3 Training Strategies To Improve Your Team
Arguably, the most valuable strategic initiative for any organization is employee learning and training development. This claim is backed up by recent industry findings. According to the most recent LinkedIn Learning Workplace Learning Report, 87% of responding Learning and Development (L&D) professionals had "some to a great deal of involvement in helping their organization adapt to change."
Whether or not you agree that it is the most important, it's definitely a fact that employee training and development is a key strategy for talent management in all areas of an organization. It is particularly important as a strategy for change management and succession planning in a tight labor market.
Consider. Training initiatives are vital to keeping your employees agile and ready as markets change. The development of your employees is useful for improving function across all areas, including productivity, motivation, and reduction of costly errors. It's also a means to cross-skill interdisciplinary teams, which can make everyone more versatile and effective. Moreover, employee training and advancement opportunities will help you to retain your highest-performing employees, as top performers are most likely to appreciate career development and a pathway for advancement.
Speaking of, providing a training pathway for employee career advancement is a vital method to fill openings, as well as existing and future skills gaps. With those important issues in mind, here are the primary areas to invest in training and development to manage your staffing issues.
3 Priority Areas For Employee Training And Development Initiatives
Onboarding
Are you confident that your new employees are ready to hit the ground running after their onboarding period ends?
One of the best ways to improve your team and its productivity is to properly onboard your employees. Don't leave them to watch a video or read a binder, then expect them to properly perform. To assure better performance, be sure your onboarding includes opportunities for collaboration with other staff. You can do this with in-person learning, of course, as well as through digital platforms. For example, you can use chat, provide Q&A sessions, ask for feedback, and provide personalized responses to assessments.
Additionally, you'll want to streamline your onboarding. You should try to—whenever possible—provide short training modules, followed by opportunities for on-the-job practice. Build in time for refreshers to reinforce learning, such as time to watch a video or review other material. It's also very useful to train new employees on how and where to get questions answered.
Leadership Development
Great leaders are vital to the performance of your team. It is always useful to train management in soft skills. It's even more important to provide managers with additional training if they are inexperienced in leading teams that include remote or hybrid-workplace employees.
All managers and leaders should also receive a training foundation in processes as a means to give them the foundational skills to coach employees on their teams. This could include processes to use technology, the steps in compliance and quality processes, and/or customer experience training specific to your organization that could be useful.
Providing internal leadership training improves management and also creates an upward pathway for your employees. Knowing that there is a career development path that leads to advancement is motivating for your team.
Upskilling
Does your organization support on-the-job learning opportunities? Do you make time for any of the following?
- Coaching and mentorship activities
- Lunch-and-learn sessions
- Refresher courses
- Interdisciplinary cross-skilling to help teams work better together
These are all valuable to improving productivity and creating efficiencies in your team. Your organization should also create, archive, and make accessible various on-the-job reference materials. Having open access to learning resources makes your team more effective and creates a culture of learning that supports ambition, problem-solving, and advancement.
Conclusion
Training programs are central to the strategic initiatives of any organization. Learning is useful for supporting change management through talent development, as well as creating the framework for succession planning. Use the 3 central strategies of onboarding, upskilling, and leadership training to create a culture of learning on the job that will support all of your other strategic initiatives, as well as motivate employees to own their professional development through opportunities for personal choice and motivation.
