There’s so much focus on using management training methods to boost employee retention. But, what if your professional development program is actually driving your employees away? There are three common mistakes that companies make when it comes to training. These critical errors may be the cause of employee unhappiness at your organization.
Mistake #1: Not Engaging The Participants
Your team members don’t want to waste their time on a boring professional development program, nor does your organization want to waste money on one. While your employees might not quit over a boring training session, their disengagement could carry over to their regular work.
When selecting professional development programs to engage team members, look for ones that are:
- Creative – It’s not that you need a comedian running your training sessions, but you do need more than a training book for employees to sit and read quietly. Look for programs that are a little out of the box. This might involve the use of role-playing during training sessions or a trainer that cultivates employee engagement.
- Interactive – Search for professional development programs that require participants to interact. If they’re stuck in the back row and have no reason to get up and engage, they’re likely to check out of your training. Consider choosing a blended delivery method that utilizes both online materials and content from a speaker, [link to: http://www.vital-learning.com/solutions/learning-methods/] giving them the opportunity to be interactive and participatory.
- Valuable – If it doesn’t bring value, it doesn’t deserve their attention. Value goes beyond skills that make employees better workers. Supply training courses that offer them real-work management training. A way to demonstrate value and engage team members is to show the correlation between promotion and participation in professional development courses.
Mistake #2: Excluding Some Employees
One surefire way to drive employees away from your company is by failing to invest in their future. You want to retain winning talent, including those employees who could eventually move up the ranks. Training these people helps keeps them around much longer.
By including lower-level employees in professional development, you reap two benefits:
- The employees feel valued. If team members see that you’re making an investment in them, they are more likely to make an investment in your organization. When employees feel undervalued, that’s when they begin looking for positions elsewhere.
- You have the chance to identify future leaders. If employees are engaged in professional development courses and providing insightful answers to training questions, it’s easier to identify their potential. Management training courses are ideal opportunities for picking out the next leader of your company.
Mistake #3: Not Hearing Employee Feedback
Do your people have a say in the professional development courses they’re supposed to participate in? What happens before and after the courses to engage employees?
Providing formal channels of feedback is an effective way to engage team members and get them involved in the training process. When you ask for employee input, you show team members that they are being heard and that their opinions matter.
Try sending out a survey to employees, or ask team leaders to list the professional development courses they believe would bring the most benefit to their positions. If your team members want communication courses, for example, make sure those are on the list.
When the training has been completed, ask your team members about the effectiveness of the program. What would they like to see on the training syllabus next year? Did they feel the training was successful? Were they engaged enough?
Once you have that feedback, use it to craft the next professional development program, taking this input into consideration.
Selecting the right professional development courses is key to employee engagement. Test a Vital Learning course now to help find the right training program for your company.
