Train your users before rolling out new software
Deb Shinder
Published: 13 Mar 2006 17:25 GMT
...are several factors to take into consideration:
- User skill levels as determined by your needs assessment
- Number of users to be trained
- Timeframe for rollout of the software (and whether you'll be doing it in phases or throughout the entire organisation at once)
There are several different methods for delivering training, and you may want to use a combination of these, especially in a large organisation. The least effective is, unfortunately, the one used by most small organisations and many larger ones: the IT equivalent of throwing the kid in the water and letting him sink or swim. Suddenly the new OS or application appears on the end-user's computer, perhaps with a copy of the manual, and it's up to the user to figure it out and the company's IT support desk to untangle the messes the user gets into. Some better training methods include:
- Individual hands-on instructor — An instructor walks each user individually through the process of performing common tasks and answers questions. This is the most expensive method, although potentially the most effective.
- Hands-on, classroom-style instructor-led training — An instructor shows users how the software works and how to perform common tasks, with users performing the tasks themselves in a classroom/lab setting. Each user or pair of users has a computer on which to practice. Classes of 15 to 30 are often effective.
- Seminar style group demonstration — An instructor shows users how the software works and how to perform common tasks in a live demonstration. Groups of 20 to 50 are often effective.
- Computer Based Training — CD-based or online self-paced training which allows end-users to complete interactive lessons that walk them through the processes of performing common tasks, and the software tests them on their performance and understanding.
- Book-based self-paced training — End-users complete workbook lessons in how to perform common tasks, often illustrated with screenshots.
Whichever training methods you choose, it's helpful to first conduct a pilot training programme of a small, selected group of users that best represent your overall user base. This will help you to identify problems and issues with various training methods before committing to one.
Creating a training programme
End-user training is more effective and memorable if you tailor it to your own organisation's use of the software, rather than generic lessons. For example Microsoft Word instruction should include examples of actual templates that your users will be using for their documents. Some elements of your lesson plan should include:
- The purpose of the software.
- Tasks the user will complete with the software
- How it differs from previous versions or products it's replacing (if applicable)
- Common problems users may encounter
- Security issues related to the software
Making your training programme scalable
A scalable training program is flexible enough to accommodate both small numbers of users (for example, when new employees join the company and need to be trained on the software) and large numbers (as is necessary in an organisation-wide rollout of a new product).
You can get many of the benefits of individualised training without the high cost by using a combination of computer-based training and seminar-style training where users can ask questions and practice the skills with guidance from an instructor. Computer-based training has the advantage of being able to scale up or down depending on the number of users you need to train, and users are able to proceed at their own pace, rather than having to keep up with or being held back by the rest of the class.
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