Why lifelong learning matters to your business

Wednesday August 28, 2019

As a business owner you would have heard that training employees boosts productivity and can take your business to the next level. Which sounds great! If it wasn’t for the time it takes, the expense incurred and then the risk of them leaving with all that knowledge only to go and work for a competitor. Yikes.

The alternative would be that you save the money and the time on training and employees carry on as they are. Except that they start to feel stuck and unmotivated, perhaps even start searching for another job with better opportunities for development. They begin to lack enthusiasm with their work and become less committed to projects and customer service. Worse still, your competitors who invest in training now have the edge over your business.

So, whilst a training and development plan may have seemed like an unnecessary expense, it saves money in the long run. Oh, and about employees leaving with all that knowledge to work elsewhere? Training is known to improve employee retention and there are legal ways to protect your investment and business interests.

The problem with most workplace training

Is that it is irregular and can be out of date. Ever dusted off an old DVD, put it on in the breakout room and wondered why staff didn’t retain any of the information? Aside from the fact that some of them may consider a DVD to be obsolete, this approach to training is limited and not going to give you the ROI you are looking for.

So, what will?

Lifelong learning can help

A successful training strategy will look ahead to identify the potential skills-gaps of the future, then aim to upskill current workers in order to close those gaps. A strategy for lifelong learning should not become obsolete because it continuously refreshes workers skills and adapts to the ever-evolving needs of the business. Rather than having everyone attend one training session and considering the job done, lifelong learning looks at regular and flexible training that can work around busy schedules.

In addition to skills courses, methods such as job shadowing and peer-based learning give employees the opportunity to apply learning to their actual working environment. Whilst deconstructing lengthy training seminars into bite-size sections can help them to manage their time and fit training around work.

Times have changed and so has workplace training.

Making it work for you

Devising and implementing a unique and effective training programme for your business can be a lengthy process. You’ll also want to be sure that your invested time pays off.

We can take this task off your hands. After taking the time to get to know you, your company and future business goals we can create you a training and development plan to meet your needs. We’ll assist with identifying potential skills-gaps and explain why certain clauses should be in your employment contracts to protect your investment. Contact us today to find out more.

Preventing People Problems

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