The success of any business, whether great or small, is anchored on how well trained the employees are. When employees are armed with sound training, skills and the right knowledge, your business is bound to run smoothly, which in turn will yield maximum profits. Therefore, when you invest in your employees, you’re invariably investing in your business.
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One of the reasons that have been identified for losses in business is that employees are either untrained or under-trained. When employees are trained effectively, it will reduce the risk of mistakes and losses.
However, many small and medium-sized businesses don’t know how to go about training their employees, and they fail to implement the right training procedure to see the impact. In this article, I am going to highlight five ways in which you can train your employees.
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Draft A Plan
Before you embark on an employee training programme, you have to know what areas you want them to be trained in. You should be specific on what you want to train them in. Without being specific on what you want them to be trained in, you might end up wasting your time and theirs, carrying out unstructured and useless training. Therefore, be specific. Do you want to train them in the areas of bookkeeping, marketing and advertising, or customer service? Be as much specific as possible.
Ensure that the skill you want your employees to learn is relevant to the growth of your business. Ensure that the training is to fill a gap in your business.
Furthermore, ensure that training is structured, beginning from the fundamentals to the advanced. The skill and knowledge should be progressive, building from the basic to the advanced.
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Conduct Periodic Training Sessions
The best businesses host regular training sessions for their employees. This is to help employees maintain skills and knowledge. When training is frequently done, it can help employees advance their skills. Besides, regular training is one of the best ways to improve the quality of your staff. It is also an avenue for stating new changes in the company.
In order not to allow regular training to suffocate or disrupt business operations, it is best to inform employees ahead to prepare their minds and at the same time, make them clear their desks and beat deadlines.
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You can also organise these trainings by shifts or giving them lectures through emails, to prepare them for the training. When they are prepared for training, after they must have gone through the mailed lectures, it can allow you to make the training brief.
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Endeavour To Make Employees Participate As Trainers Too
Another way to make employee training effective is by employing the services of your most highly skilled, competent and trusted employees as trainers and facilitators. This can create bonding and build stronger company culture centred around unity and cooperation. These employees might be managers or simply your most productive employees.
Invite these employees to transfer their skills and knowledge to other employees. They can educate new employees or teach successive training courses. You might provide them with the basic information to teach, or let them develop training materials themselves. Also never fail to provide incentives for employees to tutor their co-workers. For instance, you might financially reward them with a raise or bonus payment.
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Engage Employees In Cross-Training
It is advisable to diversify workers’ training. For example, you might train a cashier on the rudiments of bookkeeping, or train your sales manager on techniques of customer service. This will help them to their primary jobs. This is very important, especially when there is a shortage of staff, especially when staff calls in sick or goes on maternity leave. However, this is not to engage in micromanaging staff, especially if you have the resources to employ more staff.
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Set Training Goals
To ensure that your training programme is not a waste of time or fail to achieve the reason it was set up, it is important to set training goals. Track training to ensure that the goals are being met. The first is to determine what you want your employees to learn, how long should they learn, when should they practicalize it, and the effect of the training on their productivity in the workplace. Ask employees for training feedback during and after training. Ensure that they are well equipped with the new knowledge they are acquiring.
Featured Image Source: The Ohio State University
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This article was first published on 10th January 2022
nnaemeka-emmanuel
Nnaemeka is an academic scholar with a degree in History and International Studies from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. He is also a creative writer, content creator, storyteller, and social analyst.
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