Productivity can be an elusive concept. Even if you feel you and your employees are working effectively, projects can still bog down and somehow, mysteriously, end up missing the je ne sais quoi needed to really contribute to your bottom line. But you can move the needle if you take a careful look at your strategic training methods. If strategic training methods are already in place, but they're solely focused on leadership development, you may be missing out on a key opportunity to increase productivity across the board.
In an article he contributed to Forbes entitled, "7 Management Practices That Can Improve Productivity," Victor Lipman writes: "Be sure management at all levels of an organization receives adequate training. There’s a tendency for companies to invest heavily in “leadership training” while focusing far less on supervisors and middle managers. I can readily speak from experience on this one, having received considerably more training and development opportunities in the latter stages of my career than in the early formative stages, when I most needed it." The reality is, even your best employees cannot perform without the right support and resources. So, if your organization is lacking an emphasis on further career development and training, you may have a concerning number of disengaged employees scattered throughout the organization.
Training instills confidence and trust
If a clear path for growth exists and training opportunities are made readily available, your employees will have the tools and resources they need to take on more responsibilities. Think of it this way: When your employees have a comprehensive understanding of what you're asking of them, it's more likely that they can deliver on this expectation. When it really boils down to it, training instills confidence and trust in the organization, which ultimately leads to a boost in job satisfaction and loyalty.
Putting an emphasis on strategic training methods
While the benefits are clear, why is the emphasis on strategic training methods still lacking? As described by the staff at Ivey Business Journal: "Allocating adequate organizational resources to achieve an effective training environment has been a budgetary and operational challenge that has eluded many organizational decision-makers, primarily because they do not realize that training is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to enhancing employee performance."
Enter: a more strategic training and development training model. A strategic training method typically starts with a formal needs assessment, where you and the management team can ask yourselves basic questions, including: "What skills and industry knowledge does our staff already have?" "How can employee training and development impact day-to-day workplace dynamics?"
Once you have done a formal assessment, you can start determining your training objectives and really home in on creating an effective context for employee training. In order to ensure your training model is effective, it must be relevant to the skill and knowledge you want your employee to attain. Otherwise, it's just time wasted for your employees, and money wasted for your organization.
Furthermore, your training methods must be digestible. Whether you implement a virtual or classroom training model, you want to be sure it's working for your staff. By establishing key feedback points in your training model you can collect your employees' experience, whether it be positive or negative, to improve your training program. This will help you to determine if the investment your organization put into training really contributes to employee productivity, or if you need to reconsider your methods of training.
A convenient and comprehensive approach to training
No matter the strategic training approach you determine to be best for your learners, virtual training has clear strengths and advantages that can benefit both employers and employees. It’s convenient, with choices that meet all of your scheduling needs. It's comprehensive; you can cover a lot of material and provide an environment for continuous learning while ensuring all learning styles are addressed. And it is cost-effective; you can eliminate or severely reduce travel time and expenses, and you can typically scale your virtual solution to train more people for incremental costs.
