Employers and HR teams can, in many ways, keep an ever-growing business by focusing on employees as an asset. 

In this unprecedented time, a tight labour market, and even the future, policies and practices that support, engage, and develop employees can be a truly competitive advantage. Studies and surveys have also proved that various ways of investing in an employee’s career, such as showing empathy, providing effective development, etc. can increase performance and engagement. 

Here are some of the data that shows investing in employee’s career is indispensable:  

• Nearly all (94 percent) of employees would stay at a company longer if their employer invested in their professional development. 
• 92 percent of employees said greater empathy from employers is important to boosting retention. 
• Effective employee development can increase performance by up to 25 percent. 
• Employees spent 130 percent more time learning in March/April 2020 than they did in January/February 2020. 
• More than half (54 percent) employees in the 2020 Learning State of The Industry survey are more positive about developing their professional career the next 12-18 months. 
• 74 percent of L&D professionals believe skill building is the most critical part of rebuilding for the future, while 62 percent are actively helping employees build the skills they need to stay in the organisation. 

After reviewing the aforementioned surveys, having an employee-centric approach to business is instrumental to the success of the whole organisation. Training and development is the most effective when implemented strategically, which involves content development, method of delivery, and integration of technology. As the trend in training has evolved over the years from instructor-led to classrooms to utilising online platforms, a traditional approach to employee training and development is still relevant or effective since each employee has their own learning styles. A mix of both methods could be the best L&D strategy to ever be made. 

See also: 5 Suggestions to Improve Remote Team Training

L&D team should also develop professionally  

As L&D professionals, you might sometimes get so consumed with evaluating and helping employees across your organisations. You might forget to train yourself, other L&D staff, or trainers. This could be bad for your own team as they might get less attention and development like others. 

To ensure your L&D team is up to date with their skills and comprises the best of the best across your industry, and that your staff remains sharp, here are tips to take care of your L&D staff: 

1. Make sure your L&D team is qualified ones  

As with any position, no amount of training can rectify a bad hire. Thus, making sure your L&D staff are of good qualities is important. Having staff that have the following characteristic in them will help ease the amount of time and energy in training and development programs. 

• Self-confident and humble attitudes 
• Highly aware of themselves, others, and the environments they are in
• Desire to learn and try new things, especially when the material is challenging
• Capacity to be empathetic, flexible, and patient and to listen actively
• Aptitude for storytelling or engaging presentation skills

2. Training vs. teaching  

The idea of training and teaching might sometimes overlap. As you develop your L&D team, make sure you clearly state that training and teaching are two different worlds. Teaching requires more passive, theoretical, indoctrination-type approaches. On the other hand, training and developing require more active, motivating, real-life, and hands-on approaches. 

3. Go with different learning styles  

As many of other employees do, your L&D team also has their own learning styles that can help retain information longer. For example, some learners retain material better when they read documents, while others remember better when they hear or see visual graphics. Make sure you have learning materials available for each type of learning style. 

4. Set learning goals  

Like many work responsibilities, training and learning also need goals and objectives. Without concrete goals and objectives, your developing plan might not go smoothly and you will not see results from your staff. In addition, the goals should be specific, measurable, actionable, relevant to each staff’s responsibility, and time-bound. 

5. Assessment and feedback  

Periodically assess your team where each strength and weakness lies. This helps you see when you have to create a refresher course of training and to see who is ready to acquire new skills or expertise. Likewise, do not forget to give feedback to ensure your team is always producing the best learning content and instruction possible for the rest of your organisation. 

6. Encourage social learning  

Training does not always have to stick to materials, books, or videos. You can encourage your L&D staff to share their own best practices and tips with one another via social learning platforms and avenues. This practice helps ensure your team is collaborative and cooperative. It also helps identify common mistakes thus you can quickly rectify across your department before they become an organisation concern. 

7. Be their coach, not just trainer 

One and probably the most important in every training and development program is to become a coach. When your team members need guidance or hit a roadblock in their roles or everyday work, be available to help them figure out the best ways forward. Offer help, resources, and guidance when they need them. Without your presence as their coach, it will be very challenging for your staff to be a resource or offer resources to those other employees who are relying on them for support and guidance. 

Read also: How to Host Online Training for Employee Development