Why Your Employee Training Just Isn’t Working
This blog post isn’t like my normal ones. It’s not really about money, but it does cost money to hire and train your team right, and when I read this contributed post, I found it had a lot of pretty interesting stuff. I also think for the course creators, a lot of this information applies to the way students learn, so this is for the entrepreneurs, business owners and teachers/course creators…
So, just picture this scenario in your head for just a moment; you’ve shelled out for shiny training materials, booked a conference room, and wrangled your team for a big “knowledge-sharing” day. Everyone shows up (some begrudgingly), but after the session, it’s as if nothing’s changed. Your employees still stumble over the same processes, and your carefully crafted training feels like it evaporated the second everyone walked out the door.
Alright, now, does any of this sound familiar? Well, you’re not alone. While you might have trained yourself by reading some of the most helpful books on being a business owner, it doesn’t mean that you immediately know how to train an employee. So, when training doesn’t stick, it’s easy to blame your employees, but it’s probably the training itself. It doesn’t matter what space this business is, be it a non-profit, retail, ecommerce, or whatever else; training is always needed.
But why is this flopping?
Overloading Instead of Educating
Now, here’s the deal: employees aren’t sponges. If you try to pour an ocean of information into them all at once, most of it’s going to spill out. Those marathon training sessions packed with jargon, charts, and endless policies? Yeah, they’re not helping. So many businesses seem to make this mistake, too!
What actually works is breaking things into bite-sized pieces. Yes, really! So, just try and keep it short, sweet, and digestible. Go ahead and just try to imagine trying to eat an entire pizza in one bite; it’s impossible (and messy), right? Well, training works the same way. It’s best to feed your employees manageable slices of information and let them savor the learning process.
Lack of Engagement
You need to call it as it is; yes, boring training is the worst. Seriously, no one likes that! If your employees are yawning their way through outdated PowerPoints or watching grainy videos that look like they were filmed on a potato, you’ve already lost them. So many businesses, both new and old, seem to make this massive mistake.
You have to understand that modern training needs to feel alive. For example, you need to think of interactive tools, games, or even something more tech-heavy, like an online retail training platform. Nowadays, platforms are becoming the norm for employee training since employees can go at a slower pace and interact (such as with quizzes). In a way, it helps them learn things on their own terms.
No Connection to the Real World
Have you ever sat through a training session and thought, “How does this even apply to my job?” Chances are high that at least once in your life, you thought that. Everyone has! Well, your employees probably feel the same way if your training is all theory and no practice.
If you’re teaching customer service skills, show them how to handle “that one” impossible customer. If it’s technical training, walk them through the actual tasks they’ll perform. You need to remember that relevance is key.
No Follow-Up
You should think of training like planting a garden. You don’t just throw down some seeds and hope for the best. Instead, you water them, check the soil, and pull the occasional weed. Training is no different. If you’re not following up after your sessions, your employees are probably forgetting what they learned, especially if the material was something that they don’t even do on a regular basis.