Training is a priority for getting people to contribute more value to your company. Below, I’ve listed 10 steps for getting bigger returns on investments in talent training and development.
Whoever has clarity about what competencies they should work on can take actions to strengthen them on a daily basis.
- Link professional growth to organizational strategy
The company’s strategy involves correctly selecting and combining a series of key activities, which also have an advantage considering the market supply. Training geared at strengthening these activities and advantages will make it possible to have a greater impact on the company.
- Identify key roles
From a traditional viewpoint, a company’s key people are only found on the highest level of the organizational pyramid. Conversely, if you consider that there can be high-value talent on any level of the company and identify it, then the training can be focused more effectively.
- Train experts
Organizations need expert talent in each of their key activities, precisely because of their importance for the company’s success. Achieving this requires patience, deliberate practice, and great trainers.
- Carry out diagnostic assessments and creating development plans
The aim of diagnostic assessments is for people to get to know themselves better, identify the degree of development in their skills, and detect strengths and opportunity areas that serve as a starting point for their personal-professional growth plan. Growing according to a plan increases the probability of better gearing professional activities toward a contribution that has more value for the company.
- Identify what competencies the person should develop
Whoever has clarity about what competencies they should work on can take actions to strengthen them on a daily basis. A good definition of a particular competency starts like this: “Have the competence needed to…” and continues with a verb and the description of the situation or problem that can be solved in different scenarios and moments. “Being competent” involves having the knowledge (knowing), the abilities (knowing how to do), and the attitudes (wanting to do) to face the described problem.
- Harness the potential of technology
Technology in training is always a means, not an end, and its value lies in making multiple resources available to the facilitator (teacher) and the participants that help them learn more without necessarily raising the per-person cost.
- Use methodologies that make it easy to put the newly gained knowledge into practice
In other words, encourage those who are being trained to take ownership of what they have learned and turn it into specific improvements and results for the company. For example, developing a project or real case makes it possible to apply the knowledge gained to the participant’s work environment. This results in closing the gap between what someone knows and what someone actually does.
- Foster one-on-one guidance
To ensure that personal-professional growth continues, it’s recommended that people get specialized feedback from professional development experts in addition to the mentoring from their supervisors or from specialists in their field.
- Implement multiple learning experiences in the training processes
It’s been demonstrated that the effectiveness of training increases to the extent that more learning modalities are used. Therefore, it’s about encouraging programs that combine diagnostic assessments, personal mentoring, live training (in person or online), asynchronous courses (available online 24/7), access to conferences with experts, and microlearning capsules, among many other resources.
- Promote a culture of learning at the company
Companies that take all the steps above and can complement them with motivating, energizing, interactive, fun, and value-packed entertainment will be able to make training something people “want to do,” instead of something they “have to do.”
Even though companies sometimes think that allocating funding to training is not a priority expense, the reality is that if an investment is planned and made intelligently within the framework of a development plan for each person, it will be possible to gain big benefits and more value for the company.
About the author:
René Mena Seifert is the creator, founder, and CEO of IDESAA, TRUE e-Learning, and Foro Pro-Talento Empresarial. He specializes in the design and implementation of business solutions based on training and talent development projects that are customized for companies.
