Employees are the backbone of any company. Without them there would be no innovation, no progress, and, of course, nobody to perform the vital tasks that keep business afloat. However, as with all individuals, they need to keep up with continuous improvement to bring something new to the table. There’s a learning curve to everything and there’s always something more that can help improve performance.
In this sense, helping the people working at your company develop new skills and improve their existing knowledge is one of the most beneficial things you can do for your enterprise. As your team’s proficiency grows, so will your business figures. Keep reading if you want to get a better idea of the many ways in which employee training promotes growth, and what are the steps that you must take to bring that development into the workplace.
Decide on the process
The most important thing when coming up with a training plan for your employees is to decide the type of coaching you’re going to do. There are many options out there to have your pick and choose from, so it’s important to go for something you’re sure is going to yield the most positive results. One of the most popular sessions out there is lean six sigma training, a method that teaches the use of collaborative effort to eliminate all types of waste. Known under the mnemonic of “downtime”, they include defects, overproduction, waiting, non-used talent, transportation, inventory, motion, and extra-processing. If you’re a little skeptical about some of these, keep in mind that unnecessary product transportation can result in damage, loss, or delivery delay and that needless movements can result in repetitive strain injuries for workers.
You can choose between a wide array of training programs such as:
- Lean practitioner training: This type of training believes in daily improvement and seeks to offer your team the tools to achieve this. Lean six sigma acknowledges that efficiency is about more than the effort of a single person, and that it’s teamwork that can solve root issues and offer new insights.
- Lean leader training: Leadership is one of the most important aspects of business, and proper leadership should seek to put the well-being of the crew first. During training, managers can learn to develop improvement initiatives and programs. Supervisors shouldn’t be regarded as somehow above and beyond training, but rather as an integral part of the larger team. And if you’re planning on promoting some of your employees to a higher executive role, this training can be an integral part of getting them acclimatized to the new job requirements.
- Black belt services training: This type of coaching is specifically designed for employees that want to learn more about data analysis and statistics. While sometimes overlooked, these are vital aspects of keeping your business successful and relevant. When you have people in your team that know how to operate these figures, you’ll also get experts who can assess product quality and manufacturing efficiency. You’ll soon see yourself becoming a customer favorite and market leader in your field.
Offer online training
In recent years, the majority of employees have spent a significant amount of their working time remotely. While it has posed several challenges, such as the lack of proper equipment and ergonomics at home, as well as a more pronounced need for establishing boundaries between work and free time, it has also meant that more workers than ever have become comfortable around technological devices and learnt to use them to make their work easier.
This is why you should consider adding some e-learning opportunities when looking to create a training strategy. It enables employees to learn from any location, which is important particularly if you follow a hybrid work model. Given how people have different learning methods, it’s important to put many alternatives at your team’s disposal. Online learning is also useful for ensuring that employees don’t get overwhelmed feeling like they have to tackle both their usual workload and the additional learning ventures. When you make the necessary resources available online, you give people the chance to learn at their own pace and in their own time. You’ll notice that this makes for more consistent and leveled progress.
Hold meetings
While digital solutions definitely make up a large portion of the conversation around training, learning from the people around you is just as important. And there’s no better way to do this than during meetings you hold together. The most important thing, however, is to make sure that everyone gets the chance to speak and be heard. Keep the tone relaxed and casual so that everyone feels comfortable engaging from the senior members to the newcomers.
You can take turns every week and get every member to create a presentation about a certain topic that they either have personal experience or struggled with. These presentations are the best way to strike up a discussion and have everyone share their opinions and tips. If one of your employees is experiencing hardship in a certain area, their fellow colleagues will almost certainly be able to provide valuable advice. This way you help brush up on any weaknesses in the work processes and streamline. Brainstorming is common during meetings, and you may even find solutions for prospective problems, so that should they arise everybody will be a little more prepared to tackle them.
Asses the importance
There are so many benefits to offering proper employee training that it’s impossible to enumerate them all. One of the most important is that it prepares the team for higher responsibilities. Whether it’s due to moving into higher roles or the business expanding, branching out to include new processes or marketing niches, you’ll want people who take their jobs seriously and know how to raise up to expectations.
It also helps employees feel like they’re valued by the company. When people see practical proof that they’re part of a team that’s invested in the well-being of its individual members, they’re all the more likely to be more involved in their work and do a more thorough and attentive job.
When you’re coming up with ways to help your company grow, you’ll almost always have customers or marketing strategies in mind. But you mustn’t lose sight of the fact that employees are vital for business success.
