Top ten tips for organising staff training: a guide for small businesses
The Guardian recently held a live Q&A with various industry experts on how small businesses can organise and benefit from internal staff training. Here are some of the key points I took away from the discussion:
- Make the most of your training space and make sure your training style suits the space you have available.
- Encourage reluctant learners – for example by giving them responsibility for training others – and, more importantly, find out why they are reluctant to take part in training. Find out how training is viewed internally, to help inform your training decisions.
- Consider introducing a mentoring system in your business – more experienced members of staff can provide invaluable help and support to newer team members.
- Make sure the training you choose is targeted and suits the staff involved – carefully analyse staff needs and goals before choosing a solution.
- Ensure you make time for team building outside of your normal working environment – for example arrange to cook and eat lunch together.
- Think about the role of e-learning and consider what purposes it is most suitable for when it comes to training your staff.
- Consider setting your staff a challenge or problem to solve to facilitate learning and development.
- Why not set up a lunchtime business book club to encourage learning and development? People can take it in turns to lead the discussion and think about how lessons learning can be applied in your company.
- Take advantage of the existing knowledge in your team – this links back to the mentoring idea mentioned earlier.
- Set out clear company and individual objectives from the outset, to make sure everyone is on the same page.
What do you think? Do you have any other tips for staff training within small businesses?
