7 Employee Training And Development Categories You Should Consider For Your L&D Program

Employee Training Categories You Should Invest Into
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Summary: Most companies have a tight training budget, but they don’t always think through how they use it. What are some key learning categories to consider as you plan out training expenditure?

7 Must-Have Employee Training Categories

Employers sometimes complain about new hires. These graduates are often fresh out of college or university, probably in their field of hire. Yet somehow, two to four years of education haven’t equipped them to do the job they were allegedly training for. This is because academic institutions don’t have the same perspective or priorities as corporate spaces. So, what do you need to teach your staff that they didn’t learn at school? Below are 6 key employee training and development categories you should consider for your L&D program.

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eBook Release
Remote Talent Development: How To Launch A Stellar Employee Online Training Strategy With The Right LMS
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1. Onboarding

Whether it’s their first job or their fifth, you need your employees to acclimatize. They have to adjust to the way things are done at your firm. This might include basic tenets, like which elevator to use, where to park, or how the coffee maker works. Or it may involve LMS training—how to clock in, or where to book an office car. On a psychological level, you want your employees to understand your vision and targets. You need them to see where they fit within the organizational hierarchy. Orientation will pass along these messages and techniques.

2. Product/Service Knowledge

Many companies restrict this type of training to the sales team. In reality, your other staff members need it more. Think about it. Your sales team is always out on sales calls, so every interaction they have is sales-y. But as for everyone else—receptionists, drivers, kitchen staff—they’re not specifically interested. However, their friends and family know where they work, meaning they field a lot of questions about your products and services. Equip them to respond. It helps them save face and gets them more invested in the firm’s success. A crucial aspect of product knowledge training is JIT support. Ensure that your training library is packed with mobile-friendly tools that refresh their memory so they can pass the info along to their prospects.

3. Compliance

It can seem like the primary goal of compliance requirements is to be annoying, especially because they’re written in dense, convoluted ways. However, the aim is to protect equipment, users, and systems. It can also save you lots of money in penalties and fines. Ensure that your L&D department keeps track of mandatory compliance deadlines using the employee training software, particularly external ones. This will enable them to schedule training in good time and avoid last-minute crash courses. It’s also helpful because they can spot changes in regulation and edit content accordingly.

4. Basic Customer Care

Just as we assume product training is for sales teams, we often overlook customer handling tactics. We don’t all need the deep-dive into the decorum of customer care specialists, but there will always be an instance where you deal with unhappy customers. It could be an incident at the mall where someone recognized the logo on your work shirt or office car. Maybe you’re an accountant making debt-collection calls, or a delivery person that got stuck in traffic. All these situations require a measure of client interactions, so take your staff through the fundamentals.

5. Lead Cultivation

Similarly, it’s the sales team that closes deals (and opens them). But just like customer care, there are a million instances where you could promote the brand. You might be at a meeting and another attendee spots your workplace on the sign-in sheet. Or you could be at a family gathering where someone is shopping for a product or service your company offers. Train all staff members—from the CEO to the warehouse new hire—on how to initiate a sales conversation. They don’t need to carry a credit card reader around. They just need to set the ball rolling. Then they can refer the client to a designated sales person who will then cinch the deal.

6. Leadership

Just like sales and customer service skills, everyone needs some degree of leadership experience, whether it’s stepping up to fill in for an absent manager or leading a team project to achieve a common goal. This also includes a lesson in teamwork and following when necessary. An employee training and development LMS can help you build real-world experience and self-confidence. For example, trainees learn firsthand how to resolve a conflict or assign roles within the team dynamic.

7. Soft Skills

In the past few decades, the corporate world has caught on to the benefit of EQ. It’s helpful at every job grade and can influence your career progress even more than your technical ability. For example, an approachable company VP might easily attract more attention, affection, and support than their surly standoffish boss, which could lead to a promotion. So, ensure all your staff enrolls for soft skills training. It covers topics like empathetic listening, leadership, ethics, negotiation, and teamwork. Your employee training LMS may also dig into conflict resolution and time management.

Conclusion

You might be so wrapped up finding the right software and the best trainers that you neglect content. It’s not always about tools and features. Sometimes, the focus should be on training categories. You want to think about the skillsets you’d like to inculcate. This includes orienting new hires. Impart in-depth knowledge of the products and/or services your company offers. All staff members—regardless of their title—should know the basics of customer care and lead generation, as well as fine-tune their leadership abilities so that they’re always prepared to step up and make difficult decisions. Finally, ensure your staff are fully compliant and polish their soft skills to a shine.

Purchase the best employee training and development software for every department, role, and stage in the employment cycle. Filter by features, spec support, and pricing model using our online directory. There are even reviews for the leading platforms that cover the good, the bad, and their likelihood to recommend.

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