Some companies have the luxury of extensive training departments full of staff and resources to help ensure employees are trained to successfully perform the duties of their job. Such a scenario isn’t always possible for organizations smaller in size or budget. There are ways to creatively manage the training obligations of any size company, even a one-person training department.

Get Others Involved

If you think you are going to organize, plan, budget, prepare, implement, and track an organization’s training all by yourself, it’s time to expand your horizons and think outside the box a little. No matter how dedicated you are or how hard you work, one person can only do so much. You can get others involved in a variety of ways:

• Work with experienced employees and let them help prepare and deliver training that they are qualified to do. Even if they do some preparation on their own time, it always looks good on a resume when it’s time for a promotion.
• Network! Are there similar companies out there that are delivering the same kind of training? Maybe you can creatively share some of your planning or training materials to cut down on preparation time. You may even be able to deliver courses for each other to really save time on both sides if you can do so in the local area.
• Use the experience and creativity you have in-house. If you need help programming something, find someone on the staff that has the experience and would like to help. Same goes for preparing training materials and graphics; you may have budding artists out there just waiting to show off their skills.

Stay Organized

If you’re the sole person responsible for keeping the training program together, it’s critical that you are extremely organized and efficient. Having paper files to document who has had training and who needs to be trained will consume more time than you can spare. Even multiple electronic documents will take too much time to maintain and reference.Companies small and large can benefit from a Learning Management System (LMS) which can be purchased within just about any price range. This system will provide a platform for maintaining accurate records of training within your company. Furthermore, depending on the system you use, some can even hold eLearning courses and track when employees complete them.

You Can Do This!

Running a one-person training department can be an overwhelming task when you first stand back and look at it. Taking a good look at the resources you have available, the budget you have to spend, and the people you can network with to help, you will find that you don’t have to do it all alone.