Timing is Everything Series : Part 1 Anxiety

2. The Timing of Training Plenty of time and energy is spent in talent development pondering answers to the: “Who?” “What?” “Why?” “Where?” and “How?” questions of training, but the question of “When?” is often limited to one answer: “Whenever time permits.”

3. The Timing of Training The strategic element of timing in training is more nuanced than “Whenever”, and can lead to significant gains in return on investment if planned properly. To quickly accelerate employee performance, training programs must offer strategic blended learning interventions at key points in time in order to decrease the learning curve.

4. Part 1: Anxiety

5. The Anxiety of a New Job Although it might sound counterintuitive, the anxiety that you and I feel to perform on the job at the outset of a training program actually HELPS us retain information more effectively.

6. Balancing Anxiety The curve of anxiety is the most crucial part of the learning curve However, There is a balance between optimal anxiety levels: Too little and the learner doesn’t learn, Too much and the anxiety is crippling.

7. Pre-Training To promote healthy anxiety levels for programs and increase learner retention issue pre-training materials and communications to employees like: • Quizzes • Expectation setting emails • Sneak Peeks at training programs

8. Effective Anxiety Training Training should be: Contextual, Personal, and Role Based Best if you use: Classroom based instruction or self paced elearning. End with: A terminal objective or certification

10. Part 1a: Onboarding

11. Don’t Wait Till the 1st Day The curve of anxiety starts the day an employee is hired. Don’t wait until an employee’s first day in the office to start getting them ramped up and ready to contribute, Pre-board them!

13. Pre-Boarding Like pre-training, pre-boarding techniques increase the feelings of anxiety that employees have before officially joining a company, priming them for accelerated learning. Instead of scaring away employees, pre-boarding gives a heightened sense of purpose.

14. A new hire’s first days on the job are marked by an eagerness to learn and a drive to prove oneself to colleagues: it is a time for high impact learning! Setting performance expectations for new hires from the outset helps them to learn and grow much faster.

15. For more, read the Timing is Everything White Paper Download

16. About the Author Prior to joining InfoPro, Kyle served as a research associate on subjects including e-learning, online education, game-based learning, and social media usage in higher education at St. John's University in New York.  Kyle Miller is an enterprise learning consultant with InfoPro Learning based out of Princeton, NJ.

17. About InfoPro Learning One of the world’s leading providers of learning and training solutions. We help organizations rapidly transform talent by focusing on Learning for Performance. A global, award-winning learning and training solutions company for almost 20 years, InfoPro provides performance improvement strategies, blended learning solutions, and managed training programs. For more information, visit www.infoprolearning.com