Training: Time is Money

How much time are your high-value employees spending in staff training today? How much of that training is focused on the mandatory, required training? How much of that time is being spent in training your team to excel in customer service?

If you’re like most managers, your answer to the first question is “a lot.” A lot of time – and consequently money – is being spent on having high-value employees train entry staff on required topics.

If your answer to the last questions is “not much,” you’re not alone. Very few of us have the time or the resources to spend training our team members on the finer points of customer service. And that hurts.

Do some quick math. How many hours of training are you currently providing to staff? Multiply that by the wage of the person responsible for presenting that training. Add in a factor of 50% for minimum preparation time, and another 25% for record-keeping after the training. Add in any payroll hours you pay for overtime for individuals to come into training on their days off.

That’s a close approximation of your current basic training investment.

Don’t get me wrong – I’m all for investing in training. But I’m for investing wisely in that training, and getting the most value for the least amount of dollars – that’s obvious to me!

I’m all for using our high-value trainers to focus on high-value activities: fall prevention, communication and team-building, customer service. Those training topics will add to the bottom line, allowing you to provide even more services, and continue to invest in your team.

I’m also in favor of trainers who can work one-on-one with team members, mentoring them, modeling best practices for them, observing them in performance of skills and providing immediate feedback and praise.

Can you do it better?

Of course you can! Surviving in today’s market, not to mention positioning your organization to thrive and grow tomorrow means a continual re-examination of your fundamental system.

It means asking yourself on a regular basis, “Is there a better/cheaper/faster/more effective way to accomplish this?” It means looking for ways to implement solutions that save you time – and money.

Contact me if you’d like to learn how to save money in your organization’s staff training program with a custom-designed solution guaranteed to save you money. No obligation; just information that can help you make a good decision as you build for the future.