Improve your Training Programs: Smart Training Scheduling

Let’s say you’ve already created a comprehensive training program for your company. You’ve reviewed it to ensure it targets every employee, includes interactive activities, and effectively teaches every one of your learning objectives. What’s left?

Believe it or not, all the effort you put into your program could be completely wasted if you don’t schedule the training session for the right time.

The best time to schedule your training sessions

Often organizations, particularly when acquiring new software, have new training programs ready to go months before the actual launch of the new software or product. The biggest mistake for a company at this point is to not hold off on the training session until much closer to the point when the bulk of employees will actually be using the new product. If employees are trained on something, and then don’t use it at all for months, they’ll have forgotten most of what they learned by launch time.

The best way to combat this issue is to ensure that your training sessions happen within a week of the actual launch of the new product, to ensure that employees can jump right in and develop their new skills, rather than letting them atrophy.

Online alternatives to in-house training

If you have to schedule in-house training programs far in advance of the release of the new product, due to the limitations of your trainer, employees, or other factors, one good alternative is to use an online training program as a refresher course.

Your online training program could be as simple as a recorded version of your in-house training, or a quick interactive activity designed to remind employees of all that they learned during the live training.

Once you consciously decide the best time to schedule your training session, and put in place any online refresher courses, you can be sure employees will retain much more information and be able to seamlessly transition into their new tasks.