Designing a Bank's Training Manual: Can You Share Your Experience and Tips?

Dear All, I am a summer intern at a renowned bank and have been given the responsibility to design and document their entire training process. If anyone has done this before, could they please share the document to give me a fair idea of how and what needs to be included? Also, I would need further suggestions and insights for designing such a document. Any help would be appreciated.

Thank you.

Dear Kanchan,

Are you sure that as a summer intern you have been made responsible for "designing & documenting their entire training process"? Either something's not right in what you've written, or if it is, then my suggestion to you is to get out of that bank! Because if a "renowned" bank is asking a summer intern to "design & document" their "entire training process," then it is an immediate cause for real concern. The task you refer to is a highly specialized and very professional undertaking, which will take a team of 2-3 veteran training designers a good 8-10 weeks to complete. Also, it's a very expensive process. Are you sure your task is not just limited to "documenting" their training process? Perhaps in your enthusiasm, you've also included "design" in your post?

So, in case you've mistakenly written what you have, perhaps you should amend that. Then, I am sure you will start getting people (including me) helping you with what you need.

Regards

Hi Gaurav, with reference to Kanchan's post, I would like to draw your attention to the fact that she is required to "design and document their entire training process." Perhaps, this is a 'test' of her knowledge, whatsoever she has acquired at her B School. This does not necessarily imply that they would execute her design. It is a practice for her. In fact, the bank may use her "design" to further the process and, of course, enhance it with the help of veterans who are either Instructional Designing experts or Training experts (from the Training and Development Industry). I am sure she has some seniors to guide her as well as evaluate her work. This exercise is more of an 'evaluation' of the learnings of a fresher.

At my organization, I too have recruited 2 interns with HR specializations, and one of them is engaged in drafting the entire training process, its layout, designing a training module, and documenting the entire training process, under supervision.

Thanks and Regards,
Avani Bhatnagar
Manager - Training
ANR Software Pvt Ltd.

Hey Avani, thank you for your post. Viewing Kanchan's question through 'your lens' turns my response entirely on its head. When I read your interns' task, you used the words 'engaged' and 'supervised,' which are appropriate for their skill level and the task at hand. I think I took Kanchan's use of the phrase 'responsibility to design and document' literally, and hence my reply. Since the task is truly mammoth (if intended to be done the way it should, and not how most organizations here do... chalta hai type), I couldn't comprehend a summer intern being burdened with it.

I was hoping it wouldn't happen to me, but it appears that I am beginning to show my age. But, Avani, thank you for showing me another context and educating me. I truly appreciate your time.

Warm regards,
Gaurav

I am glad that you could clearly see Kanchan's sense of saying 'responsibility to design and document'. She is basically looking for help from experienced people like yourself to be able to design a document that would, perhaps, encompass the entire Training Process. This 'responsibility' is indeed specialized; however, she wants a ready-reckoner that she could go through and potentially modify according to the requirements of her bank. She would definitely be under supervision, and I am sure she has a mentor to guide her. "Design" would require the expertise of an Instructional Designer combined with the skills of a Trainer. She needs to clearly 'pass' this 'test', as I called it in my earlier post, to secure a good in-house job or internal posting.

Kanchan would execute it according to her understanding, keeping in mind that she may have little or no knowledge about this. As an intern, she must have been informed that it is HER RESPONSIBILITY to design and document the ENTIRE training process so that she doesn't take it lightly. She may or may not do a routine run-of-the-mill.

Understanding Employee Communication

I would like to draw your attention to the fact that as Managers or Senior Managers, we are crucially responsible for understanding our employees. We need to carefully examine and comprehend their verbiage. Otherwise, as HR Managers engaged in the recruitment process, we may tend to overlook really good resources who could have brought real value to the organization through their contributions.

That is why I ensure that my interviewee is comfortable and rephrases his answers so that the correct meaning is portrayed. Luckily, I get employees who may be people of few words; however, they do a great job, just like Kanchan.

Thanks and Regards,

Dear All,

Thank you for bringing to my notice the mistake that I made while posting the query. The bank has a training process very well in place, and I'm supposed to only document the entire process. The challenge I face here is that most of the team members are engaged in their day-to-day activities and are unable to spare time to tell me about their responsibilities so that I can document it all. Plus, I am also a little unsure of how the flow of such a document should be.

My other friends working with banks can only provide a few inputs, but to see a document like that is rather difficult as banks are very protective of all their data.

I've first begun with the Training Needs Assessment, but that is barely a paragraph because only the training heads, along with the higher-ups, make these decisions at the beginning of the year.

Training - Classroom and E-learning

Then, a description of the programs they have in brief which includes the name, the target audience, the duration, and in short what is covered under it. Then comes the evaluation, attendance monitoring, billing, an annexure of the evaluation forms, attendance sheets, vendors, list of locations where training is conducted, team structure, and a glossary of words.

So far, this is what I have amassed only in pointers, but filling the contents is consuming time. If I need to include or exclude more, please feel free to suggest. Also, please tell me if I'm on the right track.

Thank you all.

Kind Regards,
Kanchan

Dear Kanchan, good to hear from you again. It was starting to become a conversation between Avani and myself, so welcome back!

I can feel your pain. Your observations, challenges, and conundrums take me back about 20 years when I was an intern. I remember that all of us interns were rank outsiders in the organization. To protect the 'not so innocent,' I can't name the organization, but back then, only the really large ones had an intern policy. Even today, they are market leaders.

The reality was that despite some very nice people in the Training and HR department (that's right—even back then, both departments were separate at this place, which was a rarity because until very recently in India, training was assumed to be a role of HR), people on the 'shop floor' never made us welcome. That hurt us. But it's only after a few more years (as I worked and progressed up the ladder) that I realized why those people had been uncooperative, distant, and generally aloof from us.

The answer is that they knew we weren't there for the long haul. They knew we would be out the door in a couple of months' time. So, while the assignments given to us by the Training Dept meant life to us, they were 'everyday humbug' to the other staff—humbug they didn't really want to invest their time or efforts in. Please don't get me wrong. Even though it felt miserable then, we grew up really fast and had to learn a lot of things a few years ahead of time.

How to Engage with Seniors

Why do I tell you all of this? To drive home the point that your seniors in the bank, who are otherwise busy with their daily activities, actually do want to talk to you. Believe me, they want to tell you everything you need to know. In fact, they even want to help you complete your task. But they are reluctant. They've seen other interns come and go without much value added to them during their presence. If anything, interns are perceived to be a hindrance because they need to be shepherded, chaperoned, etc. As a senior manager, I know that this is all hogwash and horribly misplaced perceptions. Yet, they are prevalent all the same. So, how do you achieve what you need to get done?

Steps to Build Relationships

Simple! Establish 1-on-1 relationships with them. By that, I mean get to know each person individually—not just Madhu from tellers, Ashok from the back room, etc. Even if you get a couple of minutes with them, be genuinely interested in them. Believe me, if you can do this for a couple of days, you'll crack at least a couple of them. The magic is that that is all you need because those couple will then become your goodwill ambassadors with the remaining staff. A lesson for you here—no matter how good you are, you will NEVER get everybody to like you, or like what you do, or like what you stand for. So, just smile at those who don't take to you, wish them the time of day politely, and continue along your merry way.

Kanchan, I promise you that you will get the results you are after. Most importantly, like Avani mentioned in both her posts, this assignment is your 'test.' Having understood where Avani is coming from, I can assure you that the test involves more than just whether or not you completed the task at hand. Because in all probabilities, they don't even need the document you've been asked to prepare. Instead, what they're evaluating is how you go about getting it done. Every senior manager would rather have smart people who can go about getting things done by creating goodwill, as opposed to someone who may do a fabulous job but at a huge cost. The learning you'll get from this exercise is going to be invaluable for your later life. And yes, you'll also learn how to document the training process.

It's been a lengthy reply. If you like what I have written and are keen to give it a shot for a week or so, let me know here, and then we'll venture into the technicalities of how you can prepare your assignment document.

Take care & Have Fun!

Dear Gaurav,

I joined this organization on the 1st of June, and to tell you the truth, your reply is exactly what is happening so far. My seniors are supportive but don't have much time to devote to the document. When they do have spare time, they make sure to give me all the information I need. It's the super seniors I'm worried about. He says he'll come to my desk, and it's been a week that it hasn't happened. I've approached him thrice, but the third time the response was curt, so I backed down.

My supervisor says I need to be after him, but I think otherwise. In fact, it was my supervisor who said this will be a challenge you will face and confided in me that she liked the way I'm approaching people for information. She said that is the main reason she hired me as an intern because she knew I had the skill of handling such a situation.

So far, the document is coming along fine. I have managed to amass information as and when they can provide it. As of now, no skirmishes have happened with any of the colleagues (Touch wood!!) and things are flowing smoothly.

You are also right about this project being a test for me. My supervisor did say that while making this document, what more can I bring to this organization and what value addition can I bring about while I document their processes. This does make me nervous as I might just continue documenting their processes, but making a change may not happen as time may be a constraint, plus timely inputs are not being received. I am to finish this project by 29th July, but my supervisor suggested she wants it complete by mid-July so that a presentation can be prepared to show to the above-mentioned super senior. I'm hoping all this materializes in due course of time, and I don't fall short of expectations.

I'm also sorry for the delay in my replies as you would know that having the tag of an outsider, I have no access to the internet or any of the other facilities in the organization. I come home post 8:30 p.m., and being married, I have other chores to handle.

Thank you and Avani and all other respondents to my query for all the support, and I look forward to receiving further insights for the project.

Thanks & Regards,
Kanchan