Focusing on Employee training is an investment that every company should evaluate. Here is a guide that explains the benefits and the right approach with the best LMS system.
Underestimating the importance of sales training for a company’s employees is a very common mistake. If the balance sheet is in surplus you may think that there is no reason to train obviously efficient employees.
If, on the other hand, you have productivity problems you may want to avoid expenses that you think are unnecessary.
Either way, you would be making a mistake: Employee training focus, if done in the right way, can be an excellent investment for the company .
More qualified employees guarantee greater productivity and better quality work than those who do not receive any type of stimulus.
What is fundamental, however, is to follow precise rules without leaving anything to chance. So here is a guide to employee training, in which we will explain the main advantages of this activity and the right learning and development approach to obtain positive results.
An excellent investment for your business
When talking about Employee trainings we refer to the activities with which a company provides new skills to its employees. The reasons for using it can be varied. You may want to teach your employees to use new tools introduced in the company, for example.
Or you may want to speed up some processes by increasing the competence of the workers involved. The change in some internal dynamics could also have an impact. Such as the movement of some employees from one job to another or the hiring of a resource that must replace another one in sickness.
But even in the absence of specific reasons, allowing employees learning management system LMS to update is always a good move.
Here are some of the advantages that you can guarantee yourself with a not necessarily exorbitant expense:
- Greater Competitiveness: your company will always have trained resources and therefore be able to use the most modern tools. You will therefore be able to offer quality services at competitive prices.
- Image Return: a company that uses modern tools appears more reliable to customer service and is therefore preferred to less advanced competitors.
- Greater availability of employees: a worker who is constantly trained feels appreciated and stimulated. Feeling part of the company will push him to be more available and productive, but above all more satisfied.
To obtain valid results, however, it is necessary to set the compliance training process according to very specific criteria and use the appropriate tools. Otherwise, you risk wasting company time and resources Inexplicably.
Identify the key competences: soft skills and hard skills
First you need to identify what are the key competencies for your company. In this regard, an important distinction is between soft skills and hard skills . The former are transversal skills, useful in any sector and type of activity. The ability to organize, for example, or to work in a team, to manage and solve problems.
A training activity that involves soft skills is always recommended: it allows employees to evolve and offer you better results in less time . Furthermore, it helps to strengthen the bond between the company and the employees, who show themselves more available in an environment that shows attention towards them.
Contrarily, hard talents are more specialized and technical, such as the capacity to operate a certain device or a fresh software program.
In this case, you may be tempted to limit the training methods to the individual worker in that particular activity. Our advice is to always train at least a couple of employees for each hard skill useful to your company.
In this way you will avoid that the absence of an employee can compromise the productivity of a sector because there is no one else able to carry out his job.
How to manage and organize the training process
Once you have identified the key skills for your business, you can proceed with the training activity. The essential steps for effective Employee training are analysis, planning, delivery and verification.
1. Analysis of company needs and criticalities
This first phase is dedicated to gathering information on the problems of the company but also of individual employees. Which sectors are in difficulty? What activities are carried out too slowly? Are there any workers who complain about their work?
The tools to obtain this data are different: anonymous questionnaires, interviews and focus groups for what concerns employees, financial statements and company documentation in general for information regarding the activity as a whole.
All the news will then be collected and summarized in a single document which will be the starting point for the next step: the planning of the training intervention.
2. The planning and delivery of the training intervention
Starting from the analysis document, we proceed with the planning of the training intervention. In this phase, the objectives and contents of Employee training programs, the type of teaching, the teaching tools, the time dedicated to the activity and the evaluation criteria are planned.
Naturally, those involved in planning will have to deal with the budget made available by the company. Once the project is approved, we then proceed with its implementation.
Remember : it is really important that the whole procedure is monitored. This will allow you to verify the results (positive and negative) and improve it over time.
3. The evaluation of the results obtained and the review of the process
The collection of data during the training is necessary to allow you to evaluate the results obtained. To obtain useful information, the ideal is to analyze the effectiveness of interventions at least 3 months after their end.
If you have not achieved the desired improvements. You can use the collected data to understand what mistakes were made and how to remedy them in the next employee training and development project.
Employee training: not just classroom courses
But what is meant by career development training? In the past these were almost exclusively real courses, which took place in the company or in specially rented classrooms and which required the intervention of specialized teachers.
Today, technology has allowed the introduction of new tools that are equally effective but less expensive than classic classroom training. Here are some of the most popular:
- Social learning : According to social learning experiences theory, the fastest and most effective way to learn is by observing other people. Empowering employees to share knowledge and learn from each other can greatly enhance their skills.
- Mentoring : an excellent solution to train new hires is to have them assisted by an experienced employee who shows them the processes and business dynamics. You can also use external Mentors to train employees on new business processes or soft skills that you believe are essential for your company.
- On-demand learning and ad hoc materials : from ebooks to specially designed apps, educational tools on any subject are now available on the internet.
- You can provide your employees with trusted materials or buy them access to online courses on topics you think should be explored.
One last note :
remember that the concept of Employee training does not include strictly didactic activities. Providing your employees with a healthy and stimulating environment and showing willingness to meet their needs can also bring enormous benefits to your company’s performance.
If your budget doesn’t allow you to put in place a structured training process. You could limit yourself to giving your employees an hour or two a month to devote to their personal passions .
In this way you would not only earn their gratitude, but allow them to acquire new knowledge that can then also be applied in the company.
Employee training is an essential part of the employee experience within your company, and helps to build a truly positive image of the organization.
If you want to deepen your learning, eLeaP LMS will provide you with different types of employee training, responsible work and academies (which we can organize for you!)…
