Running a business is definitely tough work – and one of the toughest aspects of this work is employee management. We’ve all seen the usual “new hire” orientation where all the information just falls under the category of this-is-how-it-works-around-here. It takes creativity and a whole lot of commitment to invest in your employees in terms of training and development and to provide a powerful corporate training program. Only wise leaders would take training time as an opportunity to align the individual growth of its employees to the larger business objectives.
In this article, the Global Brand Academy will outline everything you need to know about running a successful corporate training program. This includes the importance of training, its objectives, and how to create a successful training program that would fit your business.
Table of Contents
First, what should be the objective of your training program?
Many of the things we do in life begin with an idea. But having an idea is one thing – turning it into reality is another. To maximize your training program, make sure that the training program that you will develop for your business and employees hit your primary objectives, otherwise, it’ll be lacking and your training program wouldn’t be as effective and efficient:
- Your training program should bring out the managers and leaders in your employees;
- Your training programs should help your employees develop their technical skills;
- Your training program should train all of your employees globally in a cohesive way; and,
- Your training program should cascade the standards, principles, and vision of the company to the employees.
Next, what is the importance of training?
As mentioned earlier, to ensure that your employees will invest their skills and abilities in your business (or they would do a good job), you should also invest in them. Subjecting your employees to corporate training is a win-win situation for both the business and the employees. The Global Brand Academy lists down some of the most notable benefits of training your employees.
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It enhances the reputation of the company.
Providing company training to your employees will develop a good reputation for your company. Once you get a good reputation, you’ll also start attracting the right employees for you. There are a lot of factors that can determine a company’s reputation and establishing a proper training program for employees is a good way to start.
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It ensures consistency.
Tasks and responsibilities that are often seen as mundane lose their quality over time as the process of doing them becomes outdated. Having a good corporate training program would ensure that everyone is on the same page, it will also be helpful for making consistent onboarding practices.
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It boosts the employees’ morale.
Offering extensive training to your employees will demonstrate the level of care you have for their wellbeing, growth, and success. Aside from training being opportunities for teambuilding and bringing people together, it’s also a chance to improve management-employee relationship in such a way that is beneficial for the company’s wellbeing too.
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It boosts levels of productivity.
In a study from the International Journal of Management Science and and Business Research, it was emphasised that the quantity and quality of output, the time it was created, or the presence or attendance of the employee on the effectiveness of the work completed are all factors associated with the term “performance”. This means that if employee growth and development isn’t given the appropriate attention, this could mean poor organizational performance for the company at large. This is why employees must continuously be subjected to new knowledge and skills, in order for their creativity and productivity to keep flowing.
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It develops strong leader traits in the employees.
For each employee to have the potential to lead – that is the goal of training and development. Establishing a human resource that is both productive and empowered is always a worthy objective to aim for and an effective corporate training will help in this aspect. This is very helpful for companies to know because if they would be able to find the right candidates for potential managerial positions, companies could gradually train them for those positions. The Global Brand Academy can see potential leaders and hone their skills to the fullest.
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It boosts employee retention.
Training your employees takes a lot of money and time, but losing employees costs a lot more. In fact, one of the most common causes of employee turnover is the lack of personal advancement and growth. Establishing a training program for your employees will help retain and cultivate your current employees while attracting new top talent at the same time.
Next: How do you start creating a successful training program?
Effective training programs are quite challenging to implement; you may already have training programs in place but you aren’t seeing the results that you were expecting. Here’s how you can create an effective corporate training program for your company:
1. Identify what you need to address.
If you’re going to train your employees, make sure that it will address an already existing problem to make the most out of the training. Here are some questions that you can ask yourself to identify what you need to address in the company:
- What’s lacking in the company?
- What can be improved?
- What are the company’s weak points?
- How’s the morale of the people?
- How are people’s relationships?
- What position needs to be filled?
Your employees are the best source of authentic information regarding what’s happening on their end, so it’s best to ask them these questions.
2. Pick the most appropriate training method.
Once you’ve identified the subject or the focus of the training program, think of the most appropriate way to address it. This will greatly affect the outcome of the training so you have to pick correctly. Here are some of the options to choose from:
- Hands-on training
- Role-playing
- Instructor-led training where the Global Brand Academy will be able to greatly help
- Online live classes
- Online on-demand courses
3. Measure the results of your training method
As in every program, feedback and evaluation is essential. It is one of the biggest reasons why programs are implemented. Go back to your objectives and ask yourself these questions: Did your training program show the results you were expecting? Did it address what you were trying to fix or improve?
This stage is also an opportunity to ask your employees for feedback, gather data and determine how you can improve on your next training program.
4. Follow through on the training.
Post-processing is an important aspect of any learning procedure. It’s a phase where you must debrief your employees after the training. Did they like the program? What can be improved for them? How often would they prefer to have training? What did they learn from the training?
5. Weave corporate training to your company culture.
As mentioned throughout this whole article, training shouldn’t be a one-time thing. It should be a consistent part of your company culture. Make sure that every level and every department is involved. Document the training and conduct it regularly.