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Tips For End User Training On Company Software

10 September 2015 by Linda Holmes

If your company has specific software for new employees to learn, it can be a challenge to effectively train employees with different skill backgrounds. Here are some tips for streamlining end-user training.

Know Your Users' Technical Skill Level

The first step is to customize your training based on your employees' technical knowledge, or lack thereof. You may want to have separate modules that can be added on to your program if some employees lack the prerequisite skills for your software. For instance, it can be helpful to define what vocabulary and skills that employees should bring to the training. You can test individual employees to make sure that they already have these skills and vocabulary before they begin your end-user training.

Define Training Goals

Not every employee may become an absolute master at your new company software. However, it's a good idea to define the absolute training goals and tasks that employees should be able to complete on the software. Set these minimum requirements as a success benchmark for your end-user training and save the additional skills for stretch goals.

Cater to Different Learning Styles

Different employees will grasp the concepts in different ways. Be sure to include visual, auditory, and hands-on training options. For instance, you may have a series of videos, reading passages, and do-it-yourself tasks. Whenever possible, create multiple teaching aids for the same topic so that employees can choose how they learn. Even something as simple as transcribing videos into a text format can empower your students to learn in their own way.  

Make Training Redundant on Critical Skills

For your core training skills, it's always helpful to subtly teach the same skills twice. For instance, you might teach employees how to look up a piece of information on your software. Later in the training, you could have them do a problem-solving task where they have to look up that piece of information as part of the task.

Make Training Repeatable

Employees may come out of the training feeling immediately successful, but you can keep that momentum going by having resources they can fall back on. Whether it's a video course or a user manual, always back up your core training skills with a resource that employees can reference.

There are many different platforms for delivering end-user training, but the principles behind each one should remain the same. For a successful training, it's important to consider each employee's background and strengths, while giving them guided practice to master their new technologies. 

For more information and assistance, contact an end-user training company, such as Walker Strategy.

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