Source of information: http://etudesproject.org/nonfpdata/cog/FS359/DOC0010.htm
The quality of employees and their development through training and education are major factors in determining long-term profitability of a small business. If you hire and keep good employees, it is good policy to invest in the development of their skills, so they can increase their productivity.
Training often is considered for new employees only. This is a mistake because ongoing training for current employees helps them adjust to rapidly changing job requirements.
Reasons for emphasizing the growth and development of personnel include:
- Creating a pool of readily available and adequate replacements for personnel who may leave or move up in the organization.
- Enhancing the company's ability to adopt and use advances in technology because of a sufficiently knowledgeable staff.
- Building a more efficient, effective and highly motivated team, which enhances the company's competitive position and improves employee morale.
Research has shown specific benefits that a small business receives from training and developing its workers, including:
- Increased productivity;
- Reduced employee turnover;
- Increased efficiency resulting in financial gains;
- Decreased need for supervision.
Employees frequently develop a greater sense of self-worth, dignity and well-being as they become more valuable to the firm and to society. Generally they will receive a greater share of the material gains that result from their increased productivity. These factors give them a sense of satisfaction through the achievement of personal and company goals.
The Training Process:
- Organizational Objectives;
- Needs Assessment;
- Training Objectives;
- Select the Trainees;
- Select the Training Methods and Mode;
- Choose a Means of Evaluating;
- Administer Training;
- Evaluate the Training.
Your business should have a clearly defined strategy and set of objectives that direct and drive all the decisions made especially for training decisions. Firms that plan their training process are more successful than those that do not. Most business owners want to succeed, but do not engage in training designs that promise to improve their chances of success. Why? The five reasons most often identified are:
- Time - Small businesses managers find that time demands do not allow them to train employees.
- Getting started - Most small business managers have not practiced training employees. The training process is unfamiliar.
- Broad expertise - Managers tend to have broad expertise rather than the specialized skills needed for training and development activities.
- Lack of trust and openness - Many managers prefer to keep information to themselves. By doing so they keep information from subordinates and others who could be useful in the training and development process.
- Skepticism as to the value of the training - Some small business owners believe the future cannot be predicted or controlled and their efforts, therefore, are best centered on current activities i.e., making money today.
A well-conceived training program can help your firm succeed. A program structured with the company's strategy and objectives in mind has a high probability of improving productivity and other goals that are set in the training mission.
For any business, formulating a training strategy requires addressing a series of questions:
- Who are your customers? Why do they buy from you?
- Who are your competitors? How do they serve the market? What competitive advantages do they enjoy? What parts of the market have they ignored?
- What strengths does the company have? What weaknesses?
- What social trends are emerging that will affect the firm?
The purpose of formulating a training strategy is to answer two relatively simple but vitally important questions: (1) What is our business? and (2) What should our business be? Armed with the answers to these questions and a clear vision of its mission, strategy and objectives, a company can identify its training needs.
Evaluation of Training
Training should be evaluated several times during the process. Determine these milestones when you develop the training. Employees should be evaluated by comparing their newly acquired skills with the skills defined by the goals of the training program. Any discrepancies should be noted and adjustments made to the training program to enable it to meet specified goals. Many training programs fall short of their expectations simply because the administrator failed to evaluate its progress until it was too late. Timely evaluation will prevent the training from straying from its goals.