Making training Stick – critical role of the line and senior managers!
Investment into training and development is critical to retaining and developing our main asset! Managers often stand back and do not get involved, and do not take part in the specific training content or sessions. Besides having a negative effect on team spirit and morale this will signal they are out-of-touch with ‘how’ and ‘what’ employees need and how they are learning, making it near impossible to reinforce the learning back in the office or face to face.
Rewarding employees
Though we may think otherwise, we – humans – are very much like all other living beings – we seek recognition and rewards out of what we do. Schoolchildren seek gold stars, shoppers look for loyalty points, and employees will naturally do the same. If your business already has a reward programme in place, this is perfect to tie into it. If not, make sure senior managers and line managers get involved pre and post programme, plus give verbal feedback to employees implementing their learnings, and perhaps better incentives if done consistently over a long period of time.
Use a platform to structure and track your development plan
There are many platforms that will allow managers to monitor what employees have learnt and how they are implementing it. This will be beneficial to both parties, allowing management to coach continuously and refresh employees’ minds, enable learners to be better at their jobs, and in turn save the business significant sums of money. This will also enable managers to track, monitor and support our people and make sure that what is being learnt is in line with the core competencies and values of the business, and that learning outcomes resonate across all staff.
Engaging senior managers and line managers in training is of crucial importance, and will allow them to lead other employees by example. This will strengthen the lin k between critical and investment in retaining and developing our key asset, avoid anyone from being out of touch with the business and its employees, and give employees the confidence to apply, adapt and adopt what they have learnt.
Summary
Investment in Training remains critical to growing our people and the business. Without truly genuine intervention and involvement, follow up and coaching from the line manager and senior managers, as a result we will continue to loose value from this investment in the one area that can make all the difference – PEOPLE
