One weapon in the personnel trainer’s arsenal is the training video, something many tout as an excellent all-around supplement to conventional training. This may well be the case, but it hasn’t really caught on yet in Russia.

With the development of Russia’s markets the word "training" is gradually ceasing to be thought of as meaning an "expensive luxury" affordable only to a narrow circle of solid foreign companies and acquiring the connotation of a necessary component of any successful business. Training expenses are now an obligatory budget item for HR-services and personnel managers.

The term "training" and most of its forms do not require explanations any longer. However, Russians are not very familiar with such things as educational-video programs. Meanwhile, Western experts say that despite the rapid development of new technologies, educational-video programs have been and will be among the primary means of personnel training.

The reason is that today’s training video is not just a film but a complete course that includes a tape with a 30-minute feature film (this standard being followed by most international video training production companies) and printed materials, usually in the form of a booklet. The educational effect is achieved by showing two types of behavior — positive and negative — that are separated by the correction guidelines.

Video training programs can be used:

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• Directly by employees to get acquainted with new information or to perfect their skills.

I have witnessed some inflexibility on the part of Russian managers who reject the educational value of some video training courses only because of the films’ settings. For example, there is a video training program devoted to selling techniques with the action taking place in an insurance company. The approach that is represented is basic and all the stages — from preparation to closing the sale — can be applied in any business. Still, we hear an argument from the HR manager of a real-estate company that selling insurance is totally different from selling apartments!

I have also heard the argument that video will never replace live training — tailored seminars and workshops. But it is not intended to!!! Video will never compete with training providers and internal trainers. Video is a tool to be used for preparation of training, to present examples of the topics discussed and as a post-training instrument to review information.

Some people say that it is not good to use professional actors because they do not know the specifics of this or that job. But actors play according to scripts written by professionals and consultants and the process of filming is constantly supervised by them. Most employees will hardly be able to act in front of cameras as they do at their workplaces.

Now let’s talk about why video training is so poorly represented on the Russian market.

To begin with, like all other kinds of training, video training programs first appeared in the West. If training, as a system, can be rather easily adapted to Russian conditions, a video film is a final product and can only be translated into Russian. It is impossible to replace its characters and change their mentality and specifics.

Secondly, being a 100 percent imported product, a video film is not price-flexible.

Despite these problems, once acquainted with video training programs, companies keep returning to them again and again and the reason is their universality.

It took us a long time to prepare the launch of our new product: We scrutinized methodological materials and looked for a movie studio and professional actors. Finally, in March of this year we produced our first programs — training courses for those who work directly with customers. We tried to preserve all what we found useful in similar foreign products and to add Russian specificity. We don’t make films in studios; we use real offices, shops, boutiques, etc. While watching the film a trainee gets information and can perfect his professional behavior. The film accentuates both positive and negative patterns of behavior, complete with detailed text comments.

The first productions are primarily intended for those employees who represent the "face of the company," i.e., whose activities create the company’s image in the eyes of its customers. These films feature techniques of sale and servicing, show how to treat customers to make them devoted advocates of your brand and provide models of behavior for dealing with complaints and claims.

Together with the launch of the products, we carried out research by asking HR managers, training managers and training providers to fill out a questionnaire to get feedback on our programs and see the demand for others. We approached companies from all areas of business and were not surprised that sales topics (telephone sales, direct sales, advanced sales techniques) prevailed over other demands — 70 percent of interviewees mentioned some or all aspects of the sales process.

Convenience of use, straightforwardness, universality, easiness to memorize, opportunity to view situations as an outside onlooker and with humor — these are the main, though not all, factors that put video training courses among the most effective instruments of personnel training.