If you train your staff, there’s a risk they’ll leave; if you don’t, there’s a risk they’ll stay.
I believe in training so my training budget is always an important line item. I strongly agree with the quote that started this blog: “If you train your staff, there’s a risk they’ll leave; if you don’t, there’s a risk they’ll stay.” I have found that when employees see they have an annual opportunity to truly learn something valuable, they almost never leave (assuming you are paying and treating them fairly). And the company gets the added benefit of having more productive employees.
You need to ensure you are providing your team a sizable training budget. Don’t simply dictate the training, look at your upcoming three-year plan and decide what areas are of mutual interest to the employee and the company. On occasion, let them select a topic that is not a clear fit for their current role but might benefit them or the company in some fashion.
In any case, don’t limit sales people to only sales training or finance people to financial training. Allow them to explore other areas that might help them better understand peers in other areas if they have an interest. I strongly encourage transferring people between departments to create empathy to others issues.
And of course, everyone needs some technology training. The best bang for the average consumer technology training buck is www.lynda.com. $25 a month for unlimited training per person on all sorts of technology topics in a fantastic format allowing you to skip directly to the part of the training you want/need.
