The Need for Staff Training

The Challenge Defined:

Is there an intentional training program in place for all employees that is focused on company goals? How much of the budget has been allocated to training? 

Training staff on company goals, company issues and company priorities is critical to success. 

Here’s a list to start with:

• The history of the company.
• The current culture of the company.
• What’s likely coming around the corner for the company in the future?
• What issues need attention.
• The next best thing the company should do.

In addition to company information, it’s important that leaders help employees identify the skills needed to perform their work. Skills are the learned capacity to carry out pre-determined results. 

There are a number of specific job skill sets that companies demand of their employees. It naturally depends upon the job, but categories include: technical, computer, communications, marketing, sales, financial, academic, research and planning, human relations, management/leadership, critical reasoning, and workplace survival (people) skills. 

There are also a wide range of sub-skills, such as learning, listening, thinking, speaking and writing. A training program should help employees expand upon these basic skills as well as fine-tune the job related skills they already have.

The advantage of a staff training program:

1. It identifies areas of improvement an employee can be evaluated on in performance reviews.
2. It helps determine key indicators that can be tracked and measured.
3. It provides a solid position description when hiring new people.

Critical Questions:

• How much money is designated each year for training?
• Is there a plan that identifies what training courses are critical for each employee and why?
• Does it include skill training as well as training on critical aspects of the company?

Why This Challenge Must Be Resolved:

There are many downsides to a company that doesn’t take training seriously:

High turnover: When employees aren’t trained properly, they simply can’t perform at their best. 

Inefficiencies: In a manufacturing environment this can lead to waste, improperly maintained equipment, overruns or safety issues; ultimately impacting customers. In a service environment project scope gets confused or cloudy, projects can be executed poorly and not delivered  to the satisfaction of the client.

Culture impact: In an environment where training is non-existent or poorly executed, it can erode a culture. When people see others getting by with poor skills with no consequences, morale is impacted. Soon people just don’t see the need to go above and beyond and the entire company loses traction.

There is a financial impact to any of these issues. The reality is this: pay upfront for a solid, ongoing training program or pay later in the poor results that will come to pass.

Need help with this topic or leadership coaching? Contact Mission Critical Teams.