Introduction
Unfortunately, people tend to lose concentration and show a lower degree of performance while working. Employees are considered to be the primary resource of the company. Therefore, they need special attention concerning self-development and communication. To boost their motivation and help them to upgrade their creativity skills, an efficient employer may resort to various pieces of training and hire a professional coach capable of inventing their own unique programs. Besides, training sessions should meet employees’ needs, eliminate the gap between co-workers and mountain understanding, as well as make the working atmosphere better.
As far as office workers are concerned, there is a variety of training programs that can be implemented in a company. One of such programs has been created for this research to serve as an example of fruitful group work prepared for 20 employees.
Training Needs through a Training Needs Analysis (TNA)
To spend time on appropriate training needs, an employee may resort to the so-called training needs analysis (TNA) and set special goals. Training may serve as an investment to enforce the company. If it is well-organized, it may bring unbelievable results (Opoku-Dakwa & Chen, 1). Moreover, a group of twenty people, as it is required by the research demands, is rather a small group. That means that an individual approach can also be taken as a part of the program.
Admittedly, gigantic tech companies like Apple Inc badly need employees who have top-notch creative thinking skills. Among them are problem-solving, communication, open-mindedness, organization, ability to analyze, and planning. If a worker is incapable of any objective from the list, they will probably become a weak link in the chain. In the future, it may result in a decline in the value of the stocks of the company. It is bound to happen because the whole company is a team. Indeed, this team cannot be flawless, but it would be better to improve it in order to increase profit by increasing effectiveness.
Therefore, there are certain gaps or loopholes that should be plugged once and for all. Tech companies are generally believed to complain about the lack of creative workers (Shantraarc, 2). Daily innovations call for new ideas that should come from nothing rapidly. To create something new on a regular basis one needs to train open-mindedness and analyze all bizarre things that come to one’s mind. These are two basic skills that should be developed at the first place. In addition, any brilliant idea is likely to be misunderstood in case of misconnection. To uproot the probability of such a problem, soft skills usually come in handy.
Key Training Methods
While designing a program on creativity training, one should never forget about methods of training. As far as creativity skills are concerned, it would be better to apply different training modes and techniques. The first thing to do may be to set a welcoming atmosphere for the workers so that they could feel free to participate in the program. Many people remember how coaches usually try to summon the participants at one place and ask them to stand in a circle holding their hands. This tip is sure to sound banal, but it has proved its effectiveness with time. Unfortunately, even co-workers do not usually communicate much. The feeling of privacy has become one of the greatest values of modern society. Still, closeness and petty touches cannot but warm people’s hearts and serve illustrative as a good method of preparation for group work.
Among the methods of creativity training, gamification ranks highly. If employees are given a chance to change their true identity for a while, they are bound to start seeing things from a different perspective. This technique is widely recognized as conducive to new ideas and a better degree of mutual understanding. If a supervisor stands in for their subordinate for a while and prepares explanation for a bad evaluation report, they may feel sympathy towards that employee. This is an example of intellectual capital being a result of informal on-the-job training (Holloway & Arcus, 3). Such training is a contribution to an employee’s whole psychological background, not only better performing of job responsibilities.
There is a wide range of psychological games, not only changing places and acting up various dialogues. There is an opportunity to prepare a board game for tech employees to enlarge their cooperative potential and the ability to analyze things. Employers may use them even as a means of testing newcomers. Implementing a board game as a part of training means to make people merge together and solve a certain problem with pleasure, not under stress as usual.
The Training Objective for the Program
Before launching the creativity program a coach or an employer has to find out whether it corresponds to certain principles. These principles may be referred to as the objectives for the program, and help to evaluate it in a proper way (Nazir & Islam, 4). The main objectives can be the degree of involvement, the rate of motivation, and the quality of interaction between the participants. If these requirements are violated, there will be no results. The person who will take responsibility for conducting the activities needs to adjust them to these objectives to obtain the degree of efficiency.
Motivation is a sufficient part of any training because its power lies in people’s understanding of what and why they should do it. The modern generation of workers cannot longer perform on a production line basis as it was in the past. To sparkle their willingness to participate one has to explain learning goals, first. The same can be referred to as involvement because without understandable and objective goals they are likely to put no effort into group work. Such training will be a bare simulation of training to satisfy the supervisor.
Unfortunately, even motivated participants may fail to properly communicate with each other while training. The root of all evils lies in the lack of real communication in modern life. The pandemic is generally agreed to have aggravated this very problem (He, Ash, Anwar, Li, Yuan, Xu & Tian). The conductor of the training is expected to use as many tricks to force them to speak as possible. It can be paying compliments in pairs or storytelling.
Another idea concerns the focus on a sense of competence, learning, and growth for employees. No task should be too complicated or weird because workers may misunderstand it and feel disappointed. One should never forget that people’s time is precious as well as the company’s supplement for training needs. If they consider this program to be a waste of time, it would be a disaster because these resources are extremely limited.
Activities for the Training Program
The training program prepared for this research is bound to be a success because it corresponds to the enlisted needs and objectives. They can be divided into three groups: ice-breakers, role plays, and board games. Fortunately, there is no need to pay for coach assistance to conduct them. That is why they are absolutely free of charge for the employee and those twenty workers who will participate in them.
It would be better to ask any supervisor to read them at home beforehand to sound more confident while conducting these activities. According to Shanko, “this needs satisfaction results in intrinsically motivated employees who find their work more engaging as well as confident enough to showcase innovative behavior; such elusive work outcomes have a tremendous level of managerial application” (5). Therefore, the following activities should be critically judged.
Conclusion
To sum it up, tech companies need new ideas. A special program may help them to prepare employees to work in a different way. By applying discussions, role plays, and even board games the employer is bound to make them think more creatively and become closer. Different modes of work serve as a good way to eliminate shyness and gain experience of group and pair work. Besides, such methods as brain storm and changing places usually help to become more open-minded and get used to constant analysis of people’s behavior and ideas. The main advantage of this very program is the fact that it is easy to conduct and free of charge for an employee. The only thing to buy is board games in case they do not have it.
Sources
Akwasi Opoku-Dakwa, Chao C. Chen, 2018. CSR Initiative Characteristics and Employee Engagement: An Impact-Based Perspective. Web.
Aruna Shanthaarc, 2019, The Impact of Training on Employees Performance in Banking Sector: With Special Reference to Bank of Ceylon in Sri Lanka. Web.
Kathryn Holloway, Kerry Arcus, Georgiana Orsborn, 2018. Training Needs Analysis – The Essential First Step for Continuing Professional Development Design. Web.
Owais Nazir, Jamid UI Islam, 2019. Influence of CSR-specific Activities on Work Engagement and Employees’ Innovative Work Behavior: An Empirical Investigation. Web.
Shanko Mamo Getahun, 2018. The Effect of Training on Employees Performance: In Selected Commercial Bank of Ethiopia in Dawro Zone. Web.
Wu He, Ivan Ash, Mohd Anwar, Ling Li, Xiaohong Yuan, Li Xu, Xin Tian, 2019. Improving Employees’ Intellectual Capacity for Cybersecurity through Evidence-based Malware Training. Web.
