Is it still worth investing in peoples’ training and development when retention is such a serious challenge for most businesses in this day and age?
The above statement almost seemed not quite right as I was verbalising it to myself. Surely investment in people has to be an ongoing no brainer ‘Yes’ answer, or is it?
I remember some time ago at a luncheon, the guest speaker was describing how much his company invested in training their people. Someone in the audience posed the question ‘what if you provide all this training and they leave’? The speaker’s response was ‘what if I don’t and they stay’? That seemed a perfect reply to me.
The underlying philosophy of this particular company is that they believed in people as their key business driver and foundation platform for their culture. They also knew that despite their best efforts, people do move on.
To support their training efforts, they placed significant emphasis on getting their recruitment process right. They wanted new people to be a good fit for their culture, and business.
The following are my top five reasons to continue to invest in the development of people as an ongoing priority.
My suggestions are drawn from 20 years plus experience as a business and performance coach supplemented by research.
Employees expect it, and it’s a great attraction tool.
Research shows that employees place a great emphasis on how they can develop and learn within a business as a key reason for either joining or staying with a company. It’s that natural desire to get better that is a mark of resourceful and determined individuals. Most employers prefer more of these types of people on their teams so it’s a win/win outcome for both.
At the interview stage prospective new employees will be keen to explore what the professional development opportunities are, and that is actually a process with structure.
Conversely, if I am an employer, I’m also really keen to understand what the new employee will bring to the table contribution wise as well. I think it’s important to be honest and transparent about the joint expectations of each other.
It encourages the company to be future focused.
I don’t think anyone would doubt the complexity of keeping one solid business foot in the operational performance arena and the other trying to plan for the future.
In relation to the latter, we have the twin challenges of thinking ahead using the best market intelligence, whilst being agile and being ready to pivot and change direction, quite often at a moment’s notice.
Planning ahead and investing in our people is not only a consequence of this, but it can propel the need to do that given the desirability of having both business and people plans in place.
It assists with employee ‘Mastery’.
One of the key findings in the book ‘Drive’ by Daniel Pink references the fact that a key motivation for people is to simply get better at what they do. To perfect those ‘core tasks’ that make up their roles within businesses, or in fact life.
He calls that ‘mastery’ and there is no doubt that assisting people with training and development will increase their mastery and hence motivation to be more positively engaged around their work. Of course, it goes without saying that things like culture, values, leadership play major roles, but ‘mastery’ is in that positive mix.
The business will benefit performance wise.
Again, this seems like another no-brainer statement. The reasonable assumption is that increased training will lead to improved competence when a range of newly acquired skills are implemented within the business.
Shaping future leaders.
Some future leaders are identified in advance and the training and development supports that succession plan.
Others may emerge from the pack by taking that learning on board, appreciating the opportunity, and saying to management ‘hey, look at me and don’t forget I’m here and ready to move to the next level’!
Either way, the right training supports their development and focuses on closing the gaps between where they are now, and where they need to be in order to move to a future leadership role. That aim is very much the focus of the emerging leaders workshops we are currently running.
In summation, and on balance, there is no doubt in my mind that companies investing in the training and development of their people will continue. However, as explained earlier no matter how good the training and succession plans are, people will continue to move on for a range of reasons.
Some of these reasons will definitely not be within the control of the business owner to influence one way or the other. That just happens to be life, even in the best of companies and cultures.
However, when that does occur though, the opportunity presents itself for the business to attract new people who have been equally well trained by the companies they have just left. There is potential upside in the downside.