-development
methods.
11. Arrange and run educative workshops for line managers on the subject of
their fulfillment of their training and evaluation responsibilities.
Dependant on the circumstances and the decisions of the organization
management, trainers do not, under normal circumstances:
1. Make organizational training decisions without the full agreement of the
organizational management.
2. Take part in the post-programme learning implementation or evaluation
unless the learners' line managers cannot or will not fulfil their training and
evaluation responsibilities.
Unless circumstances force them to behave otherwise, the trainer's role is to
provide effective training programmes and the role of the learners' line
managers is to continue the evaluation process after the training programme,
counsel and support the learner in the implementation of their learning, and
assess the cost-value effectiveness or (where feasible) the ROI of the
training. Naturally, if action will help the trainers to become more effective in
their training, they can take part in but not run any pre- and post-programme
actions as described, always remembering that these are the responsibilities
of the line manager.

leslie rae's further references and recommended
reading
Annett, Duncan, Stammers and Gray, Task Analysis, Training Information
Paper 6, HMSO, 1971.
Bartram, S. and Gibson, B., Training Needs Analysis, 2nd edition, Gower,
1997.
Bartram, S. and Gibson, B., Evaluating Training, Gower, 1999.
Bee, Frances and Roland, Training Needs Analysis and Evaluation, Institute of
Personnel and Development, 1994.
Boydell, T. H., A Guide to the Identification of Training Needs, BACIE, 1976.
Boydell, T. H., A Guide to Job Analysis, BACIE, 1970. A companion booklet to
A Guide to the Identification of Training Needs.
Bramley, Peter, Evaluating Training Effectiveness, McGraw-Hill, 1990.
Buckley, Roger and Caple, Jim, The Theory and Practice of Training, Kogan
Page, 1990.(Chapters 8 and 9)
Craig, Malcolm, Analysing Learning Needs, Gower, 1994.
Davies, I. K., The Management of Learning, McGraw-Hill, 1971. (Chapters 14
and 15.)
Easterby-Smith, M., Braiden, E. M. and Ashton, D., Auditing Management
Development, Gower, 1980.
Easterby-Smith, M., 'How to Use Repertory Grids in HRD', Journal of European
Industrial Training, Vol 4, No 2, 1980.
Easterby-Smith, M., Evaluating Management Development, Training and
Education, 2nd edition, Gower, 1994.
Fletcher, Shirley, NVQs Standards and Competence, 2nd edition, Kogan Page,
1994.
Hamblin, A. C., The Evaluation and Control of Training, McGraw-Hill, 1974.
Honey, P., 'The Repertory Grid in Action', Industrial and Commercial Training,
Vol II, Nos 9, 10 and 11, 1979.
ITOL, A Glossary of UK Training and Occupational Learning Terms, ed. J.
Brooks, ITOL, 2000.
Kelly, G.A., The Psychology of Personal Constructs, Norton, 1953.
Kirkpatrick, D. L., 'Evaluation of Training', in Training and Development
Handbook, edited by R. L. Craig, McGraw-Hill, 1976.
Kirkpatrick, D.L., Evaluating Training Programs: The four levels, Berrett-
Koehler, 1996.
Laird, D., Approaches to Training and Development, Addison-Wesley, 1978.
(Chapters 15 and 16.)
Mager, R. F., Preparing Objectives for Programmed Instruction, Fearon, 1962.
(Later re-titled: Preparing Instructional Objectives, Fearon, 1975.)
Manpower Services Commission, 'A Glossary of Training Terms', HMSO, 1981.
Newby, Tony, Validating Your Training, Kogan Page Practical Trainer Series,
1992.
Odiorne, G. S., Training by Objectives, Macmillan, 1970.
Parker, T. C., 'Statistical Methods for Measuring Training Results', in Training
and Development Handbook, edited by R. L. Craig, McGraw-Hill, 1976.
Peterson, Robyn, Training Needs Analysis in the Workplace, Kogan Page
Practical Trainer Series, 1992.
Philips, J. Handbook of Training Evaluation and Measurement, 3rd edition,
Butterworth-Heinemann, 1977
Philips, J. Return on Investment in training and Performance Improvement
Programs. Butterworth-Heinemann, 1977
Philips, P.P.P. Understanding the Basics of Return on Investment in Training,
Kogan-Page,2002
Prior, John (ed.), Handbook of Training and Development, 2nd edition,
Gower, 1994.
Rackham, N. and Morgan, T., Behaviour Analysis in Training, McGraw-Hill,
1977.
Rackham, N. et al., Developing Interactive Skills, Wellens, 1971.
Rae, L., 'Towards a More Valid End-of-Course Validation', The Training Officer,
October 1983.
Rae, L., The Skills of Human Relations Training, Gower, 1985.
Rae, L., 'How Valid is Validation?', Industrial and Commercial Training, Jan.-
Feb., 1985.
Rae, L., Using Evaluation in Training and Development, Kogan Page, 1999.
Rae, L., Effective Planning in Training and Development, Kogan Page, 2000.
Rae, L., Training Evaluation Toolkit, Echelon Learning, 2001.
Rae, L., Trainer Assessment, Gower, 2002.
Rae, L., Techniques of Training, 3rd edition, Gower, 1995. (Chapter 10.)
Robinson, K. R., A Handbook of Training Management, Kogan Page, 1981.
(Chapter 7.)
Schmalenbach, Martin, 'The Death of ROI and the Rise of a New Management
Paradigm',
Journal of the Institute of Training and Occupational Learning, Vol. 3, No.1,
2002.
Sheal, P. R., How to Develop and Present Staff Training Courses, Kogan Page,
1989.
Smith, M. and Ashton, D., 'Using Repertory Grid Techniques to Evaluate
Management Training', Personnel Review, Vol 4, No 4, 1975.
Stewart, V. and Stewart A., Managing the Manager's Growth, Gower, 1978.
(Chapter 13.)
Thurley, K. E., and Wirdenius, H., Supervision: a Re-appraisal, Heinemann,
1973.
Warr, P. B., Bird, M. and Rackham, N., The Evaluation of Management
Training, Gower, 1970.
Whitelaw, M., The Evaluation of Management Training: a Review, Institute of
Personnel Management, 1972.
Wills, Mike, Managing the Training Process, McGraw-Hill, 1993.

The core content and tools relating to workplace training evaluation is based
on the work of Leslie Rae, MPhil, Chartered FCIPD, FITOL, which is gratefully
acknowledged. Leslie Rae welcomes comments and enquiries about the
subject of training and its evaluation, and can be contacted via businessballs
or direct: Wrae804418 at aol dot com

a note about ROI (return on investment) in training
Attempting financial ROI assessment of training is a controversial issue. It's a
difficult task to do in absolute terms due to the many aspects to be taken into
account, some of which are very difficult to quantify at all, let alone to define
in precise financial terms. Investment - the cost - in training may be easier to
identify, but the benefits - the return - are notoriously tricky to pin down.
What value do you place on improved morale? Reduced stress levels? Longer
careers? Better qualified staff? Improved time management? All of these can
be benefits - returns - on training investment. Attaching a value and relating
this to a single cause, i.e., training, is often impossible. At best therefore,
many training ROI assessments are necessarily 'best estimates'.
If ROI-type measures are required in areas where reliable financial
assessment is not possible, it's advisable to agree a 'best possible' approach,
or a 'notional indicator' and then ensure this is used consistently from
occasion to occasion, year on year, course to course, allowing at least a
comparison of like with like to be made, and trends to be spotted, even if
financial data is not absolutely accurate.
In the absence of absolutely quantifiable data, find something that will
provide a useful if notional indication. For example, after training sales
people, the increased number and value of new sales made is an
indicator of sorts. After motivational or team-building training, reduced
absentee rates would be an expected output. After an extensive
management development programme, the increase in internal
management promotions would be a measurable return. Find something
to measure, rather than say it can't be done at all, but be pragmatic and limit
the time and resource spent according to the accuracy and reliability of the
input and output data. Also, refer to the very original Training Needs Analysis
that prompted the training itself - what were the business performance
factors that the training sought to improve? Use these original drivers to
measure and relate to organizational return achieved.
The problems in assessing ROI are more challenging in public and non-profit-
making organizations - government departments, charities, voluntary bodies,
etc. ROI assessment in these environments can be so difficult as to be
insurmountable, so that the organization remains satisfied with general
approximations or vague comparisons, or accepts wider forms of justification
for the training without invoking detailed costing.
None of this is to say that cost- and value-effectiveness assessment should
not be attempted. At the very least, direct costs must be controlled within
agreed budgets, and if it is possible, attempts at more detailed returns should
be made.
It may be of some consolation to know that Jack Philips, an American ROI
'guru', recently commented about training ROI: "Organisations should be
considering implementing ROI impact studies very selectively on only 5 to 10
per cent of their training programme, otherwise it becomes incredibly
expensive and resource intensive."

training evaluation research
This research extract is an example of the many survey findings that indicate
the need to improve evaluation of training and learning. It is useful to refer to
the Kirkpatrick Learning Evaluation model to appreciate the different stages at
which learning and training effectiveness should be evaluated.
Research published the UK's British Learning Association in May 2006 found
that 72% (of a representative sample) of the UK's leading learning
professionals considered that learning tends not to lead to change.
Only 51% of respondents said that learning and training was evaluated
several months after the learning or training intervention.
The survey was carried out among delegates of the 2006 conference of the
UK's British Learning Association.
Speaking on the findings, David Wolfson, Chairman of the British Learning
Association said, "These are worrying figures from the country's leading
learning professionals. If they really do reflect training in the UK, then we
have to think long and hard about how to make the changes that training is
meant to give. It suggests that we have to do more - much more - to ensure
that learning interventions really make a difference..."
The British Learning Association is a centre of expertise that produces best
practice examples, identifies trends and disseminates information on both
innovative and well-established techniques and technologies for learning. The
aim is to synthesise existing knowledge, develop original solutions and
disseminate this to a wide cross sector membership.

summary
There are many different ways to assess and evaluate training and learning.
Remember that evaluation is for the learner too - evaluation is not just
for the trainer or organisation.
Feedback and test results help the learner know where they are, and directly
affect the learner's confidence and their determination to continue with the
development - in some cases with their own future personal development
altogether.
Central to improving training and learning is the question of bringing more
meaning and purpose to people's lives, aside from merely focusing on
skills and work-related development and training courses.
Learning and training enables positive change and improvement - for people
and employers - when people's work is aligned with people's lives - their
strengths, personal potential, goals and dreams - outside work as well as at
work.
Evaluation of training can only effective if the training itself is effective and
appropriate. Testing the wrong things in the wrong way will give you
unhelpful data, and could be even more unhelpful for learners.
Consider people's learning styles when evaluating personal development.
Learning styles are essentially a perspective of people's preferred working,
thinking and communicating styles. Written tests do not enable all types of
people to demonstrate their competence.
Evaluating retention of knowledge only is a very limited form of assessment.
It will not indicate how well people apply their learning and development in
practice. Revisit Kirkpatrick's Theory and focus as much as you can on how
the learning and development is applied, and the change and improvements
achieved, in the working situation.
See the notes about organizational change and ethical leadership to
help understand and explain these principles further, and how to
make learning and de Nature of Training
The goal of the program is to train tomorrows leaders in academic Hepatology who will become
faculty at medical schools throughout the country. The fellowship year is ACGME accredited and will
qualify candidates for advanced UNOS certification in Liver Transplantation. It also offers thorough
exposure to both outpatient and inpatient management of a wide variety of acute and chronic liver
diseases. The Section maintains a busy inpatient and consultation service, and provides clinical
support to one of the largest liver transplant programs in the United States. The University of Florida
performed the first liver transplant in the State of Florida and currently performs between 60 and 80
transplants per year. The 8 faculty of the Section also have strong clinical and basic research
interests, focusing primarily on the immunopathogenesis, treatment of chronic hepatitis B & C,
NAFLD and PBC. Our faculty are fully trained Hepatologists as defined by the Task Force on
Training in Hepatology (Berk PD, et al). There are currently more than 10 active clinical trials and
several additional ancillary studies. The Liver Research Unit has an impressive record of academic
achievement with more than $8 million in research funding and nearly 200 publications. In addition,
the Liver unit is part of an active NIH funded training program and has a proud history of training
both clinical and basic research hepatologists. In addition, all fellows are required to participate in a
meaningful clinical or translational research project, with the goal of developing an independent
research career in Hepatology and compete for extramural funding.
The fellows and faculty in the program will share patient co-management responsibilities with
transplant surgeons from the preoperative phase to the outpatient period.
velopment more meaningful and appealing for people.
Functional training
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Functional training is a classification of exercise which involves training the body for the activities performed
in daily life.
Contents
[hide]
1 Origins
2 Benefits
o 2.1 Functional training for sports
o 2.2 Functional training rehabilitation in patients after stroke
3 Equipment
o 3.1 Cable machines
4 Components of a functional exercise program
5 References
Origins[edit]
Functional training has its origins in rehabilitation. Physical and Occupational therapists often use this approach
to retrain patients with movement disorders. Interventions are designed to incorporate task and context specific
practice in areas meaningful to each patient, with an overall goal of functional independence.
[1]
For example,
exercises that mimic what patients did at home or work may be included in treatment in order to help them
return to their lives or jobs after an injury or surgery. Thus if a patient's job required repeatedly heavy lifting,
rehabilitation would be targeted towards heavy lifting, if the patient were a parent of young children, it would be
targeted towards moderate lifting and endurance, and if the patient were a marathon runner, training would be
targeted towards re-building endurance. However, treatments are designed after careful consideration of the
patients condition, what he or she would like to achieve, and ensuring goals of treatment are realistic and
achievable.
Functional training attempts to adapt or develop exercises which allow individuals to perform the activities of
daily life more easily and without injuries.
[2]

In the context of body building, functional training involves mainly weight bearing activities targeted at
core muscles of the abdomen and lower back. Fabio Martella wrote that most fitness facilities have a variety
of weight training machines which target and isolate specific muscles. As a result the movements do not
necessarily bear any relationship to the movements people make in their regular activities or sports.
In rehabilitation, training does not necessarily have to involve weight bearing activities, but can target any task
or a combination of tasks that a patient is having difficulty with. Balance (ability) training, for example, is often
incorporated into a patients treatment plan if it has been impaired after injury or disease.
Benefits[edit]
Functional training for sports[edit]
Functional training, if performed correctly, will lead to better joint mobility and stability, as well as more efficient
motor patterns. Improving these factors decreases the potential for an injury sustained during an athletic
endeavor. performance in a sport.
[citation needed]
The benefits may arise from the use of training that emphasizes
the body's natural ability to move in six degrees of freedom.
[3]
In comparison, though machines appears to be
safer to use, they restrict movements to a single plane of motion, which is an unnatural form of movement for
the body and may potentially lead to faulty movement patterns or injury.
[4]
In 2009 Spennewyn conducted
research, published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research which compared functional training
to fixed variable training techniques, this was considered the first research of its type comparing the two
methods of strength training.
Results of the study showed very substantial gains and benefits in the functional training group over fixed
training equipment. Functional users had a 58% greater increase in strength over the fixed-form group. Their
improvements in balance were 196% higher over fixed and reported an overall decrease in joint pain by 30%.
[5]

Functional training rehabilitation in patients after stroke[edit]
Rehabilitation after stroke has evolved over the past 15 years from conventional treatment techniques to task
specific training techniques which involve training of basic functions, skills and endurance (muscular and
cardiovascular).
[6]
Functional training has been well supported in evidenced based research for rehabilitation of
this population.
[6][7][8]
It has been shown that task specific training yields long-lasting cortical reorganization
which is specific to the areas of the brain being used with each task.
[8]
Studies have also shown that patients
make larger gains in functional tasks used in their rehabilitation and since they are more likely to continue
practicing these tasks in everyday living, better results during follow-up are obtained.
[6


Roles and Responsibilities of the Training Programme
Directors
The Training Programme Director has a key role in managing the specialist training programme of the
specialty. The fundamental role is that of co-ordinator and communicator between Specialist Registrars, the
Postgraduate Dean, the Specialty Training Committee, and the appropriate Royal College or Faculty.
Roles and Responsibilities
1. Administration and management of the training programme(s)
2. Participation in the appointments process
3. Overseeing the delivery of the training
4. Monitoring and inspection of posts
Administration and Management
This includes:
in collaboration with the Chair of the STC, the identification of appropriate training placements/slots ensuring
that trainees are placed only in educational and Deanery approved training placements that reflect the level of
training appropriate to the individual trainee
advising the Operations Department of rotational changes to the training programme, allowing adequate notice
for information to be passed to Trusts and trainees
input to the local (specialty specific) assessment process which informs the Annual Review
participation in the Annual Review (RITA/ARCP) process; this will enable the Programme Director to assess
the progress of the individual trainee and plan their further training
in collaboration with the STC "leads" concerned, ensuring that the interests of flexible trainees, trainees in
academic medicine and research attachments, and overseas doctors, are respected and protected
Participation in the appointments process
This includes:
liaison with theOperations Department based within Shared Services. It is essential that the Programme
Director is made aware of the resignation of Specialist Registrars. The Programme Director may be involved in
approving the wording of the advertisement, drawing up the person specification and specialty-training
prospectus. In order to ensure that appropriate approval has been received, the attached form (Appendix A)
must be completed before appointment can be authorised
close involvement with the short-listing and interview processes. The Programme Director will be responsible
for allocating, in conjunction with the appointment committee, the successful candidates to the vacant
placements and may be required to set the trainee's provisional CCST/CCT date in accordance with Royal
College/Faculty guidelines
Delivery of Training
This includes:
establishment of an appropriate training programme in accordance with the Royal College/Faculty curriculum,
and in liaison with other members of the STC/MSTC
in collaboration with the STC lead on flexible training, co-ordination of appropriate training programmes for
flexible trainees
assessment of the individual needs of trainees and advising local educational supervisors of defined trainee
objectives agreed at annual review (RITA/ARCP)
recommendation of placement for those requiring targeted or remedial training
advising on the appropriateness of time spent out of programme, ensuring that Shared Services paperwork
(OOPE form) is completed by the trainee and signed by a member of the STC; ensuring that the resulting
'gaps' are appropriately filled
counselling of individual trainees, particularly where local tutors are unable or inappropriate to fulfil this
function, and alerting the STC/MSTC chairman and the Head of School with designated responsibility for the
specialty for the need for 'trouble-shooting' at Trust level
advice to the Shared Services regarding the transfer of trainees between deaneries, in consultation with the
STC Chair
Monitoring and Inspection
This includes:
considering opportunities and bids for new STR posts and advising the Shared Services of requests to
establish new posts (the final decision rests with the Dean Director)
advising the Shared Services/LETBs regarding local increases or decreases in numbers of trainees and/or
posts in line with national allocations
advising the STC Chair and/or Regional Adviser of training difficulties to be addressed in specific trusts, and
recommended temporary approval of posts for training pending SAC inspection, etc
providing reports to support the Annual Review process
It is important to note that the Programme Director and Training Committee Chairman must maintain close
liaison with regard to the management of the training programme. Whereas the Programme Director provides
the main point of contact for the trainee, the Chairman's role is to oversee the activity of the Committee overall,
to liaise with SACs, Trusts and Shared Services on specific problems encountered, and support the
Programme Director(s).
Shared Services advises that, generally, the role of the Programme Director and Chair of the STC should be
taken by separate individuals to spread the work load, allow sharing of difficult decisions, and facilitate any
subsequent appeals against decisions made by one or the other. Other member of the Committee should be
nominated to represent the specific needs of flexible trainees, those in academic medicine and research
attachments, and overseas doctors.
General
The Programme Director receives a contribution to costs from Shared Services or LETB, based on trainee
numbers, to support his/her activity, and some have succeeded in negotiating sessional and NHS secretarial
time with their consultant colleagues and Chief Executive.
Training Features
Open training
The open training program is unfolded in following issues: general management (including Executive Management Program,
MBA Core Courses Training Program, Multinational Management Program), corporate development strategy, organizational
efficiency, human resources, marketing strategy and management, financial management, operational management, information
management and E-commerce, innovation and transformation, hot topics of China economy.
Customized training
To deal with various demands firm by firm, the school has developed customized training programs, which put into account the
industrial background, external environment, market status, organizational reality, as well as other specific demands by
companies. In-depth survey, determination of goal and development plans, evaluation steps and feedback process are necessary
before any customized training program is reached.
Chaired by reputable professors and scholars of the school, the customized training programs are featured with rich pools of
training methods and ample training content, enabling the in-training corporate managers to put what they learn into practice. We
are open to advices and suggestions related to the program advancements.
Compared with MBA education and other degree-conferring programs, the executive manager training program resorts to
advanced training methods more than anything else, so as to realize effective training purposes. We are trying to:
Arrange the curricula in an evenly condensed way
We understand that each student who has come to attend the training programs is in a vital position of a company, and risks
extremely high opportunity costs in learning what should meet their demands during the training, which seeks to allow our
students to acquire necessary skills from as condensed and reasonably sound a structure of curricula arrangement as possible.
Highlight the faculty-and-students interactions
It wonderfully complements each other as that our students of the training programs have richly accumulated management
experiences, and that our faculty members are equipped with internationally standardized, systematic guidelines of professional
management knowledge. Eyeing that, it is undoubtedly a necessity that our students interact extensively with the faculty
members, so much so that they both benefit from their interactions.
Advocate the student-to-student communication on an extensive scale
The more our students communicate with each other, the better the purposes of training will be fulfilled. The collision of views
and ideas among them runs to reach an often surprising outcome of learning for students, which hopefully goes nowhere short of
what theyve learned in class in terms of training efficiency.
Four Characteristics of an Effective Training Program That
Allows Employees to Learn Best
by Kermit Burley, Demand Media
Malcolm Knowles, considered to be one of the founders of adult learning theory, states in his book "The Adult
Learner, A Neglected Species" that "Adults are motivated to devote energy to learn something to the extent
they perceive that it will help them perform tasks or deal with problems that they confront in their life
situations." Effective training programs understand this and relate training materials to the actual skills your
employees need to become successful. Associates must understand why they are taking the training and how it
directly impacts their jobs.
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Learning Objectives
Effective training programs answer your employees' question of "Why am I taking this program?" The design
of every training program must begin with learning objectives. Instructional designers need to create their
programs with specific objectives that their trainees must accomplish. These objectives must also relate to
actual skills that your employees need to be more successful at their jobs. Trainers must also mention these
objectives at the beginning of every training module. You will discover that your employees are more actively
engaged and learn more when they clearly understand how training relates to their jobs.
Involvement
An effective characteristic of all good training programs is active involvement for all participants. Adults need
to be a part of their training, and a good training program has frequent exercises built into it. Practice sessions
at the end of each training module are a good way to involve your trainees. Conduct role plays, games or small
group problem-solving activities to make your students a part of their training. Vary activities from individual
to small-group and large-group exercises so that every trainee has an opportunity to participate.
Related Reading: How to Make Effective Employee Training Improvements
Opportunity to Share Experiences
Adults bring a lot of experience to your training program. Effective training programs use this experience
frequently and allow ample opportunity for everyone to share their experiences. Design your training program
so that new concepts can be discussed and reviewed. Adults want to add these new skills to what they have
experienced in the past and build on that knowledge. For true learning to take place, trainees need time to
reflect on what they have just learned and then discover how to apply it back on the job.
Make it Fun
Robert Pike, in his book "Creative Training Techniques Handbook," states that "Learning is directly
proportional to the amount of fun you have." Effective training programs make learning fun as often as
possible. Allow laughter into your learning, and design games and practice opportunities that create time for
the participants to enjoy what they are doing. Creative and fun activities can be designed into your training
programs, and your employees will remember and apply the training long after the workshop is complete.
Evaluating Training Programs: Kirkpatrick's 4 Levels

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The most widely used and popular model for the evaluation of training programs is known as "The Four Levels of Learning Evaluation." The model was defined in 1959 by
Donald L. Kirkpatrick in a series of articles that appeared in the US Training and Development Journal. Kirkpatrick redefined the evaluation model with his 1998 book
"Evaluating Training Programs: The Four Levels."

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The idea behind the model is for an organization to have meaningful evaluation of learning in the organization. The degree of difficulty increases as you move through the
levels. However, the knowledge learned regarding the effectiveness of the training program more than compensates for this.
The four levels of the model are:
Level 1: Reaction
Level 2: Learning
Level 3: Behavior
Level 4: Results
Level 1: Reaction
Kirkpatrick refers to Level 1 as a measure of customer satisfaction. Most of the forms that people fill out at the end of a class or workshop are instruments for measuring Level
1. Here are 8 guidelines that Kirkpatrick recommends to get maximum benefit from reaction sheets:
1. Determine what you want to find out
2. Design a form that will quantify reactions
3. Encourage written comments and suggestions
4. Get a 100 percent immediate response
5. Get honest responses
6. Develop acceptable standards
7. Measure reactions against standards and take the appropriate action
8. Communicate reactions as appropriate.
Level 2: Learning
Kirkpatrick defines learning as the extent to which participants change attitudes, increase knowledge, and/or increase skill as a result of attending a program. So to measure
learning we need to determine the following:
What knowledge was learned
What skills were developed or improved
What attitudes were changed
Here are guidelines for evaluating learning:
1. Use a control group if it is practical
2. Evaluate knowledge, skills, and/or attitudes both before and after the program. Use a paper and pencil test to measure knowledge and attitudes and use a performance test
to measure skills.
3. Get a 100 percent response
4. Use the results of the evaluation to take appropriate action.
Level 3: Behavior
Level three can be defined as the extent to which a change in behavior has occurred because someone attended a training program. In order for change in behavior to occur,
four conditions are necessary:
The person must have a desire to change
The person must know what to do and how to do it
The person must work in the right climate
The person must be rewarded for changing
Here are some guidelines for evaluating behavior:
1. Use a control group if that is practical
2. Allow time for a change in behavior to take place
3. Evaluate both before and after the program if that is practical
4. Survey and/or interview one or more of the following: trainees, their immediate supervisors, their subordinates and others who often observe their behavior.
5. Get a 100 percent response
6. Repeat the evaluation at appropriate times
7. Consider cost versus benefits
Level 4: Results
This involves measuring the final results that occurred because a person attended a training session. This can include increased production, improved work quality, reduced
turnover, etc.
Level four can be difficult because you must determine what final results occurred because of attendance and participation in a training program.
You must also evaluate the conditions that the trainee is operating in. It is important to determine whether the conditions set forth above in Level 3 have been met. If there are
conditions in the office that prevent the trainee from using the knowledge that they have learned, than the training can not be faulted for not "doing the job." The problem lies in
the conditions that the employee is working in. How many times have you heard, "Oh, forget what you learned in training, that's not how we do it in this office." This is a clear
example a a conditional problem with the operating environment.
Here are some guidelines for evaluating results:
1. Use a control group if it is practical
2. Allow time for results to be achieved
3. Measure both before and after the program if it is practical
4. Repeat the measurement at appropriate times
5. Consider cost versus benefit
6. Be satisfied with evidence if proof is not possible
Summary
https://www.google.co.in/search?q=training+program&oq=training+program&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l5.1
2301j0j8&sourceid=chrome&es_sm=93&ie=UTF-8#q=evaluation+of+training+program
https://www.google.co.in/search?q=training+program&oq=training+program&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l5.1
2301j0j8&sourceid=chrome&es_sm=93&ie=UTF-8#q=example+of+training+program
https://www.google.co.in/search?q=training+program&oq=training+program&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l5.1
2301j0j8&sourceid=chrome&es_sm=93&ie=UTF-8#q=+scope+of+training+program+
https://www.google.co.in/search?q=training+program&oq=training+program&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l5.1
2301j0j8&sourceid=chrome&es_sm=93&ie=UTF-
8#q=disdvantage+of+training+program+in+enterpenureship
The conclusion of a training program entitled
(Promoting scientific research capabilities of the faculty members)
The Deanship of the University Education Development concluded the activities of the
training program for the faculty ( men )entitled promotion of the scientific research
capabilities of the faculty members/( Creating Research Capacity).
It will be in the training hall deanship Development of Higher Education, 2077 College
of Business Administration on Monday and Tuesday, 29 - 30/4/1434 e, in the presence
of 43 participants..
The Dean of the development of university education Dr. Sameehan bin Nasser Rashidi
explained that the Deanship for this program hosted Dr. Ghassan Awad ,Branch
Manager Australian University of Wollongong in Dubai.
His Excellency pointed out that this training program is part of a plan of activities that
the deanship is adopting for the current year 1433/1434 AH in hosting external
trainers who have distinguished themselves in their academic fields.

Conclusion
Training and development helps the growth of a business.
Siemens has a clear focus on having a well-motivated and trained workforce. The
company needs to have motivated and confident staff who have up-to-date skills in
order to remain competitive. In addition, well-trained staff are an asset to the
business and help to retain customers.
Well-trained staff who remain with the business mean that customers enjoy
continuity. This contributes to customer loyalty and leads to repeat business.


Read more: http://businesscasestudies.co.uk/siemens/training-and-development-as-
a-strategy-for-growth/conclusion.html#ixzz2x4scIP1v
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For Trainers
WHAT MAKES AN ORGANIZATION'S TRAINING PLAN STRATEGIC?
Jeannette Gerzon
Organization and Employee Development
MIT Human Resources
November 2011
To ensure the organization is served in both the short and longer term, a strategic
approach to training is key. Training itself, of course, varies in delivery methods
from e-learning segments taken online, to live classroom training, to off-site
programs, learning on-the-job, cohort-based webinars, and other formats. Given
delivery options as well as many other variables, what does it mean for an
organizations approach to training and learning to be strategic?
Fundamentally, a strategy involves a plan to get from a starting point to a
particular goal or set of goals. A strategic training plan would involve articulating
these intended outcomes and a combination of several related aspects. These
include but are not limited to the following aspects:
Clearly articulated outcomes
These may be called desired outcomes, goals, results, or end-states. For a plan to
be strategic, intended outcomes need to be articulated, decided, and supported.
The destination provides the focus, and with clarity about the focus, a strategy to
reach it can be developed.
Guiding Principles
Before or soon after the process of articulating the desired outcomes, it can be
helpful to delineate the guiding principles that support the inherent values of the
organization. For example, Providing timely and effective feedback to staff is
important to our organizations success, might be a principle that could help guide
the development of a training program for managers. In this way, management
development programs might refer to a model for feedback that is used throughout
the different management training sessions. Articulating the guiding principles
supports organization values and provides direction for the process in reaching the
goals.
Impact on the organizations mission and operations
A training plan is strategic if it fundamentally underscores and impacts the
organizations operations and mission. This bottom line may be increased revenue
or it may be other aspects that impact the fundamental focus of that organization.
Desired results must be articulated and benefit the future state of the organization.
For example, by ensuring training is standardized for project managers, project
timeframes and deadlines may be more accurate and achievable.
Senior leaders and management involvement
Both senior members and managers should be aware, supportive, and engaged in
the program planning and offerings. Without their involvement, staff may conclude
the training does not matter to these senior leaders. With senior staff and
management input and presence, staff know they can take the time to attend the
trainings and be supported on the job. In addition, to bridge classroom or online
learning programs to actual on-the-job needs, the role of the front-line manager
cannot be underestimated. If John in department B takes a two-day training on
meeting facilitation skills, but returns to his home office and never facilitates a
meeting, the trainings use is limited. Bridging the connection between the formal
and informal depends on the front line manager who needs to be specifically
involved. This involvement may include choice of training, content, on-the-job
support, measurement, and other aspects.
Current state assessment
Most training programs should include a needs assessment to determine specific
training needs. Needs assessments involve many of the factors noted above and
provide strategic insight into, literally, the what that is needed. However,
sometimes a group or an area already knows its needs. For example, if software
has just been updated, it may be obvious that staff need training to use it. This
just-in-time training addresses an immediate need and is more tactically focused.
Sometimes, just-in-time training is delivered alongside long-term planning. That is,
just-in-time training and assessing needs do not need to oppose each other. Both
may be just what is needed. Often, a gap assessment is also explored and clarified.
A gap assessment identifies the gap between the current state and the futures
goals, and then training can be provided to meet these needs.
Measurement/sustainability
How will the training results be measured and sustained? Although these are two
different questions, they go hand-in-hand because it is difficult to ensure
sustainability without measurement. Also, different types of measurement and
different returns on the resource investment to take these measurements need
careful consideration. This resource investment includes staffing and other
resources to develop, organize, and implement chosen measures. There are
numerous trainings available on return on investment (ROI) and different
calculations and processes from which the ROI might be determined. Exploring
these choices of measurement and making decisions regarding best use of
resources assist in reaching the desired goals. In other words: if the cost of
measurement exceeds the use of the measurement, such measures are not
strategic. At the same time, without clear measures, it can be difficult to sustain
the training and know if it is producing the desired results. So, it is important to
explore the measurement options and make choices that work well for the
organization.
End-user Input
Although sometimes overlooked, end-user input in both the assessment as well as
later phases, facilitates strategic planning. This might be done through focus
groups, interviews, surveys, or a combination of these options. Does the training
plan incorporate and meet the perspective of those very people who will use it? If
so, strategic goals are far more likely to be reached.
Performance measures
How is performance measured in the organization and how does this relate to the
training plan? If Lee takes a training on rolling out a new software program for his
department, is he measured on his success in doing so? If Lee takes this training,
but in his performance review is rated on entirely other measures, the training does
not relate directly to his review. For an organizations training plan to be strategic,
the connection to performance reviews and measures to that training is critical. If
connected, the organization enhances its strategic orientation because training is
then applied, literally, to what is expected to happen on the job. This means that it
is far more likely the goals will be reached.
Time frame
Developing the timeframe as part of the goal will support reaching the goals
successfully for the organization. Timeframes vary. Some groups now plan in
tighter timeframes given the speed and pace of todays technology and workplace.
While some think in terms of 1-3 months, others in 1-3 or 3-5 year spans. Choosing
the timeliness of trainings is also key to answering the question of whether the
learning can be fully applied on the job. For success, infrastructure (e.g.,
management support) is needed to ensure applicability and sustainability within the
timeframe as planned.
Development and planning
Who will lead these efforts forward and with what team and sponsorship?
Designating the players including a project manager is key to reaching training
goals. Delineating the actions to be taken, the schedule, and the roles (what, when,
who) allows for successful implementation.
Summary
A starting point, clear goals, and a plan to reach these goals suggest a strategic
orientation. To be successful, however, implementation planning, compelling
communications, and inspired teaching are essential. Also key is the participation
level of those who attend. Strategy can create the structure for excellent instruction
and training. However, it is the combination of strategy with inspired instruction
and dedicated participation that is most likely to genuinely satisfy the outcomes.