Many businesses put off the training and development of their employees in favour of other more important tasks. When we have lots of conflicting priorities, it’s easy to forget about completing employee training, and in most cases, our employees are happy to oblige.  However, with the convenience of online disc certification, companies can now streamline employee training, making it more accessible and efficient for both employers and employees.

However, putting off your employee training and development can have a huge impact on the future and the success of your business. Employees who have regular training are often more productive, feel more valued, can work in several different areas of the business, and they’re less likely to leave to find a new job. So, to help you get all of the benefits we’ve listed above, we’ve come up with a list of tips to help you manage the training and development of your employees:

1.      Know Their Strengths and Weaknesses

Knowing the skills and competencies of your employees allows you to provide them with the correct training and development. One way to do this is by creating a clear skills matrix. A clear skills matrix allows you to easily spot any gaps in your employees’ training and qualifications.

Businesses can produce a skills matrix themselves by using spreadsheet software like MS Excel, but often this is quite a tricky task. Many businesses are choosing to use an automated skills management system like the one from AG5. Their software is easy to use, will save you a lot of time and effort, and will allow you to easily see and manage the training and development of your employees. This software is also extremely useful when it comes to completing a skills audit.  eSkill also offers an employee training assessment which can help with this.

2.      Create Personal Development Plans

Once you know what the strengths and weaknesses of your employees are, it’s a good idea to produce a personal development plan. Sit down with your employee to discuss what their interests and career goals are. This will allow you to choose the correct training and development opportunities for them. The development plan you produce should include a realistic timeframe with measurable goals.

3.      Create an Inventory of Your Training Resources

Once you know the training needs of your employees, you’ll need to know what training resources and courses are available. You’ll also need to work out how much money you have available to spend on training your employees. Here are some questions you should ask yourself:

    • Can your employees learn from each other instead of attending a course?
    • Will you reuse any existing training materials (presentations, word documents, etc.)?
    • Can you afford to hire a training expert who can tailor their training content to your needs?
    • Are there any suitable commercial courses available?
    • Can you find any resources online?

Once you know the answer to these questions, you’ll be able to plan more effectively. Before planning a training course for your employees, it’s important to remember to discuss with them their wants, needs, and what time they have available to attend a course.

4.      Review Your Training Program

No training plan is perfect, so it’s a good idea to review it regularly. You need to be able to identify problems and make changes to the program. Talking to your employees is a brilliant way of finding out how good a course is. You should also:

    • Monitor any test results
    • Talk to the training instructors to see if they can make any adjustments to the course
    • Evaluate your employees’ performance after they’ve completed a training course.

Managing the training and development of your employees takes a lot of planning and a great deal of thought. But, by following some of our top tips above, this process will be a lot easier.

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As an experienced business and finance writer I understand the corporate landscape and the driving forces behind it. Over the years I’ve shared my insight and knowledge with key industry publications and dedicated my time to showing how business leaders can make their organisations more effective.