Why your business needs role-based training for new employees

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Why Your Business Needs Role-based Training for New Employees

May 21, 2019 | 4 Min Read

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Why your business needs role-based training for new employees

For any business, understanding how to train new employees efficiently so they can operate with maximum efficiency is always a priority. Despite an increasing need for specialized training as more and more millennials enter the workforce, many businesses overlook how useful role-based training can be.

This article will detail why role-based training works, and how role-based training can assist HR and L&D managers in their roles.

 

What is Role-based Training?

Role-based training is the term used to describe most learning activities centred around the practical application of learned skills. For example, in a retail setting, a role-based training exercise could be having new cashiers-in-training operate a real cash register.

They can check out items a manager or trainer brings to them, sign that trainer or manager up for a company card if possible, and then void the purchase at the end of the exercise. In this way, the cashier-in-training learns what checking out a real customer with a functional cash register will entail. Role-based training exercises can (and should) be developed for almost every role within a company, particularly entry-level roles.

Many organizations have had great success implementing gamification into their training programs, increasing trainee engagement, skill retention, and creating an ongoing learning environment. Bring these benefits to your onboarding and training with our on-demand webinar on getting gamification started:

WATCH: Gamification 101 – What It Is and How to Get Started?


How to Use Role-based Training

Before going over why role-based training is so effective, it's important to understand what you'll want to include in your own role-based training exercises. Here are some suggestions:

1. Use actual locations and actors

To expand on the role-based training example from earlier, perhaps you want to train your cashiers to check out customers quickly under pressure. So, during rush hour, set aside a cash register for trainees, section it off from the others, and hire actors who will mimic real, busy customers for the cashier-in-training to check out. By utilizing real locations and actors, you can create training exercises that mirror real-life scenarios at an almost one-to-one ratio.

2. Record your training exercises 

You'll want your trainees to be able to watch themselves and conduct a self-critique of their skills. You'll also want to periodically re-watch videos of your trainees completing role-based exercises yourself in order to let them know what their weaknesses are, and whether or not they're improving on those deficits as time goes on.

3. Be creative 

Whether the position is customer-facing or not, employees will eventually run into some sort of outlandish issue that they have to solve. By being creative with role-based training right off the bat, you encourage the development of critical thinking skills that will serve your trainees well as they become full-fledged employees.


Why Role-based Training Works

Now that some of the ways in which role-based training can be approached have been highlighted, you'll likely want to know why you should even be conducting role-based training in the first place. There are many reasons, but here are the biggest benefits:

1. It's inexpensive

Completing role-based training is certainly less expensive than developing a VR or AR training space, and it's often more effective since it utilizes real humans. It can also be implemented as part of a Blended Learning strategy, which can produce amazing results:

CASE STUDY: Canadian Avalanche Association Improves Quality and Effectiveness of Training by Adopting a Blended Learning Approach


2. It's effective

Role-based training helps employees build the confidence that they so desperately need to succeed on the job, especially towards the beginning of their employment when they'll be thrown the most curveballs and be the most out of their element. According to one 2016 study by Udemy, a whopping 44 percent of respondents cited a lack of learning opportunities as the reason they left their last job. According to another study by Middlesex University, 74 percent of 4,300 workers surveyed felt that they couldn't achieve their full potential at work due to a lack of development opportunities. Role-based training can help you override these statistics.

3. It identifies rising stars 

Seeing who performs well in role-based training exercises can help you pinpoint employees who may be a shoo-in for advancement in the future.  Creating personalized learning paths is the best way to attract and retain star workers.

4. It lets you identify and address employee weaknesses before they even begin working. 

By recording and watching role-based training exercises, you can identify what your trainees are and aren't good at and can even use that information to tailor future training exercises towards the unique strengths and weaknesses of your trainees.

How Role-based Training Helps HR and L&D Managers

Role-based training has a few unique benefits for HR and L&D managers, including:

  • Allowing L&D managers to devote more of their time to the creation of effective, unique eLearning.
  • Helping eliminate customer complaints by introducing employees to the workspace before they officially begin working.
  • Allowing L&D managers to customize learning material per the needs of each employee more easily by seeing how they perform in real environments under stress.
  • Giving HR managers less to worry about by reinforcing company culture and expectations in trainees before they begin working.

All in all, role-based training can be a fantastic asset for companies that utilize it effectively. If you need help integrating effective, streamlined role-based training into your eLearning experiences, then look no further! 

Contact us to learn more about what Lambda Solutions can do for you to help you improve the efficacy of your eLearning and role-based training programs.

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