In order to prepare an employee for a position, whether that employee came from a different position in the company or from outside, one key ingredient to success is communication. Every career change comes with its own difficulties. Being welcomed into the company for the first time can be exciting but may leave new employees not knowing what to expect. Transferring can be a breath of fresh air in some cases, but may lead to character clashes if it is not handled well. Downward moves can be heartbreaking and demeaning to the employee, and must be handled with care. A training department employee must be prepared to not only teach new skills but also act as a counselor, taking a third party position. By helping an employee emotionally through a transition, the training department offers more help than it ever could through skill acquisition.
Creating a list of skills and knowledges needed for a position is an efficient way to prepare an employee for a new position. This may come in the form of an exhaustive list for the employee to go through, but it may nurture a friendlier working environment if the training department is able to narrow down the list with the employee in order to create a personalized set of goals. By going over the job requirements and day-to-day workload of an individual in a certain position, the training department is able to establish exactly what an employee needs in order to thrive in the position (Perez-Soltero, 2013). An organized list creates a means for an employee to check off each skill as they acquire it, but a personalized list has the added bonus of demonstrating investment in that employee.
Bringing diversity into an organization with little diversity is a delicate process. A consensus of diversity training research indicates that having mandatory vs. voluntary diversity training has a positive effect on the amount of behavioral learning that takes place but has a negative effect on how favorably the individuals regard the diversity training (Bezrukova, 2016, p. 14). In other words, people don’t generally like being forced to go to diversity training, but it does help them to be civil with those who are different from them.
It is likely better for the training department to require diversity training in order to teach everyone important skills for cooperating in the workplace. Additionally, it is beneficial for diversity training to be a part of a longer curriculum or activity plan rather than a one-off meeting. This is because it demonstrates that the organization places value in diversity training and is not simply getting it over with (Bezrukova, 2016, p. 13-14). By making diversity training an extended and mandatory part of being a member of the organization, the training department promises better results in creating a welcoming environment for diversity.
- Bezrukova, K., et al. (2016). A Meta-Analytical Integration of Over 40 Years of Research on Diversity Training Evaluation. Retrieved from https://scholarship.sha.cornell.edu
- Perez-Soltero, A., Amaya-Melendrez, R., and Barcelo-Valenzuela, M. (2013). A Methodology for the Identification of Key Knowledge to Improve Decision Making in the Training Area. IUP Journal of Knowledge Management, 11(1). Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net
