Corporate training is aimed at developing employees’ technical and personal (soft) skills, especially those related to job-related activities. It can be necessary for employees to meet the standards of their job and perform at their best, increasing productivity. Keeping teams’ productivity at a high level is undoubtedly one of the biggest challenges in managing a company. Indeed, an organization consists of many people with different personalities, limitations, and affinities. This is why employee training is considered a strategic action. With a well-trained team, a company has an advantage in achieving better results.
So, how can you get management on board with your training strategy? What arguments can you use?
Creating a more competent team
The more development dedicated to employees’ technical and emotional skills, the better their performance will be. And, as a result, the company will be more productive. This also has an impact on the organizational climate, as we’ll see below, and on the level of service delivery. Employees that feel taken care of and well prepared for their jobs will tend to excel at them.
Improving organizational climate
When people are capable of performing their roles well and the management team is prepared to respond to each of their employee’s needs, the company acquires a learning-oriented organizational culture. This creates a favorable organizational climate that also contributes to the company’s results.
Building a better reputation
If management doesn’t recognize its workforce’s achievements, morale can get low and new projects will have difficulty becoming a reality. In today’s results-driven organizations, metrics and reports should be updated before changes are made. The idea is simple: if you are already producing more and better than before, with a new formula, you will produce under better conditions. You can also check up on your external reputation by participating in events, posting on social media, or promoting charitable organizations.
Setting well-defined objectives
Any proposal for a training plan should be based on the objectives you want to achieve. Always keep in mind that these goals are the main motive for creating and executing a project. In practice, it will be necessary to demonstrate clearly, and often in great detail, how all the work to be done will help take the company to the next level. Apart from explaining how the work will be done, feedback is also convincing. When the objectives are clear to the team, it’s much easier to present the idea to the decision-makers who can approve the project, clarify doubts, and deal smoothly with opposition.
Proposing an innovative strategy
Today, there are many types of training courses on the market. Having a well-developed catalog can be an advantage, but companies must also invest in innovation. In the digital era, text or PowerPoint courses are no longer effective. Companies are now opting for more modern training with more interactive e-learning, gamification, or even game-based learning. These new types of training make employees more productive and give the company a new image.
Establishing a plan linked to the company’s targets
One of the best ways to convince management is to link action to results. That is, to analyze and evaluate which targets are not being met and which can be improved. For example, if the sales department makes six proposals, but only one is accepted by management, this may indicate that the sales team is having difficulties achieving its objectives and that they may need training to help them close sales. If this isn’t done, the targets for this area will be compromised. Companies can use various types of indicators to establish and analyze targets: opinions, indexes, surveys, etc. According to Gamelearn’s Serious Games, Serious Impact report, 61% of the HR professionals surveyed consider an increase in skills after training a concrete indicator of the quality of the training.
Analyzing the different profiles within the teams and making them active participants in the training
For certain skills, you may find people within the team itself that are qualified to achieve the objectives. Thoroughly analyzing your own teams’ qualifications and creating a pool of potential “collaborators” in knowledge communication can help the company reduce the budget spent on training and maximize the potential of its own teams to achieve results.
