Day
1: A new sales associate attends a half-day training session to learn about
everything she needs to know on the job.
Day
2: She’s mobilised into action during the biggest sale of the year.
Day
3: She quits and/or goes insane.
You
don’t have to be a rocket scientist to see that the outcomes are less than
stellar. The sales associate is out of a job and the company is one sales
associate short at a very crucial time. It’s exactly the kind of scenario —
lack of adequate training — that can lead to lost business and diminished
morale, not to mention the wasted time, effort and money spent by the company
to source and hire the individual.
When
it comes to training staff members to be happy, productive and loyal to your
organisation, sometimes presentations and manuals simply don’t cut it. However
some other approaches, such as on-the-job training and development can be very
effective. In fact, research by the Center for Creative Leadership tells us
that up to 90 percent of what we need to know to do our jobs, we learn on the
job. If that’s the case, what are some
of the ways your organisation can foster on-the-job training culture? Here are
three suggestions.
Establish mentoring programs
Simply defined, mentoring is a professional relationship in
which an experienced employee assists another in developing specific skills and
knowledge that will enhance the less-experienced person’s professional and
personal growth. Mentoring is a great way to foster loyalty because it
demonstrates your company’s commitment to your employees’ satisfaction and
longer-term career goals. It’s important to recognise that coaching and
mentoring aren’t the same. Mentoring is relational and takes place between two
employees, coaching is functional — and takes place between managers and
employees. As with any new program, ensure you set clear objectives and
determine how the program will be set up and run. It’s also important that your
employees understand the program is optional and that they have a say in the
mentor-mentee match.
Help
your managers become better coaches
Coaching is a unique one-on-one relationship in which a manager helps an employee
discover and explore —through meetings, questions and ongoing conversation —
the barriers that hinder performance and how to deal with them. The coaching
process can reveal valuable insights that can be used to drive positive change
for individuals and the organisation overall.
For coaching to be an integral part of your workplace culture, you’ll
need to ensure that your managers have the support and training they need to
know how to maintain
ongoing, two-way dialogue about performance where they share expectations,
provide coaching, answer questions, support employee performance, and solicit
feedback on their own behaviour and performance. Here are a couple of tips:
- Give employees regular, ongoing feedback and coaching on their performance, focusing on desired behaviours and outcomes, and opportunities for development, not on “failures”.
- Keep the focus of formal performance reviews on shared expectations about work and performance, continued development and career progression, and contributions to organisational goals/success, not on ratings and rankings.
Assign
work buddies
No one says that every company has to have a formal
mentoring program in place. Consider having your managers pair their less-skilled
or less-experienced employees with high performers who can act as their
"work buddies," guide their work and keep them motivated. A
well-matched work-buddy relationship can help employees who are struggling,
overcome obstacles and find fresh new approaches to solving problems.
Conversely, the high performer can gain valuable experience on how to guide and
manage people who need some direction. It’s win-win for the “work buddies” and
your organisation as a whole.
One final point, an important thing to consider — and it
almost goes without saying — remember to take into account that everyone is
different. No one gains knowledge, processes information and gains new skills
in exactly the same way. Managers need to get to know their direct report
through ongoing dialogue, regularly scheduled one-on-one meetings and observing
how each employee reacts in different work situations.
Sean
Conrad helps organisations of all sizes and in all industries enhance their
talent management programs to drive
higher workforce performance. Sean is a senior product analyst at Halogen Software
and a regular contributor to numerous industry blogs and publications.
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