Tuesday 8 April 2014

Why Businesses Should Train Their People

TrainingTraining your employees is imperative if you wish to improve your company’s growth and in-turn, achieve greater success. It is a strategy that you must employ. Effective training has many benefits, which can include increased productivity and improved quality of work, to name but two. Following their training, staff tend to feel a sense of pride and responsibility for the business, as well as heightened motivation, where increased productivity is often reflected through this. Training also reduces staff turnover and absence, due to a greater sense of belonging and respect that they have for the business. Providing training for employees also gives you a competitive advantage over other businesses and provides staff with an assurance that you are willing to invest both your time and money into them, thus creating a sense of increased job security and job satisfaction.

Before you begin, it is always important to perform a training needs analysis (TNA), essentially assessing the current level of skills or training throughout the business, as this will help you to identify areas of training that your business needs, or any skills that need evolving further, and develop your training from there. Your staff will have much more direct experience with your business and probably already know where some of these areas of weakness are, so ask for their input.

It is also important that you ensure that the training programme you provide is linked to your businesses performance and objectives, as this will give a clearer focus. At this point, you should bear in mind that the objectives that you set for your employees are both measurable and attainable, as this will ensure that staff can measure their successes towards the end goal. A regular analysis or evaluation will also help to monitor changes in developments and help to tailor your training programme to ensure that it remains effective.

All of these things obviously help to increase profits, due to both staff and customer satisfaction, but to ensure that you get the most out of the training that you provide, you really need to consider a few additional factors. These would include an element of mentoring, so that you focus on helping your employees to carry out their existing tasks more efficiently, otherwise the training could prove counterproductive, due to employees not having the time to implement the new skill set that you have given them. It is also worth investing in the right person or team who will be responsible for the planning and implementing of the training to the staff. Essentially, the most effective training will produce the most effective results.

Act now and help your people rise to peak performance and deliver the results that your business deserves.


This post was written as part of the Nollett Business Solutions blogging program, which provides businesses with the tools, expertise and solutions they need to become dynamic engines in an ever-changing world. Like us on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter.

5 comments:

  1. With training come a sense of investment. Once you have learned a more in depth understanding of the company you feel as if you are now part of the company, part of the reason it's there.

    It's important to have classes that are small in size as well. If you make a big training class you will loose the sense of belonging and the staff will feel as if they are just a number being pushed through and shoved out to make things happen. They will no longer feel the investment in the company, but more like a tool to be used and put away.

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    1. Thank you for these great comments. Making the tutor group smaller allows for more interaction between individuals and the mentor, giving greater learning potential and a more personable relationship. Everybody needs to feel valued.

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  2. Training one's employees makes the job a lot easier on the employer and the employees. You wouldn't want to have an employee who's unqualified working for you, so it's best to get some training, even if the employer has to get the training done themselves, it's well worth the time and effort in doing so.

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    1. Damon, more businesses are starting to recognise the value in training, so much so, that it is now becoming part of their Business Strategy. With training funding available from many areas of Government, this usually reduces the cost of training by 50% and in some instances, negates the cost all together. If you would like to know how you can access this funding, please contact us at info@nollett.com.

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  3. Training is so important no matter what field you are in. Whether your employees work at a mall in retail or at the upper levels of a corporation, proper training can make a world of difference.

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