What Types of Employee Training and Development Exist?
There are many types of employee training and development. In high performing organizations, training and development initiatives are based on organizational needs, the target audience for the initiative, and the type of knowledge or skill that learners are expected to obtain. Some of the most common types of employee training and development include:
- Technical training is training based on a technical product or task. Technical training if often specifically tailored to a particular job task at a single organization. Skills training is training to help employees develop or practice skills that are necessary for their jobs.
- Soft skills training is a subset of skills training that focuses specifically on soft skills, as opposed to technical or “hard” skills. Soft skills include emotional intelligence, adaptability, creativity, influence, communication, and teamwork. Some trainers refer to soft skills as “power skills” or “professional life skills” to emphasize their importance.
- Compliance training is training on actions that are mandated by a law, agency, or policy outside the organization’s purview. Compliance training is often industry-specific but may include topics such as cybersecurity and sexual harassment.
- Safety training is training that focuses on improving organizational health and safety and reducing workplace injury. It can encompass employee safety, workplace safety, customer safety, and digital and information safety. Safety training can include both training that is required by law and training that organizations offer without legally being required to do so.
- Management development focuses on providing managers with the knowledge and skills that they need to be effective managers and developers of talent. Topics may include accountability, collaboration, communication, engagement, and listening and assessing.
- Leadership development is any activity that increases an individual’s leadership ability or an organization’s leadership capability, including activities such as learning events, mentoring, coaching, self-study, job rotation, and special assignments to develop the knowledge and skills required to lead.
- Executive development provides senior leaders and executives with the knowledge and skills that they need to improve in their roles. In contrast to leadership development, which focuses on helping non-executive employees develop the skills they need to obtain a leadership position, executive development is targeted at people already at a leadership level within their organization.
- Customer service training focuses on providing employees with the knowledge and skills to provide exceptional customer service. Customer service training should include content on essential employee behaviors, service strategies, and service systems.
- Customer education training is when employees—often at technology or SaaS companies—teach customers how to use a company’s products and services. Customer education training differs from traditional employee learning and development because the intended audience is customers, not employees.
- Workforce training focuses on upskilling workers to help them obtain career success. Workforce training programs are often offered by federal, state, or local governments, or by nonprofit organizations. Workforce training may include job-specific content but also may include content on organizational culture, leadership skills, and professionalism. Workforce training is often accessed by people who are new to the workforce or who are trying to enter a new job type or industry.
- Corporate training focuses on helping workers already employed by an organization obtain new knowledge and skills. That company or organization offers training to their internal employees to help them become better at their current jobs, advance in their careers, or close organizational skill gaps.
- Onboarding, sometimes known as new employee orientation, is the process through which organizations equip new employees with the knowledge and skills they need to succeed at their jobs.
- Sales enablement is the strategic and cross functional effort to increase the productivity of market-facing teams by providing ongoing and relevant resources throughout the buyer journey to drive business impact. It encompasses sales training, coaching, content creation, process improvement, talent development, and compensation, among other areas.
What Are Examples of Effective Employee Training Methods?
There are many types of employee training and development methods, including:
Instructor-led refers to training in which an instructor teaches a live course to learners.
- Instructor-led training can be either in-person or virtual.
- In-person training refers to training in which the instructor is physically in the same room as the learners. This also may be referred to as face-to-face training or classroom training.
- Virtual Instructor-Led Training (VILT) refers to instructor-led training that occurs virtually when the instructor and learners are physically dispersed. VILT takes place through a virtual platform such as Zoom or Webex. VILT also may be referred to as synchronous e-learning, live-online training, synchronous online training, or virtual classroom training
- E-learning is a structured course or learning experience delivered electronically. E-learning can be either asynchronous or synchronous. Asynchronous e-learning is self-paced and may include pre-recorded lecture content and video, visuals and/or text, knowledge quizzes, simulations, games, and other interactive elements.
- Microlearning enhances learning and performance through short pieces of content. Microlearning assets can usually be accessed on-demand when the learner needs them. Common forms of microlearning include how-to videos, self-paced e-learning, games, blogs, job aids, podcasts, infographics, and other visuals.
- Simulation is a broad genre of experiences, including games for entertainment and immersive learning simulations for formal learning programs. Simulations use simulation elements to model and present situations; portraying actions and demonstrating how the actions affect relevant systems, and how those systems produce feedback and results.
- On-the-job training is a delivery system that dispenses training to employees as they need it. As opposed to sending an employee away from work to a training session, on-the-job training allows employees to learn while in the flow of work.
- Coaching is a discipline that helps to enhance individual, team, and organizational performance. Coaching is an interactive process that involves listening, asking powerful questions, strengthening conversations, and creating action plans, with the goal of helping individuals develop towards their preferred future state.
- Mentoring is a reciprocal and collaborative at-will relationship that most often occurs between a senior and junior employee for the purpose of the mentee’s growth, learning, and career development. Mentors often act as role models for their mentee and provide guidance to help them reach their goals.
- Blended learning refers to a training program that includes more than one of the training types referenced above. Traditionally blended learning most often includes a mix of in-person training and e-learning. However, it can refer to any combination of formal and informal learning events, such as classroom instruction, online resources, and on-the-job coaching.
