!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> Streamline Training & Documentation: Getting Two (or More) Birds with One Stone

Saturday, April 15, 2006

Getting Two (or More) Birds with One Stone

Every preplanned training event (as opposed to less formal training, such as coaching) can be enriched by taking advantage of natural opportunities for building skills complementary to those that are the main focus of the the training.

The most common example of this principle is aiming to strengthen oral and written communication skills while addressing such objectives as improving employees' strategic account management, or their use of competitive intelligence.

At a minimum, all training materials should model effective business writing -- the writing should be clear, concise, and well-organized.

As for oral communication -- the training facilitator should make a point of providing manageable doses of feedback on such broadly applicable skills as listening well and speaking persuasively and authentically.

The payoff from paying attention to all key skills with a natural role to play in a particular training context: Participants not only build the skills and knowledge needed to meet specific objectives (e.g., launching a new product; increasing profitable customers' satisfaction), but they also deepen their professional capabilties and judgment.

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