Does your company offer a generic induction process? Does training often consist of a course on how to draw mind maps? If this rings some bells, why not revitalise your training needs from the ground up, by conducting a training needs analysis amongst your employees?
By taking the training question directly to those partaking in the courses, a company can encourage participation amongst its staff and make them feel more involved in, and valuable to, strategic decisions.
A recent Hays Australian Workplace Series research report has revealed only a quarter of all employees describe their business' training as excellent. This indicates there is significant room for improvement for the majority of organisations in Australia.
The advantages of a full and complete training and development package for employees are "immense", according to Jacky Carter, director of Hays. She says staff can gain very useful and worthwhile skills when they undergo intensive training courses, increasing their "skills, knowledge and expertise".
With employers hesitant to make additional permanent hires, boosting current workers' talents and resources is the other option available to managers wishing to increase the knowledge base and productivity of their staff. When those long term roles are created, there is less rush during the hiring process, leaving more time for training.
Another way in which training can be improved is taking action before the employment process even begins. This could be collaborating with business schools and other educational means to put more emphasis on the skills needed in real-life business application as opposed to theoretical understanding.
If you are stuck for ideas for your next training sessions instead of hours wasted on irrelevant courses, why not tap into your employee pool and discover what your staff actually want to develop through an online survey. To see how online surveys could help you and your company, get a free training needs analysis template.
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