Company trainings are excellent opportunities to improve employee knowledge, productivity and morale. Use our tips in your upcoming trainings.
A chain is only as strong as its weakest link. If we take this concept and apply it to the business world and more specifically your company, you see why it is so crucial to investing both time and effort into helping each employee develop into an important member of your team. Having effective company and department meetings will help to properly train your employees with the appropriate knowledge and skills to improve company expectations. Along with that, having a great morale will help improve the effectiveness, confidence and happiness of all members of your team. Let’s take a look at a few ways we can enhance our trainings and boost the morale of all those involved with your company.
While training is very important to a new employee, even those employees who are already experienced will continue to learn and have a need to be trained. There will always be more questions and new features / details to know in any company. For a training to be effective you could include some or all of the following ideas:
While giving your training, make sure you explain items on a level of understanding that everyone attending may comprehend what is being taught. While the topic may seem simple or straightforward to you, it may not be so for another.
During your training, take time to ask questions to check for understanding. Sometimes it is hard to keep employees actively involved with your training. Knowing there will be questions helps keep them attentive. It also solidifies what you are teaching in their minds and they will tend to remember your trainings better.
Allow time during and at the end of each training for questions. While your training may include most details, there is almost a guaranteed doubt or unclear concept that arose during this training. Allowing your fellow employees to ask questions may also raise creative ideas on how to better the company.
After each training, leave each person in attendance a follow up item such as homework or a way they can practice the newly learned concepts. I personally feel the best way to learn something is by experience. Getting out and using the training in a work setting will help boost everyone’s understanding.
One task that is most difficult in giving training is the ability to make things exciting or interesting to those attending. Avoid being dull and make your training interesting and worthwhile to pay attention. While this is a vague description, try to be creative! Try new ways of teaching or bring food to motivate those to want to be there. Keep everyone on their toes and let the training be an enjoyable experience.
Another important tip in making your training useful is showing how the information applies to each person or division. If I am a delivery boy for a pizza restaurant, how could a change of our ingredients be important to me? At first thought, this is an item that pertains to the back of the house workers who make and prepare the pizzas. An effective trainer knows that the delivery boy will be in contact with customers. What if this new ingredient could pose a possible allergic reaction for the customer? What if the new ingredients will change the taste of the pizza for the better and you want to boast that? These are factors you would want your customer to know. Unless the purpose of this training on the new ingredients is made clear and how it applies to the delivery boy, it may prove worthless in the eyes of some of your employees.
Set goals and mutual expectations in each training. This goes along with the idea that you want your employees to leave with new information and the mindset that they will actually use and apply the new material learned. How will we apply this information? When will we use these techniques? Just a few questions to keep in mind while setting goals.
Lastly, work with your employees on a personal level. If someone needs extra training or wants to ask you some questions in private, do so! Everybody learns in a different way and at a different pace. As mentioned in the beginning, it is worth spending the time and effort into each employee so that they may be effective in the work that they do.
If you run out of ideas or feel like employees will not contact you with their questions, ask for their feedback. Getting them involved with the training process will make training easier for both them and you.
Now that we are properly training our employees and each other, it is time to motivate and boost the morale of the general workplace to help the atmosphere in which we apply these concepts. The word morale is defined as “the state of the spirits of a person or group as exhibited by confidence, cheerfulness, discipline, and willingness to perform the assigned tasks.” The attitude of each employee can affect the quality of their work along with boosting or diminishing the morale of other employees. As we find ways to boost the morale of each individual in the work place we will find a happier, more effective environment where most can actually enjoy their work. The following are a few tips that will help boost or strengthen the morale of all people within your company:
Find ways to honor each individual. I personally feel that if I am not a valued member of a team, it is hard to feel motivated to work hard and excel. As we learn to praise each other for accomplishments and work done, every worker will feel and realize their important part / role in the company.
Ask employees to input their own creative ideas. This benefits the company in two ways. The first goes along with the idea of making the employee feel that they are a valuable asset to the company and that they do make a difference. The second benefit that you receive is the creative ideas. As everyone starts to brainstorm and make suggestions, you will find the best ways to improve the quality of your company or product.
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Create a friendly work environment. One thing I always find tough or uncomfortable in any job is management. As a manager, you want to make sure that you have control of the situation but not by force or come off as a power hungry discipliner. As a manager, it is always beneficial to become personal and friendly toward your employees. Getting the right balance of friendship and still maintaining your status of supervisor or manager is crucial.
As an employee, I hate to work in fear. If I am constantly being scolded or told I’m doing something wrong, I don’t feel comfortable at my job. It is something I end up dreading and I wonder, “What will I do wrong today?” When we create a work scenario where everyone is friends, it is something to look forward to as we come in to work because we get to talk to friends and work on tasks together as a team.
Another important point is giving everybody something to look forward to. Here at CleanTelligent there are always exciting days or events to look forward to such as days where we receive a treat of some sort (Jamba Juice, pastries, etc.), games of laser tag, or even company parties, such as the Christmas party. These events also provide opportunities for everyone to mingle and get to know each other on that friendly level previously talked about.
Have one-on-one meetings with your employees. Don’t let these meetings be intimidating. Let this be an opportunity to get to know them. See how they feel about their job, how they are doing, and listen to them. Check if there is anything you can do to make their work experience better. This would also be a great time to ask about their creative ideas or anything pertaining to the improvement of your business.
Incorporate humor whenever possible. While we strive to have a professional business atmosphere and great appearance for our customers, there are appropriate times that you can include humor. A good laugh always makes anybody’s day better. As we learn to joke and laugh with each other, we can grow closer and become a better team. This is to be used in moderation, however, because if we appear to be a constant jokester, some clients may feel uncomfortable or when you try to become serious, people will wonder if you are actually getting “down to business” or not.
Lastly, try and be an example in the workplace. If you are happy, cheerful and friendly in the workplace, it will spread to others and have a ripple effect across all employees and customers. With the same mindset, if we are grumpy, rude or short, that can spread just as fast if not faster than happiness to others around us. As we search to learn how we can apply these tactics to our company, you will find a better environment with happier employees / customers, greater efficiency in their work, and an improvement on the quality of the services you have to offer.
Try out a few of the tips mentioned above and see what changes will occur in your company.