Training the Trainer – “Maximizing Human Resources”

“People do the best they can with what they have to work with, they always make the best choices available to them at the timeâ€

A Managers most basic responsibility is to manage, develop and maximize the company’s resources. In order to do this they must learn how to embrace the company’s business model and perform all processes as a means of representing the company’s values, standards, philosophy and actualizing their overall vision. But in order to do this they must know how. Acting as a representative for the company and incorporating the business model into their fundamental means of training requires a high level of skill and professionalism. As a business owner or Leader it is our responsibility to provide our people with the skills and training necessary to perform at the desired level of excellence.

 
One of the greatest mistakes a company often makes is in the inaccurate evaluation of what appears to be potential problems. When a company is experiencing poor or inconsistent levels of performance amongst its employees, it’s nearly always due to two main factors, poor acquisition methods and an insufficient training method or style. In order to accurately evaluate poor performance we must look at our methods for selecting and developing our staff.

 
Effective training programs that offer practical skill development are some of your greatest strategic tools that will ensure the overall success of your daily operations as an ongoing process. No other area of your business offers such immediate and controllable means of saving you what could be thousands of dollars while simultaneously improving your potential to increase revenue. In all business operations, we not only look to improve the efficiency of operations in order to save money, but also as a means of providing a fulfilling work environment and improving service or instilling higher quality into products that serve to increase the potential for sales and generate new revenue.

 
Often companies fail to realize that training is a skill and an art form in and of itself. We often assign training to anyone with little regards as to whether or not they know how to communicate or teach effectively. Yet a skilled trainer can produce a multitude of skilled employees within a fraction of the time and with much greater proficiency than someone who doesn’t know how to properly train people. We must learn to take an attitude of training the trainer. The amount of money a company spends on training will show immediate returns as well as phenomenal savings over the course of 1 to 2 years, not to mention drastically improve average performance levels and the possibility of long-term employee retention.

Some of the most common training mistakes are:

 
• We fail to orientate new employees and ensure that they understand basic rules, policies, and expectations.

 
• We don’t understand or use the 3-T method, or fail to explain the training process itself and the time-frames allotted to each step.

 
• We don’t communicate the expectations for performance.

 
• We figure if someone is good at something, they will be good at training others. We assign new employees to what we consider our most proficient employees. Yet just because someone is good at doing something, does not mean that they are good at training someone else on how to do it.

 
• We lack a fundamental understanding of how people learn and different learning styles or strategies. We make the basic assumption that others are like us, and instead of understanding the different ways people learn, we simply try to teach them through our own preferred method.

 
• We teach “processes†or protocol and don’t explain the desired outcome, or train to create an understanding of what the process is designed to produce.

 
• We fail to design and execute a well planned and thought out training program. We take a hit and miss approach, start off good and then flounder, or tend to be sporadic and unorganized.

 
• We fail to recognize the role of “relationships†or the importance of personality types in creating effective teams.

 
• We fail to review their daily training with them, give them an opportunity to clarify gray areas, or give them consistent and meaningful feedback throughout their training process.

 
• We employ generic training programs that are not especially designed for our profession or within our business model or unique circumstances. These usually sit neatly on the shelf in someone’s office somewhere unknown and obscured.

The greatest investment you can make to streamline your business, enhance performance, hone efficiency, while ensuring a quality experience for your clients that will build trust and loyalty, is to invest in sound training programs and methods designed to give your people the knowledge and skills they need to perform at their highest potential. Knowledge is power, wisdom is magic. Give your people the resources they need, and watch the dream for your business . . . come to life.

We offer Professional Training to develop your greatest resource . . . Your People.
Give your managers and leaders the resources they need to operate your business and take it to a higher level of excellence in your field.

Dr. Linda Gadbois
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