Training is Vital for Business Success

Written by Debra Thompson, president of TG & Associates, an international speaker, consultant and author.

In today's marketplace, with the unemployment rate at the lowest in decades and "Now Hiring" signs posted everywhere, it is less likely that the employee you hire is going to have all the skills they need to be successful. Given that premise, it clearly points out the significance of a solid training program for your company.

Training will also give you a major competitive advantage. If you have a competent, stable, well-led workforce, you will beat the pants off of your competitor who has employees who don't know what they are doing.

Training can no longer be an afterthought. It must become an integral part of your staffing and business strategy. When it is not properly planned for, any attempt to satisfy a training need will usually result in failure. Therefore, it is necessary to create a written, well-thought out plan for training.

Establish the training method and create the plan - There are many methods of training: on-the-job training, seminars and conferences, education assistance, mentoring and coaching. The method should be selected that best fits the needs of both the employee and the business. Clearly, cost is a consideration, but the quality of the training is critical to the development of the employee and ultimately to the success of the business. As you decide on the training method and begin to create the plan, you must also establish a financial budget and a time budget for the training required.

Actually planning the training should be an essential part of the performance management system and career planning for your employees. During the periodic performance appraisals, the training needs should be assessed and real plans developed jointly by the supervisor and the employee to ensure that the training required actually gets scheduled and accomplished. The importance then becomes not the method, but the needs.

The training needs analysis: The nature of the training planned for your employees must be the result of a focused and disciplined process to determine what training is actually needed. It's important to remember that once the employee training is planned, the accomplishments should be recorded.

It is clear that training must be cost effective. It is not desirable to conduct training and send employees to seminars and conferences if the subjects do not fit the needs of your company and contribute to your competitive advantage. There are ways to determine what is needed and they generally depend on communication and observation.

• The Job Description - The job description becomes an integral tool for developing a training program for each individual. The job description should have been shown to the candidate during the interview process so they were aware of exactly what the duties and expectations of the position were. That is the point at which the candidate acknowledged that they were able to complete the requirements of the position or gave indication that they would need training in order to perform as expected.

  Once the candidate accepted the position and became an employee, they then should have signed off on the job description acknowledging their ability to perform the expected tasks. If there were tasks that they would need help with or training in order to perform, this would be the time that an initial training program should have been discussed and designed

• Find out what they want - Along with matching the employee's current skills with the position, it is also important to understand what the employee feels they need to be trained in. This step should be conducted when developing their training program while comparing it to the job description.
• Clearly the next best opportunity to find out what the employee wants and needs is during the performance appraisal discussion. This is when it can be determined what added skills will contribute to performance improvement. But the bottom line is to ask what the employee thinks is needed. Remember that this training process is definitely an individual program and should be treated as such. You can also find out what employees may want through surveys, questionnaires and meetings focused on the subject of training.
• Ask your leadership team - Pull together the key members of the staff and brainstorm what training will enable the company to increase its competitive advantage or move into new niche markets using technologies they are not currently using. Advances need new techniques, and those depend on training. Determine the training that is needed to implement your strategic plans for business success. This is where it is important to already have your mission and vision statement in place. You need to know where you want the company to go and understand what it will take to get it there in terms of skills and teamwork.
• Observe - The process of management by walking around (MBWA) puts you in touch with the employee in the workplace. Frequently discuss with individuals what they are doing and how they are doing it. Next, try to determine if added skills or enhanced knowledge would make the difference in their performance. It is important to know that employee's morale is also dependent on the understanding of their job and the ease with which they accomplish it. If added skills will make a happier employee, then you are closer to where you need to be.

 

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