Without a doubt, corporate training is a beneficial investment for any organization. In fact, it is one of the major elements that make up a company’s success. However, all things considered, the question still remains: what exactly is corporate training, and more importantly, how can it impact your organization? Here are a few of the key components to give you a clearer picture of what it is, and who knows, maybe you’ll be able to convince even the most skeptical people to implement this organizational practice.
What is corporate training?
Corporate training includes all the measures an organization employs to give employees a chance to further develop certain skills and to acquire new ones. It should also be a part of your HR strategic forecasting and should correspond to the company’s organizational objectives.
Corporate training can be offered in various ways, for example, it can be done in the actual workplace, at an out-of-town seminar, or online. Whether it is offered because a company took the initiative to do so or because employees requested it, corporate training is strongly encouraged.
The positive effects of corporate training on your company
An even more competitive organization
Having a skilled workforce is one of the keys to success for a company. Therefore, enhancing employees’ technical potential, and offering a high-quality service or product developed by professional and skilled personnel, could allow your organization to stand out from among its competitors.
Moreover, holding such an interest in your employees’ career and skill level will place you as an employer of choice in a demographic context where companies have to compete for candidates.
Achieving organizational objectives
A company’s strategic planning must include employees’ training. It can then be used as an easy indicator and can be considered as a way to achieve an organization’s objectives. Whatever the objective may be, corporate training is often a way to reach those targets. In this regard, do you wish to…
Increase production? Train the appropriate employees so that they can fully make use of the tools, software, and procedures that are made available to them; production rate will then increase, all while allowing you to benefit from your existing investments.
Penetrate a foreign market? Train the employees who will have to negotiate, deal in, or communicate in another language, and establish strong business relationships.
Gain market share? Train the appropriate employees by teaching them the industry’s novelties in order to awaken their creativity and to sharpen their knowledge of the field.
Reduce the number of accidents or mistakes? Train your employees so that they go about their activities in a safer and more effective way. It is impossible to guard an organization against all contingencies, but it is indeed possible to make it a more effective and safe place.
A ROI useful for recruiting
By investing energy, time, and effort in your employees’ training, you are actually investing in your organization’s succession and in its promising future.
By starting to train knowledgeable personnel, experienced managers and highly skilled management employees, you are creating a pool of in-house candidates who will get the chance to prove their worth when you need to fill key positions in the company, or when you have to quickly react in unexpected situations.
Regardless if the training is done remotely or in a room, whether theoretical or practical, it is essential to adopt methods to measure what was learned and ensure adequate knowledge transfer. Your employees must learn and then be able to apply this new knowledge in their daily professional activities.
Developing useful transferable skills
On top of professionally training your employees for specific tasks, it is possible (and even beneficial) to offer corporate training in order for them to strengthen transferable skills.
In other words, certain abilities can be useful in various situations and in different fields, and therefore, can also be useful to employees. Just think of the advantages of training them in time and stress management, teamwork and leadership, second languages, ergonomic workstation setup, first aid, etc.
These training sessions will equip your staff members with the essential tools they need. In fact, you will probably reap the benefits in your employee productivity rate, their capacity to adapt in the face of stress, flexibility regarding change, motivation level, enthusiasm to face new challenges, and tendency to be proactive.
However, first, you need to make sure your employees have the natural talents that will help them perform better in their job.
Careful – watch out for…
Work overload or wasting time
Corporate training must be implemented through a well-established human resources plan. You will then be able to avoid wasting certain employees’ time and overloading others.
Training is a waste of time when an employee has to assist a training session that falls below his or her skill level. While it is true that a person can continually evolve and develop their skills, it is also true that there are various levels of training. So, be sure that your employees are only asked to attend training sessions that are pertinent in regards to their already acquired skills, to the skills they wish to acquire, as well as to the work they do.
Training can create work overload when an employee is asked to attend a training session that will certainly be beneficial, but for which he or she doesn’t have enough time. So, when planning training sessions, be sure to check with your managers in order to find out how much work employees have on their plates. That way, by taking into account certain key periods of the year, the types of projects, and the employees’ schedules, you will be able to determine which moment is best for training.
Fear and lack of self-confidence
For some employees, corporate training represents something to be apprehensive about. So, choose pertinent training sessions and explain the content to your employees. Remember, objections might be voiced because of a fear of the unknown, or because of a lack of self-confidence.
Therefore, be ready to answer the questions employees might have and to support them in their corporate training journey. Be sure to show them exactly how they can benefit from it, both personally and professionally.
Yes, corporate training is beneficial to employees, but it is also beneficial to the employer. It is important to consider the time, resources, and money spent on training, not as an expense, but as a short, medium, and long term investment that will contribute to your company’s success sooner or later. Take a moment to think about it: in this current economic and demographic context, can you really afford to pass up on having motivated and skilled personnel?