Design the Training Plan; Use ADDIE Model

Determine the group or individuals who will receive the training

The training is for all employees because the training will change the way the business is conducted and introduce new systems that will help SW to increase productivity while decreasing the workload and stress of the employees.

Identify the training issue

The issue right now is that the direction that SW Insurance wants to go in is totally new to the company and will change the way business is being conducted. The training needed will be on new components and will increase customer service.

Questionnaire

· Which areas of technology do you feel comfortable with?

Database, emailing, networking and operations, online sales

· Please expand more on why you need the module chosen above.

· Explain your goal for training.

· If any, provide ideas from previous training/conferences that can be recommended.

· Give us more suggestions on how you would like registration to be handled.

· Would you accept paying for outside trainers?

· What is your current job position?

Customer service provider, supervisor, executive, manager

· Please give your employment basis?

Full time, part time

· How long have you been working for the company?

· What is the best time for you to attend the training classes?

Morning, lunch, afternoon or at night

· Please give the most convenient day for you to take lessons?

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday.

· What is the best method for conducting the training? Classroom, internet, video

· Provide the factors that would affect you to register the training lessons: location, lecturer, price, program length, training goals

· From a scale of 1-10, How important are the following training topics:

· Grievance Procedure

· Employee Performance Management

· Customer Service Skills

· Workplace Ethics

· Conflict Management

· Strategic Planning/Organizational Skills

· Hiring & Firing Procedures

· Presentation Skills

· Stress Management

· Cultural Diversity

· Compensation & Benefits

· Sexual Harassment

· Recruitment & Retention

· Workplace Violence

· Supervisory Skills

SW Insurance felt the need to change because of the need to do business better and to adapt to the wants and needs of the consumers. The questionnaire will enable management and the training department to be understand the view point of employees in relation to the need of training. It will also provide an avenue to gather information from the employees since this questionnaire is targeting everyone and every level. This process will lead to effectively developing an employee training program that will increase company productivity while also building morale and confidence in the employees through training.

Training Outcomes

Outcome 1: Identify the Need

It was known prior to the TNA that SW Insurance had a need for training but exactly what kind of need was unknown. SW is going into a new era of business operations with their automation program and for the leadership and supervisors, it was very important to have a clear direction. This new direction is foreign to all of the employees and figuring out the extent of the need is crucial to coming up with a plan of attack.

The survey that was introduced in part 1 helped create a list of needs and goals arising from the employee’s questions and comments. Because of the survey the leadership has an idea of what areas of the new direction the employees feel the most and least comfortable with. This leads into figuring out what areas should be targeted the most in order to ensure there isn’t any problems with production.

The extent of the need is known based off the answer from the survey and now they have an idea of what kind of commitment they must make. This is important because the leadership learned how far they have to go and what kind or type of financial commitment they will have to give. The financial part is always important in order to completely understand what kinds of risks and sacrifices the leadership are willing to make when it terms of training.

Outcome 2: Skills and Performance Discrepancies

Right now SW Insurance conducts all business face-to-face with very good production and customer service. There is no issue right now but the answers deriving from the question “what areas of technology do you feel comfortable with” coming from the survey do not make the leadership feel comfortable. There is an alarming amount of employees that feel they will not be able to produce like they normally would under the current business model.

The employees are scared of the change because everything they knew will only be used sparingly compared to how they operate now. This new direction is a totally new change and the leadership knew there was going to be some concerns amongst the employees especially the more experienced ones but not on this magnitude. This is a skill and confidence deficiency that can be fixed over time through training and actual performance.

This type of problem requires an adequate amount of training and practice in order to fix. It is important for team leaders and supervisors to determine the current skills and consider the fact of how those skills fit in with the new goals and business model of SW Insurance. A good tool may be to provide some realistic scenarios during the training in order get a better idea of the progress and to also match the employee capabilities with the organization’s needs. Also if supervisors can determine that the skill needed to perform a task and the current skills of the employees, providing practice and opportunities may raise the skill level and confidence.

Outcome 3: Employee Satisfaction

There are times that training may not be the only situation. The employees are not very satisfied with the new change of direction because it is a change of what the employees are used to. Some employees do understand the change and are excited about the new opportunity but there is a worry amongst the majority. This is outside of the TNA but it is important to know where the employees stand because this will give the leadership and supervisors an idea of how effective the training will be.

It will be very crucial and important for the leadership to get involved and explaining their reasoning and the benefits of the automation program. This company is very “old school” and to keep up with the competition, this change is a must. The leadership must relay this to the employees that are reluctant of the change in order to get them to buy in.

In order for the employees to reach the goals of SW Insurance they all must complete the training and become familiar with the new systems and technology involved. Once the training has started the leadership and/or supervisors must ensure that employees are being recognized for their efforts and performance. At the end of the day the leadership must recognize that the employees are needed and for the employees to trust and understand the vision of SW Insurance and how advantageous it is to them to buy in not only for job security but also for revenue.

Expected Performance

In a perfect world every organization will get the very best from their employees in order to meet the vision and goals of the organization. Sometimes that is naïve to think because nothing can be perfect especially with a full scale change. After conducting the TNA and identifying some discrepancies it is safe to say that SW Insurance is going to be very realistic. SW expect there to be some bumps in the road especially with the technology aspect but do have high expectations for the future.

SW Insurance expects their employees to become proficient with all aspects through experience once the training is complete. In order to do this, they have come up with a plan to slowly implement a plan to phase out the “old school” way. They have announced a deadline of one year after all training is complete for the phase in/phase out.

With this expectation employees, will be better able to adjust and start to understand what their new job requirements and tasks. Along with this, the managers will be able to understand how important the tasks of the employees are, the amount of knowledge needed to perform those tasks, and how difficult each task is and whether or not they were provided with enough resources and training to prepare them for these tasks. Employee performance will also help SW Insurance determine how effective the training was which will help further develop the training for future employees while also reducing turnover.

Performance Gaps

SW Insurance relies on their employees to perform up to the standards of the company but there are also some areas that must be dealt with by the organization such as performance gaps. Some performance gaps that can hinder the overall progress are employee vs organization priorities and dealing with the unknowns.

Employee vs Organization Priorities

As stated earlier, SW Insurance has decided to venture into a new era which has created a change. The employees now feel their satisfaction is top priority while SW Insurance feels the success of the change as theirs. This is very important to identify early because the employees are the #1 resource of SW Insurance and a middle ground has to be found in order ensure everyday success and complete success of the change.

The Unknown

The new automation program that SW Insurance is transitioning into is new to everyone across the board. Because of this there is always going to be unknowns even if all of the current concerns are addressed and solved. Because there is going to be unknowns, SW Insurance leaders will have to deal with those unknowns when they appear which can stop the progress of the change.

References

Benjamin, T. (n.d.). The Reasons to Train in a High Turnover Business | Chron.com. Retrieved November 1, 2015, from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/reasons-train-high-turnover-business-35904.html

ontana, P. (2014). How to Accommodate Different Adult Learning Styles in Company Training Programs | Chron.com. Retrieved from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/accommodate-different-adult-learning-styles-company-training-programs-60121.html

Training Needs Assessment Survey from HR-Survey.com. (2016). Retrieved from http://www.hr-survey.com/TrainingNeeds.htm