Why You Should Take the Time to Form an Effective Training Program for Your Employees!
Training in the work environment is often rushed, poor in quality, and does not leave a new individual, or transferred employee, feeling fully competent to complete their new responsibilities.
People often think: ‘Training is important, but it is not as important as other companies matters that simply cannot wait.’ Have you ever thought this before? Have you ever felt this attitude upon arriving at a new job or taking on a new responsibility yourself? While it may be true that there are urgent matters to attend to within your company, delaying training may be harmful to the overall business health of your organization.
Any driver knows that he has to maintain his vehicle to keep the engine in running order, like regularly changing the oil. Still, he may feel that it is not as urgent as filling the tank with fuel; reasoning that if he does not fill the tank with fuel soon, the vehicle will come to a complete stop. But, if you don’t have time to change the oil, the car will keep running for a while. But what is the danger? If the driver continues to postpone the maintenance of the engine, the day will come when the car will grind to a halt. The result? Spending a lot more time and money to get the car repaired and up and running again.
The lesson is this: While companies need to make sure of important things that keep revenue flowing: sales, marketing, etc. (filling the tank of gas) They cannot neglect the matter of having an effective training program, or the maintenance of the engine. Doing so means that sooner or later the company as a whole will flounder. The results are stunted growth, lower productivity, and falling profits. To keep your company progressing, growing, and moving forward, you need a program that invigorates, trains, and equips your employees in a way that not only helps them to accomplish their responsibilities, but makes them excited to go to work. Knowledge, understanding, and feeling fully equipped to do your job well, moves people in the work place to do more and maintain loyalty.
Creating, or refreshing your current training program to become effective, takes time. But doing so can lead to many benefits. If someone is sick, your program has built up a wealth of knowledge to get someone up to speed to fill the need. It allows for employees to be cross trained easily – becoming greater assets to the organization. Good training makes employees feel empowered to complete their job, giving them the knowledge and the security that they can do it in a way that will please management. In addition, with the long game in mind, effective training will lower the overall stress on management, especially when there is turnover. And for those who already feel stretched to the limit within their company, investing in a program will take more burden off their shoulders; as effective training results in less mistakes and greater productivity.
Therefore, it is wise to invest the time and money to create an effective training program now! When was the last time you reviewed your companies training program? Are you using good visual aids, videos, and up to date material to instruct your employees? Can you assign new employees to watch a series of videos to get them ready for their work? Is the material engaging, or is it boring? The answers to these questions will help you know what the next step should be in creating or revamping your training program.
