Training Effectiveness: My Experience

A training that I have attended that I found to be especially beneficial was my CPR and First Aid training. This training was beneficial to me, and my classmates, for a multitude of reasons- the first being that it taught us life saving skills that can be used throughout our lives. The other ways that this training proved to be beneficial was through its effectiveness. This hands-on training experience was well-coordinated and administered, provided opportunities for practice, communicated the relevance of the training, and created a sense of meaningfulness (Week 6, Lecture One: Developing Training Programs). All of the information within this training proved to be meaningful, valid, and reliable (Week 6, Lecture Two: Evaluating Training Effectiveness).

While I have attended many trainings and courses that were both effective and beneficial, I have attended a few that were not. The first that comes to mind was a training that was meant to be a team-building exercise at one of my previous places of employment. We were required to take a personality assessment prior to the training, and then during the training itself we discussed the four (yes, only four) different types of personalities, and how they fit into the workplace. I did not find this training to be beneficial because it did not have an impact on employee performance, it didn’t teach any new skills, and the content simply did not feel meaningful (W6 Lecture One). Many of my colleagues felt the same way: that categorizing an otherwise large and diverse group of people into four, vague categories was not the most effective group-building exercise.

Ultimately, I’ve found that the key to training effectiveness is to include at least three factors: 

1. Teach a useful skill, or obtain new knowledge (why is the training relevant)
2. Make the content meaningful
3. Be well-coordinated and administered