Training Priorities

Rob Betzel and I are about to release a new book titled, The Company Culture Challenge. It provides a step-by-step process to developing and sustaining a strong company culture. Part of the reason we have written this book is because many people do not realize how important training is when creating a great company culture.

With that said, what do you train first, technical skills or soft skills? Do you train soft skills at all? Most companies do not.

For many organizations, one major issue is a lack of soft skill training. In case you are wondering - soft skills are like etiquette rules, social skills and workplace behavior guidelines pertaining to anything from communication to table manners.

Leaders assume their people know how to behave, but in reality a lot of employees do not. At many organizations, new employees are hardly trained at all on how to behave in the workplace. It's not uncommon for managers to hire someone with good social skills solely because that means there is one less thing to train.

We have created over 20 training sessions on soft skills we use in our consulting, coaching and training.

WHAT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT SOFT SKILL? Email me a list of the soft skills you need so we can consider including them in our training.

Aside from soft skills, consider reviewing your new hire and existing employee training. Does each session build upon another? Are these four areas covered?:

• Company mission, values, vision and accountability (the four cornerstones of company culture)

• Soft skills

• Technical training

• A 90-day plan for the first 90 days at your company:

  • Expectations

  • Goals

  • Team member strategic plan

  • (Optional) 3-5 year career path

  1. Review together any data you have on negative client experiences. Ask for additions to the list. Where are your clients struggling to do business with you?

  2. Group the issues under similar topics. For instance, shipping issues may have several related problems for clients.

  3. Ask your people for feedback on how they could work more effectively together. Consider potential training topics related to improving the working relationships of your team.

  4. Prioritize the list and schedule dates for when the training will occur. One a month with follow-up exercises or observing people in action may be all you can handle.

  5. Purchase materials from a company like ours or develop your own. Make certain your trainings have role-playing, games, exercises and other interactive components so you can see people demonstrating the skills they are supposed to be learning.

Half the calendar year is over. Consider investing in developing or purchasing training to help your people deliver a great client experience and be more satisfied at your organization. Let us know if we can help.

At your next meeting with your team consider working with them to identify the soft skill training they need to enjoy their job more and better serve clients.

Here are some ideas to consider:

1. Review together any data you have on negative client experiences. Ask for additions to the list. Where are your clients struggling to do business with you?

2. Group the issues under similar topics. For instance, shipping issues may have several related problems for clients.

3. Ask your people for feedback on how they could work more effectively together. Consider potential training topics related to improving the working relationships of your team.

4. Prioritize the list and schedule dates for when the training will occur. One a month with follow-up exercises or observing people in action may be all you can handle.

5. Purchase materials from a company like ours or develop your own. Make certain your trainings have role-playing, games, exercises and other interactive components so you can see people demonstrating the skills they are supposed to be learning.