Why Employee Training is Essential to a Healthy Company

Not knowing what you’re doing is frustrating. Ask anyone who’s ever tried to assemble furniture from IKEA or to take an exam without studying. That lack of knowledge and understanding, especially when everyone around you seems to know what they’re doing, can devastate your morale. Lets find out why Why Employee Training is Essential to a Healthy Company.

Yet often, we see companies with a sink or swim mentality. Once the initial onboarding process is done, that’s it ? a new hire is thrown into the water and expected to find their way. The idea seems to be that this sort of adversity is necessary for the truly exceptional to find their talent. Aside from that, companies also provide a new hire welcome box for each employee who just started their journey with them.

The thing is, these people excel despite this environment, not because of it. In a workplace culture that focused on collaboration and growth, they’d be exponentially more effective. They’d spend less time floundering and trying to figure out what they’re doing and more time focused on actually doing their job.?

Believe it or not, this all ties back to one core value: respect.?

If you respect your employees, you’ll arm them with the tools they need to work autonomously. You’ll ensure they have the necessary skills and knowledge to do their job and do it well. And you’ll help them feel appreciated, valued, and capable.?

This does more than improve performance and productivity. With a robust training and mentorship program, you can even reduce turnover, giving your staff opportunities for advancement within your organization rather than seeking advancement elsewhere. You can also use your training to address any weak spots in your organization ? for example, susceptibility to phishing emails.?

At this point, it’s safe to say we’ve driven home the value of training. Now let’s talk about what’s involved in implementing an effective training program. You’ll want to account for the following:?

• A roadmap. What are the goals of your program? How will you update and revise it over time? How will you promote and execute new training initiatives, and who will be responsible for them??

• Clear objectives. Each segment of your training should have a clear goal in mind. For instance, onboarding training would be an introduction to the company, giving an employee everything they need to get started.?

• KPI tracking. Related to the above, ensure you have metrics in place that allow you to track the effectiveness of each training initiative.?

• Leadership buy-in. For a training program to be truly effective, every key stakeholder in your business must be on board.?

• Engaging content. Anyone can put together a few PowerPoint slides or a boring keynote. The best training programs are engaging and exciting. They don’t just tell an employee what they need to know, but also why they need to know it.?

• Reinforcement. This could include optional refresher seminars, access to an employee knowledge base, etc.?

From mentorship programs to onboarding, training is at the core of any healthy company and the foundation of a company’s culture. Make sure yours is as comprehensive as possible. The effort involved in doing so will be well worth it.?

About the Author: Brad Wayland is the Chief Strategy Officer at BlueCotton, a site with high-quality, easy-to-design custom t-shirts.