How do you train your staff to be financially savvy?

1 Assess their current knowledge

Before you start any training program, you need to assess the current level of financial knowledge and skills of your staff. You can use online quizzes, surveys, or tests to measure their understanding of basic concepts, such as income, expenses, assets, liabilities, cash flow, profit and loss, and balance sheet. You can also ask them to demonstrate how they perform their financial tasks, such as creating a budget, tracking expenses, preparing invoices, or reconciling accounts. This will help you identify their strengths and weaknesses, as well as their learning preferences and styles.

2 Provide relevant and engaging resources

Once you have assessed your staff's financial knowledge and skills, you can provide them with relevant and engaging resources to help them learn and improve. You can use a variety of formats, such as books, podcasts, videos, webinars, blogs, or newsletters, to cover different topics and appeal to different learners. You can also use case studies, examples, or scenarios from your own organization or industry to make the content more relatable and applicable. You can also encourage your staff to share their own experiences, challenges, or questions with each other and with you, to foster a culture of learning and collaboration.

3 Set clear and realistic goals

Another important aspect of training your staff to be financially savvy is to set clear and realistic goals for them. You can use the SMART framework to define specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound objectives for your staff's financial learning and performance. For example, you can set a goal for your staff to complete a certain number of online courses or modules on financial topics within a month, or to reduce the error rate or turnaround time of their financial tasks by a certain percentage within a quarter. You can also align your goals with your organization's strategic priorities and key performance indicators, to show how your staff's financial savvy contributes to the overall success and value of your organization.

4 Monitor and evaluate their progress

To ensure that your staff are on track with their financial learning and performance goals, you need to monitor and evaluate their progress regularly. You can use various tools and methods, such as feedback forms, quizzes, reports, audits, or simulations, to check their comprehension, retention, and application of financial concepts and skills. You can also provide constructive and timely feedback, recognition, and support to your staff, to acknowledge their achievements, address their challenges, and motivate them to keep learning and improving. You can also review and adjust your goals and resources as needed, to adapt to changing circumstances or needs.

5 Create opportunities for practice and improvement

Finally, you need to create opportunities for your staff to practice and improve their financial savvy in real or simulated situations. You can assign them projects, tasks, or roles that require them to apply their financial knowledge and skills, such as preparing a budget proposal, analyzing a financial report, or negotiating a contract. You can also create simulations or games that challenge them to solve financial problems or make financial decisions, such as managing a virtual business, investing in a stock market, or planning a trip. You can also encourage your staff to seek feedback, mentoring, or coaching from you or from other experts or peers, to learn from their mistakes and successes.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?