3 Best Practices for Employee Training on a Budget
It’s very common for small business owners to start their company with very few employees. But what is also common is that their employees are initiated right into the working environment without training. This has been a topic of discussion where I’ve learned that business owners felt if they had more employees, they would consider training. In other words, a lot of small businesses are waiting for their business to grow before entertaining the idea of employee training. Is this really a good practice? Find out.
Of course, many businesses have been successful in adopting training much later once their business had grown, and was in a much better position to afford to do so. But this is a risk they were willing to take. However, there are those companies that waited and never got a chance to create that training plan that they would one day get to; it cost them their customers, revenue, and possibly their business. A few years ago, a video went viral of a passenger being forced off of a United Airline flight because it was overbooked. The airlines lost a percentage of their stock and scrambled to regain public trust. One of their solutions was to provide additional training. Imagine if the training was done effectively the first time. This incident might not have happened.
Training is how companies build skills, form new ideas, work efficiently, provide quality service, meet their customer's needs, keep a competitive advantage, and ensure the business aligns with the company's brand. For these reasons, this is why you still need to provide training even if you only have two employees.
Here are 3 ways to train on Budget.
Job Aids
- Employees can have a job aid that provides step by step directions on how to complete processes or how to address issues. This is an option that provides employees with hands-on experience, and the ability to work efficiently with little supervision.
Training Presentations or Videos
2. Businesses can opt for training presentations or videos that present real work experiences that give employees a visual of how a procedure, task, or issue should be done or handled.
Hire an Expert to Develop Content
3. Business owners can hire a training expert to develop training content allowing them the option to distribute the materials. This reduces the cost of having a trainer come in to conduct the training.
Training is Not an Option it's an Investment
All of these are great options to get training started but once you implement a full training program these options can still be used as additional resources to reinforce learning after training.
Benefits
Keeping your team skills updated is an investment for the company in many ways. Employees that learn new skills see themselves advancing in their careers. The more the company evolves the more your team evolves. Learning new skills ignites motivation, and innovation.
Ask yourself, what does it take to be competitive in your industry? It will take your company consistently learning new things and staying ahead of the game through innovation, quality, and working efficiently.
It is common for most people starting out in business to believe they don't have a need for training because they have a small team. But understanding how you start out in business is important. You've heard the saying "the first impression is the lasting impression." This is a true statement. Training is the foundation of a successful business and one must be prepared for success. You have to be who you are even if you’re not there yet. It’s better to set best practices early on before having experiences that can set your business back.
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