03/02/2017
STAFF TRAINING
I've been part of an executive team for a couple of years, and have also witnessed a company that had turns of staff coming and going. Some of these people were trained for service but they later left, either for reasons based on the organization or on themselves. It could be painful for some organizations that train staff who would later leave. And a more painful part is when the staff not just leave, but become competitors.
I read somewhere, how someone was asking on a staff training discussion, "What if we train them and in the end they leave?" This is the question many organizations key into and decide not to embark on staff training. But they loose if they take decision with neither thinking of, nor hearing the second question: "What if we don't train them and they stay?". Because staff training is great tool to organizational growth, it is like saying "I will not buy a critical tool for work because it will later spoil" We see that as entrepreneurial ignorance!
When we launched our first product into the market, we experienced a somewhat slow pace of returns because of limited, or no product training in some cases. We launched out with a quality design, but because some distributors where not properly trained, they could not give necessary initial and support services that were required by the clients. Even our key staff who had adequate initial training on the product demonstrated some lack of confidence because there was no regular followup training, especially on their new experiences with the product.
In our organization today, staff training would be a culture at any time, at all times. Any organization cannot succeed without good entrepreneurs. And a good entrepreneur always has the mental and practical picture of development, a growing mindset of growth. Development is not our culture as an organizational principle only, but as an inherent attribute of the organization's chief personnel. We love quality; we love growth.
A developmental attitude does not just start when you have your own company, it starts right from when you work for others. Know that the way you serve others may most likely be the way you serve yourself. Start now to think as an entrepreneur wherever you are. Think of self development, and developing others in your team. Keep a list of people you meet who would be very useful to your team sometime in the future. Train your staff — that's one way to maximize productivity.
