When you think of employee training, the obvious stuff comes to mind. For example, you need onboard training to get new employees up to speed and product training so employees know about all of the goods and services your company has to offer.
Investing in those types of trainings is important, but there are other types of training opportunities you should invest in to help your business thrive.
Disaster Recovery Training
Do you know what you would do if you experienced a cyberattack? What about a natural disaster?
When you take the time to train an elite disaster recovery team for any scenario, you’ll know exactly what to do.
A disaster recovery team is comprised of members with specific training or knowledge that will help your business get back up and running as soon as possible after a disaster. From training someone in business continuity to help you keep things moving when disaster strikes to an IT coordinator who is tasked with isolating a breach, training members of your team in disaster recovery can mean the difference between weathering the latest storm or closing your doors for good.
Compliance Training
Compliance training isn’t just for the construction industry. It allows everyone to learn about the laws and regulations that pertain to their jobs, regardless of what those jobs are.
Not only should upper management be properly trained on compliance, so too should the rest of your employees.
It helps create a unified environment, but it also creates a culture of safety and security. When employees are aware of the importance of compliance, they become more active participants in the company’s risk management strategy. In addition, this kind of training has the potential to reduce workplace injuries and it results in fewer lawsuits.
Compliance training can include:
- Ethics training
- Anti-harassment training
- Diversity training
- Data protection and privacy training
- Workplace safety training
Team Training
Just putting a group of people together in a room doesn’t mean you have a team. You have to actively train that team if you want each member to contribute their unique ideas and skill sets to the fullest.
Training might include team-building sessions as well as knowledge training sessions so everyone has the skills they need to work together.
Make sure you get input from your team on what’s going well and what isn’t. Based on their input, you can determine what kind of training is needed in order for them to do their best work.
Soft-Skills Training
It isn’t uncommon for professional environments to focus on hard skills, which is the knowledge and occupational skills employees have to get their job done. However, you can increase productivity and decrease feelings of frustration in the workplace by taking the time to train employees on soft skills.
Soft skills include:
- Communication
- Conflict resolution
- Problem solving
- Stress management
- Giving and receiving criticism
Ultimately, soft skills encompass how you interact with and treat others at work. By developing soft skills, you can increase the instances of positive interactions and create a work environment that encourages employees to take risks.
Corporate Culture Training
A lot goes into creating a corporate culture. Many companies spend a lot of time defining their mission, values, and goals, but once it has been defined and written down, it’s almost completely forgotten about.
In order to actually live the corporate culture you develop, you have to train employees on the mission, values, and goals you have established.
That means training managers, creating a strong onboarding process that teaches new hires the importance of the company’s culture, and monitoring employee engagement so additional training can be provided.
A performance management system can help a lot too. A comprehensive platform enables you to gather performance data and send out surveys to see how employees feel about their work environment. Then you can make changes based on their feedback.
Cross-Training
Cross-training is one form of training that often falls to the bottom of the to-do list because it can feel redundant. If you already have an employee who knows how to do a task, why bother training others to complete the same task?
It’s important to take the time to cross-train your employees because it creates an environment of continuous learning. Not to mention, it creates a sense of camaraderie as employees have shared knowledge they can discuss with their colleagues.
Perhaps the most important reason to cross-train your employees is the fact that you won’t be out of luck if the one employee who knows how to complete a task leaves the company.
It also means employees can take the time off they need because they know there’s another member of the team who knows how to step in and do the work while they’re gone.
Professional Development Training
Professional development training can also fall to the bottom of the list when employees already know how to do their jobs efficiently. However, 76% of employees are looking for ways to expand their careers, and 45% of workers say they would stay at a company longer if that company invested in their learning and development.
Not only do you make your employees happy by providing them with opportunities to learn new things, but it has a positive impact on your business too. Higher retention rates mean spending less on turnover. Employees will also put their newfound skills to work in their current role, which can increase productivity, which in turn has the potential to increase your bottom line.
Employees don’t want to just sit at their desk and do the same tasks day-in and day-out. They want to learn and grow. They want to feel like valuable members of a team. They want to come to a workplace where trust and respect are valued.
You can do all of that with the right training! From disaster recovery training to soft skills training and professional development, focusing on the seven ideas on this list will help you build a well-rounded team that’s ready to get to work each and every day.
