Making Sure Training Ensures Growth
When we've done the work to provide the right training, understanding that not just any training will help us capture lost profitability, we should see the results immediately-through how our team members get things accomplished and in our bottom line! Here's how an article from Chron.com called "Effects of Training on Employee Performance" detailed the impact we should be seeing:
Companies can reap the rewards of providing training for their employees because well-trained workers help increase productivity and profits. Investing in employee training should improve worker retention rates, customer satisfaction, and creativity for new product ideas. Effective training saves labor by reducing time spent on problem-solving and saves money in the long run by producing a better workforce.
Investment in training can improve a company's financial standing. Poor performance often results when employees don't know exactly what they're supposed to do, how to do their jobs, or why they need to work a certain way. Training can help solve these performance problems by explaining the details of the job.
This should reduce duplication of effort in the workplace, the time spent correcting mistakes, and the problem-solving necessary to correct bad performances. Improved performance from employee training can reduce staff turnover, lower maintenance costs by reducing equipment breakdowns, and result in fewer customer complaints. Better performance from employees typically creates less need for supervision and brings increased worker output.
While the author captured the true importance and tangible value of training as well as I've seen, we cannot simply send our folks through even the most tailored training and expect everything to magically fall into place afterward. As leaders, we need to be very intentional about ensuring our investment in the training and the team members who participate produce a measurable return. This can never be a check-the-box exercise!
After working through each of the profitability killers we've addressed here, I'd expect many of you involved in this process with me to ask, "Why would anyone even consider just going through the motions when they know all the ways they're losing profitability and have worked so hard to identify the training their team members need to grow?"
My response is simple: I don't think they do consider it! I believe that all too often, the basic steps necessary to realize a significant return on the investment we make into any type of training get brushed aside due to all the other busyness we deal with in running a business.
As we wrap up this look at how the wrong training kills profitability, let's walk through two practical things we can do to ensure any training we provide for our team members is applied and yields the results we need.
Clear Objectives for Measurable Results
When we worked through how confusion can kill profitability, the focus was on how setting clear expectations for performance could directly impact how and when things got done. To ensure that even the most targeted and best-delivered training yields growth in our team members and bottom line, we need to apply that same process here. We cannot afford to assume anyone involved will understand our intentions and take action exactly the way we hope.
If we've done our homework by making sure any training we provide our team members does indeed support the skills we need them to develop in the areas they're genuinely interested in growing, and we've worked to ensure that training is delivered in a way they can absorb it, the hard part is all but taken care of. Now, we need to ensure there's no doubt about why we're making this kind of investment and what needs to be achieved. We need to set clear objectives for how any training provided produces results we can measure!
If I'm training someone to use a piece of equipment, there's usually a detailed set of instructions outlining the specific operation steps, how to make minor adjustments, and even how to troubleshoot if it's not working quite right. I would likely show them each movement they'd need to make in the process and possibly the best way to stand for ease of use. Once I demonstrate the steps a few times, I step aside to let them give it a go. I would then watch them closely and provide feedback. Any missteps could be adjusted to prevent errors or injury.
While that's a very simplified explanation, the overall idea varies only slightly for any hard skill we're training someone on. But how often have you seen anything like that applied when it comes to those soft skills that typically get brushed off as intangible? Rarely, right? That kills a ton of profitability and perpetuates the cycle!
I will challenge you to look at training for any skill the same way you'd teach someone a new process. Whether we're using a saw, operating a press, communicating a message, or leading a team, we'll need to take some sort of action. It's an assumed part of the training process to watch for the desired actions once we've trained someone on one of those hard skills. So why don't we do the same thing when it comes to the softer ones-the ones that end up impacting productivity and profitability far more than most people ever realize?
Not only do we need to be very clear in communicating how we expect our investment in training to produce results, but we also need to be just as specific in detailing the objectives we have for how the training is applied. The most common question I ask someone during any Strategic Leadership Coaching session is "What would I see you doing differently if I were working with you daily?" I want each individual I coach to be able to explain the specific behavior they've changed to implement the training they've been through as they work to achieve their desired outcome. This has made a significant difference in driving return on investment from training. Still, the real difference doesn't come from just changing behavior but from sustaining it, so let's wrap up with why that's so difficult and how we can help make it happen.
Providing Support for Long-term Results
Setting crystal-clear objectives for the changed behaviors we need to see after training and the results those behaviors should yield is undoubtedly critical, but stopping there will still leave quite a bit of profitability unclaimed! A stark reality every leader will need to face is that implementing a new behavior or changing from one approach to another is never as simple as telling someone that's how it's gonna be... If we want those behavioral changes to be sustained long term, we'd better be prepared to provide ongoing support.
An article from Maryville University called "Importance of Training and Development for Employees" provided some clarity on the various steps in the process by sharing this:
Employee training and development programs are essential to the success of businesses worldwide. Not only do these programs offer opportunities for staff to improve their skills, but also for employers to enhance employee productivity and improve company culture.
Employee development is the continuous effort to strengthen work performance through approaches like coaching, training sessions, and leadership mentoring. Training is a specific event that teaches new information or skills, often provided to new or newly promoted employees.
One of the most important things I learned in all the years I worked in behavior-based safety was that most of our work routines are based on habits. Those habits, good or bad, took time to form and take every bit as long to change. Many of the sources I studied at the time referenced twenty-one to thirty days to create a new habit or change an existing habit to a more desired one. My point here isn't to dig into the science behind the specific number of days but to emphasize the need for providing support to anyone we've trained as they work to apply that training and form habits based on what they've learned.
The Strategic Leadership Coaching approach I referenced before has been one of the most effective ways I've ever seen to support behavioral changes that produce ongoing results in overall performance and increased profitability. With a routine focus on the actual behaviors being implemented and analyzing the changes in the process, we can help the folks we're working with keep the training top-of-mind and drive actual development. This also allows for adjustments to be made along the way, ensuring the individuals are achieving the goals they're working toward.
Quite honestly, offering that as a service was something I did very reluctantly. My goal was always to provide the tools through a training session, set the table for collaboration between the participant and their manager, and get out of the way. In a perfect world, that would always work! For one reason or another, though, that didn't always happen. In many cases, the managers just didn't have time. Sometimes the managers didn't have the skills they needed to effectively mentor their team members who had completed training. After several scenarios showing me that it's rarely a perfect world, Cindy gently suggested that we act as an extension of that manager by providing the support necessary for turning great action steps into sustained behaviors that capture lost profitability in the organizations we serve over the long haul.
In closing this look at the importance of providing the right training for each individual on our teams, I'll challenge you to make sure you're just as intentional about giving them the support they need to truly develop the skill as you are in identifying what skill they need or who is best suited to teach them that skill. This won't always be an easy process, but I assure you that following these basic steps will play a significant part in capturing the profitability killed by thinking any ole training will do...
