Learning and development (or L&D), also known as training and development, learning and performance, or talent development, should be a core function of any human-first HR department.?
Developing skills and increasing knowledge within your team will not only have a positive impact on your team's coherence and performance but will also encourage employee engagement as they will see your company as a place for professional growth. Furthermore, highlighting your L&D efforts in your job listings will also be beneficial for your brand reputation and will ensure you attract quality talent (just think of Google and the talent it attracts due to its wonderland of a workplace). Last but not least, investing in your L&D will ensure that your company presents itself as a thought leader in your industry, supporting innovation, company growth, and increasing your market share.
There are many ways that you can approach L&D at your organisation, from onboarding, coaching, and e-learning, to on-the-job training, instructor-led training, and peer mentoring. But can L&D really bring a return on investment (or ROI)??
In this article, we’ll discuss why we’re pro training and development in the workplace (and provide you with some great reasons that will help to convince your CEO) as well as give you some tips on how to implement effective employee training at your company.
The Importance Of Employee Training Programs
After all, there are immense benefits
to organising training programs for your team! Training and learning programs are vital for ensuring your team has a competitive advantage in the market. Still, as we are a people-first company, here are the benefits that you’ll bring to your employees:
- Personal development - by focusing on improving your employee performance, you’re ensuring that your employees take advantage of their potential, improving their productivity and efficiency
- Career development - by improving their performance you increase the capacity for them to take on more tasks and get promoted to a higher position. After all, what’s better than promoting an employee that’s worked hard and really deserves his or her new role?
- Employee satisfaction - imagine that an employee wasn’t onboarded well into their new role. Can you really expect them to exceed in the first couple of months and for them to be happy with their performance? Probably not. By giving your employees access to knowledge that will help them to become proficient in their jobs, you’re also providing them with a sense of belonging and appreciation to be at your company.
Now let’s take a look at the organisational-level benefits:
- Organisational performance - highly trained employees are less likely to make mistakes and cause errors.
- Turnover rate - by increasing the employee satisfaction in your organisation, you allow them to really flourish at your organisation which can result in increasing your net promoter score (NPS) and an outstanding employer branding image. After all, it costs much more to hire new talent than it does to retain your existing employees.?
- Work environment & team dynamics - efficient training programs are proven to improve interpersonal relationships and therefore, serve as an excellent way for your team to feel more connected, improving your overall workplace atmosphere and helping to resolve the potential for workplace bullying, mobbing or harassment. A company that communicates well will also have a team with strong interpersonal relationships and will perform better as a whole.?
6 Popular Types of L&D Programs
Now that we’re all on the same page regarding the benefits of an effective L&D program, let’s take a look at the 6 top L&D and employee training methods that you should know about:
- Onboarding - this training method might seem obvious but needs to be mentioned as it should not be forgotten about. After all, you only get one chance to make a first impression (get a free onboarding checklist
)!
- Coaching or mentoring - this collaborative approach to learning helps to create a collective mindset in your company. Furthermore, coaches and mentors can also serve as role models, providing employees with guidance to progress professionally and reach their goals with ease.
- On-the-job training - is all about learning by doing, meaning your team can develop their skillset through work and completing their tasks.
- Instructor-led training (ILT) - is probably the most traditional approach out of them all and involves an instructor teaching a group of learners about a specific topic. This can oftentimes seem like an outdated approach but can work well in large groups and encourages interaction.
- E-learning and online training - as the training can take place anytime and anywhere, this is a very practical approach for virtual and remote teams. In order to make it more fun, games, videos, quizzes, and other gamification techniques can be introduced. Finally, this approach can save the company time and money.
- Peer mentoring - this is another form of workplace mentorship but here, the peer mentor is someone who is on a similar level in the company but has been at your organisation longer as the employee going through the training. Ideally, you want to choose someone with a different background and experience, providing them with access to a unique set of knowledge and skillset. Due to the interchangeable nature of this relationship, developing a trusting personal relationship is key. Learn more about how you can set up a peer mentoring program
for your organisation.
Other techniques worth mentioning are lectures and conferences, group discussions and activities, and role play. You can also take a look at this article
to learn about the various L&D programs in more detail.
5 Steps to Executing Your L&D Plan
Now that we got you inspired, let’s take a look at 5 simple and straightforward steps for executing an effective and long-term L&D strategy at any company.
- Define your company’s goals - think about your overall business strategy, your short and long term goals, and the skillset that your talent needs in order to achieve them
- Conduct a talent gap analysis - use surveys, 1on1s, interviews or even 360-degree performance reviews (download a free 360 feedback template
) to determine the company’s needs and opportunities, as well as the skillset that should your future training, focus on first.
- Designing your L&D program - highlight learning objectives based on the identified needs, set relevant KPIs (making sure your metrics are clear and measurable), determine the training methods; will you have a hands-on approach or does a set topic require a more theoretical training? Will you use a learning management system to streamline the process?
- Implementing & reviewing - it’s time to execute your L&D plan, ideally using digital tools and other innovative learning techniques. Afterwards, you’ll want to evaluate the success of your training and set KPIs and surveys for your employees to determine how successful a program was.
- Promote a culture of continuous learning - now that you know how to conduct a well-thought-out training and development plan, it's all about maintaining the culture of L&D. Think about introducing different training methods such as mentorship and coaching in the workplace, on-the-job training, peer mentoring, e-learning etc. You have the power to create a culture of learning that’s aligned with the company’s goals, mission, and values.?
Training Agreement
When you’re ready to start your L&D program, make sure you have a training agreement in place. This is a legally enforceable contract containing the specific costs and the training’s terms and conditions such as, what happens in the event of the employee leaving the company etc.
We’re curious, how often does your company organise training and L&D programs? Do you feel like your organisation and its members are connected as a whole? Do you even agree that these things go hand in hand? We’d love to hear your thoughts so we'd like to encourage you to jot down your thoughts below as this is a conversation that has been overlooked for too long!?
