Enhancing Team Performance: Implementing Effective Training Programs

In this episode of the My HR Partner Podcast, hosts Adam Bell and Karen Hillen delve into the importance of ongoing training for small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). They explore various types of training programs, from on-the-job mentoring to formal qualifications, and discuss the benefits of investing in employee development. Karen shares practical tips on planning impactful training sessions, measuring their effectiveness, and even finding cost-effective training solutions. Tune in to learn how to create a culture of continuous improvement in your business. 

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Talking all things HR to help you make sure you are dotting the "i"s and crossing the "t"s ensuring you have everything in place to have a thriving business with happy employees.

  Hi, I'm Karen Hillen. Welcome to the My HR Partner podcast. We talk about all things HR from recruitment to ending employment. If you'd like support with your HR, check out our website, www. myhrp. com. au.

Hello, and welcome back to the My HR Partner Podcast. Today's episode is going to focus on implementing effective training programs.

My name is Adam Bell, and joined In the studio with me again is Karen Hillen from My HR Partner, who's going to share her expert advice on developing impactful training solutions for your team. Karen, welcome to the My HR

Podcast. Thanks, Adam.

Okay. First of all, training, a lot of people think about it, I guess, when you onboard people, but how, how important is ongoing training for.

You know, SMEs.

Yeah, look, I think every business is going to be different, obviously, but having some sort of training with your employees, I suppose there's a few reasons why it's good. First of all, it's, Employees feel like they're being valued because you're investing in them. And it doesn't have to be, complex, expensive training programs or training courses or qualifications, but it could just be ongoing on the job training.

It could be mentoring. It could be, you know, a one off, seminar that you send someone to or some online training. So there's lots of different versions of training. It can also depend on the type of business that you have. Sometime it will be more technical. Sometimes it will just be, you know, a bit of professional or personal development for someone.

So I think there's so many varied options. It can depend on a lot of things.

Yeah. You got to think a bit outside the square, not just, you know, your old fashion training programs, like you said, and I think it really, important thing that you brought up there is what an employer gets out of just being given the training.

That's not necessarily the knowledge or skills you're delivering through the training. It's just feeling valued. And feeling like you, you know, that you're furthering them and that they're, they're cared about.

Yeah. And I think that's the thing, you know, people feeling appreciated goes a long way and we've spoken about that before, but I think Yeah, there's lots of different types of training.

There'll be more formal training. A lot of occupations will have CPD points that, employees have to undertake. So if I give an example of an accountant, for instance, they have to do a certain number of CPD points, to keep their, their job. accreditation or their license or whatever it might be.

Some of that training will be a bit more formalized. But again, I think there's still options in relation to what is on offer. So yeah, and then it could just be nothing to do with that formal side of things. It could be that you have, business specific training. So it could just be making sure that you're keeping your employees up to date with new improvements in your own business, or it could be updates on the products that you sell or the services that you provide.

Just all of those different things. You know, I've, I've got a friend who's a hairdresser, so quite regularly she will send her employees to training on the latest. techniques on coloring hair or, you know, new ways to style or cut hair or whatever that might be. So every industry is going to be different in relation to the type of training and how formal or how structured that might be.

Absolutely. What are the key components? of an effective training program.

The first thing I'd be thinking about is what's the business going to get out of it? What are the employees going to get out of it? What value is it adding to your business, to your service, to your product?

And, you know, how engaged are the employees going to be in that training program. So it, there's a lot to think about, but I think you've got to make sure that there's an end goal for the training. So it's not just training for the sake of training where you think, okay, got to do some training. What will we do?

If it's not valuable and it's not meaningful, probably a waste of time and money for everybody. Employees will probably think, Oh my God, what am I doing this for? And they, They're not going to really feel like it's valuable to them or relevant to their jobs. So I think there's a lot to think about.

Planning's really important, looking at what the business is going to get out of it and also how the employees are going to value that training. Also making sure that you have some feedback forms when you're doing any sort of training is really valuable as well. That's a great tip. Yeah. So, so, you know, you'll get, feedback on things like, was the training relevant?

Did the presenter, give good information? Did you learn anything? Was the presenter engaging? You know, what improvements could there be in this course or, you know, the, the training program or whatever it is. I think the feedback forms, sometimes people might overlook them and think, oh, why bother? But you'll get some really good feedback.

Good information from those types of forms.

Absolutely. And I guess in what you're saying there too, if you can make it measurable, i. e. is there a way afterwards to measure the impact of the training initiatives that you put in place? Is that something people are able to do and do?

Yeah, look, I think it's important again, because you don't want to do training just for training sake.

people will probably get sick of it because they're probably sitting there thinking, this is irrelevant. I don't know why I'm here. I've got all this work piling up that I could be doing. So I think if you've got that measurable aspect, you can actually promote that when you're telling your employees, we're doing a training day today.

These are all the things that we're going to get out of it. Here are the benefits to you. as well as the benefits to the business. So people will feel more engaged in that training and they'll understand why they're doing it as well. That's probably easier when it's, more technical training because you can say, we need this for compliance or, you know, I need you to upskill on these things.

Sometimes it might be an individual doing some training and it might be because they need upskilling in a particular area. So explaining those things, I think it's important to make sure that. You have got that covered and people, um, are getting the training, they're engaged in it because they know why they're doing it.

Sure. Can you maybe give me some examples of cost effective training programs that small businesses could use and implement?

Oh, look, I think there are so many, it's difficult to be general, especially across businesses and industries, but I think just having an idea of what's important to the business and then searching out, you know, some appropriate training, a lot of the time that might be online.

Yeah. Things like trade based businesses, probably not so much online. It might be that you need to send someone to do a particular, update on the latest way of doing something. And then I think there's going to be some businesses where, probably aren't really many training courses that you can send someone to.

No, but there's other

things out there now, isn't it? I mean, we were just talking about AI this morning, weren't we? And, you know how there's so many things that. You can be utilizing that for in just about every type of business. And there are AI courses out there or workshops or one hour, you know, presentations that you can get online.

So it's about being a bit innovative, isn't it?

Absolutely.

Although it might not be specific to the, you know, your, the job that they're doing, there's other things out there that could enhance and it's having a bit of a look, isn't it?

Yeah. And I think the thing is too, sometimes it might be about personal development of you.

Yeah. You know, somebody might be struggling with having difficult conversations or somebody might express an interest in wanting to go to networking events on behalf of your business. So that could be, it's not, But that could be something that

leadership courses, there are so many different things, aren't there?

So many things and it's going to depend on the type of business and it's all going to also going to depend on, can you afford it in the business? There are lots of things that don't cost a lot of money. They could be, you know, free online things. So I think it really is. can come down to what's specific to a business.

And sometimes there will be a business where there's just nothing really. Sometimes people don't want to go on training. There are a lot of people out there that just want to go to work, do their job, go home, not think about it. They're not interested in, upskilling or anything like that. And that's okay.

So I think making sure that you've got the context around why you might be sending somebody for training as well. And look, you know, there might be, some positions in businesses where There's just nothing you can send people to, you know, and I don't know. If I pick an example of maybe, a bricklayer, my husband's a bricklayer by trade.

So, there's probably not a lot of training that you're going to send your, your brickie or your brickies laborer to, because. Once you've been through your apprenticeship and you've learned how to lay bricks, there's probably not a lot extra, but then there could be some extra, courses that somebody could go to if you want them to step up and be a team leader or a supervisor, or there might be something, you innovative that's coming in about a different product.

So in saying that, you know, that's an example I've used where I'm saying, Oh, probably nothing, but there is because it could be learning about, a new technique or a new product or, something like that. So I think there are always thinking outside of the box, looking at different options. The AI example is a great, example for most businesses where there's probably some sort of application, will be good for, an employee's interest, but also that's going to help your business.

Absolutely. I mean, you can even use AI to ask what sort of training courses are available in any particular industry, can't you? Yeah.

And I think the thing, you know, in this conversation about training is. Just looking at what the options are for your business, and it's going to be different for every business.

So I think just making sure that you're, you're looking at all of those things. Are my employees going to be engaged in the training or the mentoring I'm offering? What benefit is it to them? What benefit is it to the business? What am I hoping to get out of it? You know, have a look at the outcomes.

Can you measure it? Is it something that you're just offering for personal development? And that could be, just a bit of a, I suppose, a perk of a personal development thing that's nothing to do with the business. So, and again, we've talked about things like that in the past in relation to, you know, incentives and, rewards for your employees.

You could be sending them on something that they're just personally interested in.

Yep.

So, as long as that's not going to cost the business a lot of money that you can't afford and doesn't fit in with your, your plan and your training plan and your business plan. I think all of those things are relevant.

Sure. So do you, in your role with that, you know, my HR partner, can you help businesses implement successful training programs and help structure them?

Oh, look, I probably usually, partner with somebody to do that. It really would depend. An example is I'm disc accredited, so if one of my clients wanted to do some, some disc, profiles, or, you know, a session on, disc profiles and how people can work together, looking at their disc profiles, that's something I can definitely help with.

If it's something that's a bit more technical or something that's outside of my scope, I would be working with them to, to find people that could deliver that training or offer the mentoring or whatever it might be. So, a lot of it probably would be, I'd be getting somebody else to help. So it could be, you know, if it's a Microsoft Word training or, you know, Google training or AI training or something that.

is outside of my scope. I've got lots of people that I can partner with to, to bring them in and be able to offer those things.

Fantastic. Well, look, I think, we definitely need to do a full episode on your, on your disk profiling skills and what you can, help businesses with there. Cause that would be, incredibly useful to, to all of our listeners.

But look, thanks again, Karen, for coming in. Enlightening us on the power effective training programs now for our listeners. Remember that investing in your team's growth, is investing in your business success. So discover more at myhrp. com. au. And of course, look, like, share, subscribe this podcast, whatever platform you're listening or watching on, please do subscribe and share.

We love to, get this, Really valuable information out to as many people as we possibly can. And look, stay tuned for our next episode where we're going to be navigating the termination process. So until then keep learning and leading and much success to everyone out there in your businesses.

Thanks, Karen. Once again.

Thanks. Have a great day.