let's get serious!

You can lead an employee to training, but you can't make him think. Perhaps the hardest part of setting up a training program is getting your staff members to take it seriously. All it takes is one joker or one cynic to undermine all your hard work.

You may never be able to get buy-in from 100 percent of your staff, but there are some things you can do to make them more receptive to training. What follows are some tips to get employees on board and keep them engaged:

• Tell them what's in it for them. The answer has nothing to do with the extra pay or comp time you're going to give them for attending. These things only reward people for showing up, not for listening. Nor does the answer have anything to do with benefits to the company, such as higher productivity or reduced risk of governmental fines. That's what's in it for the organization.
  
  Instead, you need to lay out precisely what benefits they, as individuals, will gain from this training. For example, if you're training your staff to use a new computer system, begin by describing how the system will reduce their paperwork and make inventory-taking less of a hassle. If you're training people to operate trucks equipped with a global positioning system (GPS), start out by explaining how the GPS can help them avoid construction slowdowns and traffic jams. Make it a point to frame these benefits as "positives," rather than as the absence of something negative. For example, if your training session focuses on new OSHA ergonomics guidelines, emphasize the longterm health benefits rather than telling them that by following the guidelines, they can avoid wrenching their spines and suffering long-lasting pain.
• Keep the session interactive. Don't insist that participants hold their questions until the end of the seminar. Let them ask questions as they arise. And encourage them to share pertinent on-the-job experiences. Chances are, their stories will help illustrate the types of problems you're hoping to address in the training session, which will help the audience see the material's relevance. Their stories and questions might also provide an opportunity for the presenter to offer advice on what to do if things don't go according to plan.
• Lighten up. During long training sessions, employees may need a little comic relief. You don't have to go out and hire a stand-up comedian, but tossing in an amusing anecdote or adding a teambuilding exercise that includes a little silliness can help break the tension. Hand out door prizes or reward the person who comes back from break first with toys from the local dollar store. Even the tough guys in the group will get a laugh out of winning a SpongeBob SquarePants pencil eraser.
• Make sure the location is conducive to learning. Drowsiness can undermine even the best training program. Monitor the temperature in the room to make sure it doesn't get too hot, which will make attendees sleepy and interfere with their concentration. Try to avoid presentation methods like PowerPoints and videos that leave your staff sitting in the dark for long periods.

Don't waste company time or money providing training that accomplishes nothing. If you're going to do it—whether it's mandated by federal regulations or by a new organizational policy—do it in a way that will be reflected in your profit-sharing plan.

Editor's note: This is the third and final installment in a multi-part series on training. The first two articles looked at when to conduct training sessions and strategies for presenting the material.