Training is one of the most powerful tools we business owners and employees have today, but it has a bad rep (and for good reason). As we’ve discussed in previous blogs, the old training methodologies are boring, and don’t have a great impact. The new trend in training is proving to be extremely impactful on all business functions. Now the question is: what areas of business can training help you? While there are many areas to choose from, we’ve listed three huge ways training can improve your business below:
Helps with employee retention
With so much focus on the need for employee retention, having extra help is always appreciated. Training is a tool you can utilize to retain stellar employees and attract new talent. Stephen Day wrote a recent blog on Entrepreneur.com that highlights the connection between training and employee retention. He points out that companies that value their employees by offering them more than just pay and benefits have a higher retention rate. “That value can come in a number of forms: personalized development plans, skill training…are just a few examples of initiatives that companies can use to show their employees they’re seen and appreciated.” If you utilize challenging, beneficial trainings in your internal business plan, your employees will reward you with more loyalty.
Increases employee soft skills
After the past 15 months of increased isolation and working from home, there is a now a need for re-connection. Trainings focused on soft skills can provide much needed connection between co-workers. Well-being and leadership trainings have been on the rise in the past year as companies looked for ways to stay unified while working virtually. One of the tricks with trainings is to conduct them around skills that your employees want to improve on. Trainings focused on soft skills are applicable to work environments and employees’ lives outside of work, which will increase engagement in the training. This will show you care about their wants and career goals and help breakdown the stigma of corporate training. All training needs to be done well in order to be effective. When in doubt about your ability to do the training internally, hire a talented outside consultant to provide the training! An employee base that has the soft skills to be self-aware and the ability to communicate well will increase your business every time.
Creates strong communication
Communication is one of the most important business tools everyone needs to have and most of us could take advantage of an opportunity to improve. Especially when it comes to understanding and communication across departments. A great benefit from training is that the communication across departments and teams becomes stronger, promoting an environment where teams and departments can better understand each other’s roles and daily tasks. This creates a more congruent environment, that will allow your key business processes to run more smoothly.
While the benefits listed above are important, it is imperative to make sure you’re providing good quality, relevant training. We recommend you tailor your training to match your audience and their specific job functions. Without a targeted approach, no training effort will bring you the benefits you need.