Employee Training Manual Ideas
Employee training manuals are given to new employees upon hire or to employees undergoing training in a specific area. Companies spend considerable time, money and effort assembling these manuals. An effective manual should be easy to understand and should give the employee information he needs to know about the subject. The best training manuals are also interesting. They hold the employee's interest and compel him to keep reading.
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Watch Your Language
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When writing a training manual, always keep your language at a level the intended user can understand. Consultants recommend never writing at more than a ninth-grade reading level unless you are writing for a highly technical audience. Use the active voice -- write 'Use safety precautions at all times' rather than 'Safety precautions must be used at all times.' Define all abbreviations, acronyms and industry jargon. Remember to check your spelling and grammar.
Ensure Completeness
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Make sure that all required information is included in the manual. If the manual will be provided as part of a facilitator-led class in which important information will be given verbally, provide space at the appropriate point in the lesson for trainees to make notes. Always pre-print critical information in the manual, whether or not it will be discussed in a class setting.
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Make it Memorable
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Stories are a smart way to make information in a manual stick with the reader. An example of a time when something worked (or didn't work) will catch a trainee's attention far more quickly than an explanation of a process will by itself. Another trick to making information memorable is to engage the reader in an activity. Professionals call this 'interactive learning' and it is nearly indispensable in instructor-lead training. Even if you are providing only a manual and no class instruction, you can incorporate activities by including review questions or prompting the reader to find and record certain information herself. Just be sure that the information you are asking her to procure is actually available to her.
Review
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Always have the final draft of a new training manual reviewed both by an area expert and by someone to whom the material is unfamiliar. The expert can tell you whether you have included all pertinent information and whether your information is correct. Someone unfamiliar with the material can tell you if the information is clear and comprehensible.
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References
Resources
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