How do you maximise staff performance through effective training?
George Bernard Shaw was not an entrepreneur. However he did understand people and in his play, ‘Man and Superman’ states that: ‘The reasonable man adapts himself to the world. The unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends upon the unreasonable man.’
In other words,
to seek conformity and order from your team is to stifle innovation, creativity and progress.
It is not good enough in most organisations to simply become more proficient at doing what’s always been done efficiently; customer delight and market differentiation only result when new things are tried and found to be better.
As organisations grow, so the learning style changes. Your first employee is for example something of a pioneer, helping you over almost insurmountable barriers. They have to be able to adapt, react and make decisions when you’re not around. Your fifth employee however will have a clearly defined job, although naturally needs to jump in when urgent tasks hit the team. So what does this mean in practical terms? Here are ten ways to maximize staff performance through effective training:
- Know where you’re heading – If the boss has no clear direction, the team will get confused. Confused people do not perform well!
- Work out what you need – Do the sums and work out what skills you need and which are the most important. It helps recruit and focuses training.
- Start with what you’ve got – Map the skills your people have against your need. Encourage those who already know to teach those who don’t. Sharing skills is motivating, effective and free!
- Create attitude – You need people willing to take risks and try new things. Define acceptable risk and encourage your team to experiment.
- Value cock-ups – Children learn to walk by falling over. Learn from mistakes; value their lessons. Don’t rant and rave!
- Seek advice – It’s lonely being a boss. Find a qualified business adviser to share with. Make sure he or she is SFEDI qualified as this means they have relevant, practical, proven skills.
- Don’t be swayed by academia – The most successful enterprises in the world are simple. Simple concepts, simple processes, obvious customer value and easy to deliver. Academics make things complicated; beware!
- Don’t do stuff just because it’s free – There’s lots of free training around, usually funded by some quango initiative. The quango needs bums on seats and will sell hard. Stand your ground and only subject your people to training you know is relevant and useful.
- Work out the return – Measure the impact of training on your business. It’s an investment you’re making and you need to see a return.
- Reward innovation – Most learning takes place on the job. Trial and error, together with an inquisitive nature got us penicillin and the Post It pad. Reward your people when they make breakthroughs on your behalf.
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The secret of effective training then, is to create a culture where learning is encouraged. Then, you’ll spot where new skills are needed and soon find ways to acquire them.
Good luck!
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© Robert Ashton 2007
Robert Ashton is an author, entrepreneur and social activist. He is also on the Board of SFEDI (The Small Firm’s Enterprise Development Initiative)