The Importance of Employee Development
Show us a successful company and we can guarantee they are a learning organization. By implementing continuous improvement programs, more and more businesses are striving to gain competitive advantage nowadays.
In fact, a report by Forbes shows that companies which adopt learning programs and coaching outperform those that don't.
Well-trained employees are a key driving force in many successful businesses, and can be the determinant of their long-term profitability. After all, a business can only profit and grow if its staff consistently deliver value to customers.
Although some businesses recruit talented employees right off the job market, some companies find it easier to develop their existing employees using training and coaching. As they are valuable assets to the company, it pays to invest in developing their skills through further training.
It's both easier and cheaper to retrain and promote/transfer an employee that you know into another role, than it is to recruit for that role. Rather promote from within, then recruit for the newly vacated lower position.As recruitment fees are often paid as a percentage of the salary, this will immediately reduce costs.
Choosing the Right Training Methods
Since adults learn in different ways, however, it's important that organizations choose the right training methods. These methods range from one-on-one coaching, workshops, job shadowing, and mentoring to offering study leave.
The trainers themselves may come from within the company ranks or can be external to it, but the choice of trainer and training method should only be made after careful deliberation. In all cases, you need to identify the training needs of your staff before choosing the training itself.
When choosing a training provider, make sure they understand your business and are offering a programme that:
- is aligned with your organizational strategy and objectives
- fills in any shortage of skills that have been identified among your staff
- is actually focused on employee improvement
- helps your staff achieve specific outcomes through the use of active and participatory methods
- can be evaluated later and its impact on all participants measured.
Still sceptical about investing in training? Here are some ways the right trainer can help your business grow.
If you'd like to learn more about leadership & management why not take a look at how we can help?
Upgrade your management skills with our online courses.
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Improve Productivity
Untrained employees are often unsatisfied with the quality of their own work. The trickle-down effect of this is them making more mistakes and performing even worse, which costs the business in both lost time and profits.
The right trainer and training, however, will give your staff the confidence they need to do their jobs in the best way possible.
Reduce Employee Turnover
An investment in employee training will let your staff know you're interested in their development.
As a result, morale, job satisfaction and motivation will increase, which can lead to employees staying with the same employer for longer. Not to mention that upskilling your best staff is definitely more cost-effective than the cycle of constantly recruiting new employees.
Reduce Costs
Organizations have always had, and will always have, a decision to make about what to outsource, and what to make/provide etc internally.
Training is just one such decision.
Knowing when to outsource training and when to handle it internally is a set of decisions usually made by good HR or training teams, but when a training programme is going to be a large one, such as the rollout of something company wide, then the decision to cover it internally becomes a lot easier to make.
In that case, it's time to keep it internal. And even if you don't have a trainer capable of running the training, as long as you have the person with the actual knowledge that needs to be disseminated to everybody else, then it's usually more cost effective to train that person up as a trainer, who then trains everybody else.
Follow up training sessions are then also far cheaper than bringing in an external company again.
Free Up Management Resources
Untrained staff need constant hand-holding, distracting your best people from doing more important tasks.
Providing training and a trainer as a mentor gives your employees the confidence to work on their own. This reduces the need for supervision and frees up management time for other projects.
Create New Company Leadership
Great leaders are hard to find - which is why most companies have to train and groom their own. Companies with no investment in training will hope to find talent on the open market. But by developing potential managers, a company is investing in itself.
Gain a Competitive Edge
Well-trained staff serve customers better, leading to fewer customer complaints.And staff that are not well trained are highly unlikely to deliver that "WOW" factor.
The Train the Trainer model also allows businesses to grow their own team of skilled in-house trainers. Low customer complaints and in-house trainers are massive competitive advantages for any business. With less wasted time and resources, the company becomes more efficient, which also results in financial gain.
In addition, new employees - especially millennials - tend to seek out businesses who will help them improve their skills, so providing training makes a business attractive to new talent. Don't be one of those companies that claim they can't afford training. Just look at the benefits you can get from it.
ZandaX is one of the most competitively priced trainers in the UK today. We've been training delegates for over two decades. If you're ready to reap the benefits of our experience and inexpensive training, contact us today.
If you'd like to learn more about leadership & management why not take a look at how we can help?
Upgrade your management skills with our online courses.
RRP from $49 – limited time offer just $11.99
