Training Management: Employees Will Appreciate It
Anyone who has spoken to a hiring manager has heard the complaint that good people are very hard to find. The secret behind this is that there simply aren't any good people available! Now, there are plenty of highly skilled and qualified employees in the workforce...they just don't go to market. They are just too darned happy where they are. A major reason for this is that they did not necessarily start out as highly skilled and qualified as they have become, but were elevated to that level through constant and competent business and management coaching.
Sure, many CEO's have a Harvard MBA, but well below the CEO level, the fact is that a large percentage of management started out at the bottom. There's not much reality to the old quip "Why back in my day, you started at the bottom - and by God, you stayed there!" In fact, everyone knows that competent training management (often called "on the job training") is one of the chief ways companies have of increasing the worth of their in-house talent. And this worth doesn't just leave the company.
Employees want to know that they are important to their companies. Investing in an employee validates their contribution. The various forms of training management let them know that their company is willing to help them become more successful. This results in employees feeling a greater stake in their company and being less enthusiastic to work elsewhere.
Another quiet reason to put resources into training management is that the results are less obvious than in academia. There is no diploma with qualifications that mandate increased pay. On the other hand, your employees will be happy to improve themselves on the job, and would sooner learn while getting paid than pay to go to school. As a result, both companies and employees are enthusiastic about training management programs, and want to see them expanded.
Just as important to a company as training management is another function: change management. Would that the market never moved, that once we designed a product, we could keep selling it forever! However pleasant that thought might be, the reality is that change is a constant in this world, and even products as venerable as Coca-Cola get redesigned from time to time - to say nothing of the blitz ad campaigns! A company must be able to keep its workforce fresh and filled with vitality through continuous management.
While a Harvard degree remains the same, businesses across the world must continually confront and deal with change. With effective training and change management, all corporations can stay on top and bring out the best in their employees. Employees are able to make sure their qualifications remain current, and train in new and exciting fields. Not even Harvard is immune to this challenge.
When a company gives adequate importance to coaching and training its employees, it is telling them it cares about them. In such companies, attrition is comparatively lower. Many executives start at the bottom and progress to higher levels by doing their jobs effectively. They acquire or increase their effectiveness and competence from the business and management coaching given to them by their employers. In addition, to manage continuous change, companies equip their staff by coaching them on change management. The quality of training management in an organization thus assumes significance.
Published July 20th, 2007
Filed in Education