Software Training – its not just about the buttons
When it comes to training, whether it be on HR Software, Time and Attendance, Training or Recruitment Management or even on something like MS Excel it can be a bit of a minefield. Unless you’ve used the training provider before or they have been recommended you never quite know what you will get.
For example, many years ago I attended a Microsoft Project training day. This was my first experience of attending a formal training course of this kind.
It was an interesting day. A chap turned up and pulled out a blue folder. We all sat at our PC’s ready in anticipation of an informative day so we could go back to our office and start using MS Project.
Unfortunately, we spent the day sat at our the training PC’s on our desks following this chap who proceeded to go through his blue folder and read pretty much word for word what was in it.
Throughout the day we would ask a number of questions and what was apparent, if it wasn’t in his blue folder, then he didn’t know the answers. The questions that were asked, were not even that tasking so it was obvious that this chap had memorised his blue folder but had no practical knowledge of what he was training on.
This had a profound impact on me. I have been providing training on a number of different systems for the past decade and beyond. But, I have never (bar once) provided training on a system that I didn’t know inside out. I believe it is criminal that companies pay people to stand up in front of a group of people who have probably spent £300 to £400 each to be there to just have some person who is reading from a folder but has no practical knowledge of the system they are training you on.
Since then I have always been of the opinion that its not just about what the buttons do when training someone, but the process behind it – not just the what, but the why!
For example, the product I am currently working on, People Inc from P&A Software, there are so many tiny bits of critical information which are not obvious, like most HR systems. I have spent a considerable amount of time trying to learn and understand what these tiny but critical bits of functionality are and how they work, so I can pass this on to my customers so they get more from the system.
What you will find however, is that you never actually stop learning what a system can do. I find that I learn a great deal from my customers and that by working closely with them when they are trying to create a new report or customise a screen, I gain a great deal from the experience. Sure I know technically how to do what they want, but its also important to understand the thought process of what they are trying to achieve and this can be then applied in similar situations with other customers.
I have provided thousands of training days for an number of software companies on a freelance basis for several years and the key to my success has been the fact that I don’t turn up with a blue folder and read from it. I only train on products I know inside and out, in order to give the best possible training to my customers.
Having said that I did once provide a training day on a product I was only vaguely aware of against my better nature, but the provider was desperate. Even though I had spent many hours producing my own training material for this product, I did not feel confident in delivering the course as I did not have any experience using the software first hand. Although the company I was providing the training for had assured me that the training was at a very basic level, I turned up to a room full of people who obviously understood the product better than I did. It ended up being a disaster which ended after 2 hours and I spent the rest of the week questioning my ability to do my job.
I certainly learned a great deal from this. Since then I have only provided training on a product I know fully and have confidence with.
When you book your training, make sure its not just someone with their blue folder, but make sure its someone who really knows what they are talking about.
Its not just about what each button does, its about what the process is behind it.
