On-going employee training can be a natural aspect to overlook – especially when there are more pressing or urgent goals on the horizon. This goes both ways, for the employee and the employer. However, on-the-job or on-going training is a crucial part of growing your company by developing the skill set of your employees. Another reason to spend time training your employees is that it creates buy-in from them, especially when the training will provide direct benefits for their current and future work.
With so many great reasons why employee training is so beneficial, it can be difficult to understand why some employees seem resistant to the idea. Let’s take a look at some of the best ways to engage your employees with the idea of more training:
1. Make it personal
Typically, making something personal isn’t the best idea – especially in the workplace. However, when it comes to employee training, the more personalized you make training, the more likely your employee will respond positively to training. The best way to do this is to keep the learner at the center of the training. Pushing learning, especially learning curriculums that are of a one-size-fits-all variety, is a quick way to turn your employees off, and even results in an adverse effect on their work, with time lost and possible feelings of devaluation.
2. Ask your employees
Sometimes asking your employees can lead to a dead end, due to the circumstances, office politics, and so forth. Sometimes you need to intervene and make a decision that’s best for the company. Training can be like that too. Sometimes you might have an employee who is good at recognizing their strengths and weaknesses, and other times you’ll have to step in and offer some guidance. Regardless of the type of employee, when it comes to training and self-improvement, it’s always a good idea to ask them first. After all, it’s important for employees to be engaged. For example, in various coding classes, there are many ways to help employees retain their training knowledge, while also being a win-win for the company. This doesn’t need to be a daunting thing at all. A simple conversation about personal development goals is likely a conversation that will leave you both feeling better and it’ll offer clearer insights into how your employee views their development while also giving you some key insights into what motivates them and what they see as important.
3. Career advancement
If your employee sees a clear path in their professional development through training, they’re much more likely to be invested in their training. This can be the outcome of higher wage or even a better position within the company. In some ways, this is dangling the carrot. You offer a potential reward, and they’ll do the work to try and achieve what they need to achieve in order to get that reward. Beware of making promises you cannot keep, as there’s nothing more demotivating than a broken promise.
4. Multiple formats
The advances in eLearning have been dramatic over the last few years. With sources such as Lynda.com and more, there has never been a better time to offer eLearning for your employees, which provides further training without breaking the bank. Combine this with a BYOD (bring your own device) or a working from home option, and you’ve got a compelling mix of learning and flexibility that will appeal to many people. This doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t offer in-house, in-person training too. There is still a lot of value to be gained from learning from each other one-on-one or in a small classroom environment.
5. Bake training into the culture
An excellent way to get your employees to respond to training is to make it a part of your company culture. This doesn’t mean superficially offering training or forcing unwanted or unnecessary training onto your employees; it means encouraging people to learn from each other, to make learning a priority and not a secondary act. Have a centralized knowledge base, one that is actively maintained and contributed to. Encourage discussion. Make problem-solving and helping a virtue in your company, not a taboo. Encourage questions, allow people’s curiosity to flow, and ask people to punch holes in ideas. This takes everyone to buy-in if it is to succeed. It’s not a one-off trick and it’s got to start at the very top.
6. Recognize experts when you have them
Sometimes you’ll be fortunate enough to have an expert on your team. No matter what they’re an expert in, an expert is always a great asset for a company – when their expertise are used correctly. There are many ways to utilize expert knowledge within your company, but simply recognizing when someone is excellent at something and having that information be known to the rest of your company, is a great way to start. They could hold a small discussion or a classroom style meeting. They could present some of their knowledge to the people who are most interested and in need of their expertise – the list goes on. Regardless of how your company uses this expert, merely recognizing this person will provide a boost in morale to everyone.
7. Rewards
The final idea on the list appeals to our most basic human selves: a reward for doing something good. Everyone enjoys a pat on the back now and then and a pat on the back with a gift card or dinner at a nice restaurant or a trip to a sporting event are all simple ways to reward someone for their hard work. These are best presented at milestones, big or small, and are an excellent way to affirm your employee for the job they’re doing positively.
Let’s get training for 2017!
Featured photo credit: Startup Stock Photos via stocksnap.io
