How to Create a Training Manual Using a Step-by-step Guide?

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What is a training manual?

At its core, a training manual is an aggregation of instructions that help your employees get a particular piece of the job done. It often contains information about how to go through a process, use a specific tool or accomplish a particular task.

Modern interactive training manuals are not static documents; you must keep them updated with time. As the technologies change, so do the standard operating procedures (SOPs).

The training manual needs to grow continually to help your employees be more efficient at their job and properly utilize the resources at their disposal.

Effective training manuals can help increase employee efficiency, productivity, and your organization's bottom line.

According to the figures from the American Society for Training and Development (ASTD), companies that invest in corporate training have a 218% higher income per employee than companies that don’t.

A training manual comes in different forms, from booklets and pdfs to video tutorials and training courses.

Whatever form of training manual you opt for, it is essential to ensure that the manual is easy to use and informative.

Why are training manuals important?

Training manuals can boost your team's productivity and make employees more efficient. Your existing employees and new hires need continuous education to help them get things done. If your employees or team members are not in tune with the machinery used by your organization, they can become disengaged and lose focus.

A training manual can help employees get the information they need to function without asking their colleagues or superiors. When your employees are self-sufficient in troubleshooting any obstacle, they tend to have much better job satisfaction.

Several studies establish the importance of manuals. According to a survey, almost 70% of new employees claimed that training and employee development is one of the most important company policies.

More importantly, the disengagement of employees due to poor training results in the loss of over $500 billion per year to companies worldwide.

Here are some areas where manuals can help improve the functioning of your team.

Improved productivity

One of the most important roles of the manuals is to help the employees understand the scope and goal of their job. As the employees understand the most effective ways to get the job done, their productivity boosts automatically.

A well-designed training manual can make the onboarding process easier and more streamlined for new employees. The quicker the employees can get going, the more effective they will become.

Increased employee satisfaction

Happy employees are productive employees. Did you know that employees who are satisfied with their organizations tend to outperform those who are not by 20%?

Effective training manuals help employees to get the right information when they need it the most. This allows them to get their jobs done more efficiently and feel they are valuable to the team.

As they don't have to ask around for a solution for every small problem, they can also save a lot of time.

A training manual also helps the team members function as a cohesive unit. Everyone uses the same manual and is on the same page, and finding solutions to problems becomes exponentially easy.

More compliant employees

Compliance is one of the biggest challenges leaders face in a training program. When you design a process, you want every team member to be able to execute it precisely. If your team has interactive training manuals, it can be easier for them to follow a common path.

With a training manual in place, everyone follows a set path, which increases the employees' compliance, boosting their productivity.

Steps to create training manuals

The importance of a training manual can’t be overstated. However, creating a training manual can be challenging, to say the least. One of the most important features of your training manual needs to be its usability.

The last thing you want is to create a training manual that your team members never use during the training program. You want to ensure that the information in your training manual is easy to understand, precise, and not overbearing.

Thankfully, creating a perfect training manual does not require a Ph.D.! Here are a few steps to help you create a training manual that works.

1. Identify the objective

The first step in creating an efficient training manual is identifying the objective. Here are a few questions that you can ask yourself before starting to compile a training manual:

What is the goal of this training manual?

What are the activities that need to be included in this training manual?

Who is the target audience of the training manual?

Once you establish the objective of the manual, the next step is to conduct a training process audit of the process. You need a list of the processes that you want to document.

For instance, onboarding can be a huge challenge if the training needs to be more adequate and efficient. When you provide a well-crafted training manual for your new employees, they tend to feel more comfortable in their roles.

You can create effective training manuals that explain the basic process to the new employees, such as helping them set up their online accounts or bank deposits.

Another important aspect that must be considered when creating a training manual, especially for the onboarding process, is digital security.

Your own training manual should provide employees with the proper training tools and information to help them minimize security risks.

Once you have identified the process and objectives you want to include in your training manual, you can move on to the next step.

2. Define the format of your training manual

The second but equally important decision before compiling the information in your training manual is selecting the right format. There are several formats to choose from when designing a training manual for your team. Some of the formats that are very popular include:

Printed handbook or booklet

Electronic pdf manuals

Online courses

Video tutorials

Interactive training modules

While there is a benefit to each of these formats, some training material is better suited to be presented in a video or a course format than a pdf format.

Choosing the format of your training manual according to the information you want to deliver is the ideal solution. For instance, a booklet is good if you inform your employees about certain rules or basic company policies.

However, an online course module or a video tutorial might be a better option if you are trying to convey a complex process involving multiple steps.

Remember, the more visual elements your training manual has, the better it can be retained by your employees.

Choosing the right format for the right piece of information to be conveyed is the best idea. Rather than choosing a single format across the board, try to combine two or more formats to make the information easy to understand.

There is no one answer to how to create a training manual. You might need to do a bit of trial and error before settling on a template that suits your industry the best.

3. Create the content

Once you have selected the format of your training manual, it is time to get to the meat of the document - the content. If your manual is very well designed but weak in content, it will have less impact.

You want all the pertinent information to be included in your manual so it becomes a comprehensive resource.

No one wants to read through walls of text. While giving the information is important, you must ensure that the content is as engaging as possible. The more the employee interacts with your content, the better.

Here are a few ways to keep your content fresh and useful:

Remember, you are writing a training manual and not a novel! Keep the information precise and to the point. Try to avoid overloading the document with too much information.

Your goal should be to compel your employees to read through the entirety of the document and not skip important parts.

Using visuals is a great way to break the monotonous nature of the document. Try to include screenshots, visuals, or infographics throughout the text.

The biggest challenge in creating a training manual is to make the subject matter engaging for the audience. Making the manual more interactive can be a great way to boost interaction and engagement from the audience.

You can add small quizzes at the end of all important sections to keep your audiences engaged and help them recall the important aspects of the module.

Tools like Splainy can help you create interactive manuals. Just install the browser extension or the desktop app to generate a step-by-step guide for your team members.

So, you have finished compiling your training manual and are proud of the end product. Now what? Well, it is time to share it with your employees!

However, sharing it with your employees is not enough. You need to make sure your employees are using the manual. You must track how many employees have opened the manual and reviewed the content.

It is also important to track productivity once the training manual is distributed among your staff. Two red flags might indicate that the manual is ineffective:

Many of your employees have not gone through the manual: If this happens, you need to find the reason for the inertia preventing your team members from opening and reviewing the manual.Maybe the manual is too lengthy or boring or contains information your team does not find valuable. In such cases, you might return to the drawing board and try fixing the problems.

Employees used the manual, but the productivity did not increase: The good news is that your employees have taken the time and gone through the manual! However, if the targets are not being met, it means that you need to review the content in your manual.Make adjustments to ensure that the content is up-to-date. Do whatever it takes to improve the manual that helps your employees meet the targets.

5. Get feedback from your employees

The manual is designed for your team. Hence, it is crucial to know what the end users think about your work. You must strive to get answers to questions like:

Did the team like the manual?

Did the members find it useful and easy to understand?

Were they able to troubleshoot their problems with the information in the manual?

Do they have any suggestions or comments?

Remember, the manual is for your team members; if they don't find it useful, it is useless. Hence, it is crucial to get honest feedback from them.

The only way to improve your manual's utility and quality is by implementing your employees' suggestions.

So, send the manual to your employees, ask for suggestions and try to implement them to create a better version of your training manual.

It might take a few attempts, but if you are thorough, understand what your employees want, and are willing to put in the effort, you can create a great manual in no time.

Essential elements of effective training manual templates

Creating multiple training manuals from scratch can be difficult and time-consuming if you have several employees and teams. The best solution to this problem is to create employee training manual templates and tweak them as per the needs of your team.

You can finalize the basic elements of the document, like the format, the text and fonts, and other minor aspects in the template itself.

Having a template ready also ensures a uniformity of content and appearance throughout the various manuals you might need to design.

Here are a few essential elements of an effective training manual template:

The title screen/page

The title page is an important aspect of your training manual as it gives your employees an idea about what they’re about to read. The title page must be designed to be attractive and contain all the pertinent information about the manual's contents.

The title screen/page must also let the reader know how they can benefit from the manual and why they should consider going through it.

Objectives

The template's next section is the training manual's objectives that outline the learning process. If your manual establishes what your employees stand to gain from studying the manual, they are more likely to go through the content.

If your objectives are properly formulated, the learner will know what to expect from the training and feel more prepared to handle the workload.

The table of content

The table of content is an essential part of your training manual. It allows the learner to browse through the various sections of the manual.

The content

An essential part of any manual is the content. Ensuring the content is laid out in an easy-to-digest format is the most important aspect of a training manual template.

Conclusion

The last section of a good training manual template is the conclusion slide/page. The page should be designed to remind the learner what they have learned through the process.

You can outline the skills and knowledge they gained while successfully completing the training. You can also use this page to direct the employees to other training materials.

The benefits of a training manual

Manuals are useful for both employees and organizations. While the employees can learn about the standard operating processes using the manuals, the employers can benefit from increased productivity.

Here are some benefits of a well-designed training manual:

Quicker onboarding

The biggest advantage of a good, exhaustive training manual is the faster onboarding of new employees. If your new hires know where to go and what to do, they can assimilate into the team faster.

With the right manuals, your employees will acquire the necessary knowledge and skills quickly and become productive members of their teams.

It is also important to understand that, with the right manuals, it becomes easy for the new hires to become independent and start contributing immediately.

Improved efficiency of the team members

A training manual help not only the new hires but also the existing employees. A diligently designed manual can help employees grow and improve their skill sets to become more efficient.

The manuals also ensure that the employees get all crucial instructions leading to improved efficiency. People with clear-cut step-by-step instructions tend to perform at their very best.

You can expect your employees to meet and exceed the goals with a training manual.

Better employee retention

Employee attrition is a huge problem in modern industries. The last thing you want is to train an employee to find out that they have quit to join another competing business.

One of the most common reasons for employee attrition is a need for more clarity. Employees tend to be unhappy when they don't know what is expected of them and when they are inadequately trained.

No one likes to ask around the office for a solution to a problem.

When your employees have the right manual, they know where to find the solutions to their problems independently. It instills confidence in them and improves overall job satisfaction.

Optimal workload distribution

Employees who have to constantly seek help doing their job can exert undue pressure on other departments.

For instance, employees will seek help from the HR department when they face any issues doing their job, and the HR employees have to answer the same questions repeatedly.

If your employees are trained and provided with a good training manual, they are more likely to find answers to their questions without needing help from the HR department.

It can significantly reduce the stress and workload of the HR department.

As the redundancies are reduced, people are free to work on their assignments rather than having to take time to solve the problem of their colleagues.

A properly designed training manual is the only way to achieve this in an organizational setting.

Training manuals can save money

Mistakes are inevitable when teams are at work. Sometimes, such errors can be costly as well. While eliminating the mistakes is virtually impossible, reducing their severity and impact is possible.

Most mistakes happen when your team needs to be on the same page, and there is gross non-compliance. A training manual can help eliminate this non-compliance and orient the team members toward the common goal.

It has been seen that having a good training manual can reduce expensive mistakes and can save time and money for an organization.

Employees who make fewer mistakes tend to grow more confidence boosting their productivity.

Tips to improve your training manuals

Training manuals are dynamic and need constant improvement to be effective in boosting performance and productivity.

There is always a scope to make amendments and improvements in your manual design and content.

Here are a few tips that can help make your manuals more effective in delivering a better performance from your team:

Make the manuals easy to access

At the risk of repeating ourselves, training manuals are only effective if your staff accesses them.

If your staff is reluctant or unable to access the manuals, they are useless no matter how well they were made. Hence, you should ensure the availability of your training manuals throughout the organization.

Thankfully, most modern manuals are online, making them easily accessible for your employees.

However, even if you have hard copies of your manuals, ensure they are available for every employee. Making a knowledge base for your organization and sharing all the pertinent documents is a good idea.

Ensure that the training manuals are easy to access and that all your employees have them when they need them. Access is the key to the utilization of resources. If your employees will have the training manual in front of them, they will tend to refer to it more often.

Use annotations and visuals

Visuals are very important when you create a training manual. Ensure that your document is not a wall of text but punctuated with actionable lists and graphics.

A visually dense document will appeal more to your employees than a mundane and plain-looking one. While designing a visually-heavy copy takes more time, considering the impact it has, it is worth the effort.

Keep your manuals updated

One of the organizations' biggest mistakes is not updating their manuals for years. As your organization evolves, so do the processes. What was state-of-the-art a few years ago might be a common practice now.

Your manuals must reflect the current knowledge and processes that your organization relies on rather than what it used to a few years ago.

Outdated information can hold your teams back rather than help them achieve their goals and improve their productivity.

Takeaway

Training can have a huge impact on the productivity and efficiency of any organization. Investing in training materials such as manuals can boost the profitability of your business.

Once you have understood how to create a training manual, it is not rocket science to compile it as long as you have the right tools.

With Splainy, you can create detailed and stunning training manuals in minutes. You can download our browser extension or desktop app to create training manuals that your employees would love.

Create your free Splainy account today and get a head start in your training manual creation journey!