Your employee training program needs to be adaptable to produce the best results. It must build the skill sets that your organization needs to be successful year after year. Those skill sets may change over time as new technology is implemented, industry standards are updated, or your operation expands.
When employee training doesn’t nurture the skills a business needs, this can lead to a misalignment.
Employee training misalignment can cost a business a lot of money. Trainees will join the workforce without the knowledge they need to reach their fullest potential. That also means areas within your business may suffer from inadequate staffing. A lack of knowledge also increases the risk of costly errors and missed opportunities.
What Causes Employee Training Misalignment?
Many factors can come together to cause training misalignment. These problems will worsen over time if no action is taken. Common causes of misaligned employee training include:
- Not Understanding Business Needs
Business needs must be understood before you can build a properly aligned training program. Not taking this crucial first step can lead to disjointed training that doesn’t support the needs of the business.
What is the true value of eLearning in employee training? Being able to quickly and easily review data is certainly a contributing factor. The data will help you see what you already have and where you need to go to match the needs of your business.
- Using an Outdated Curriculum
Maintaining an effective employee training program requires frequent upkeep. It’s easy to neglect training once the necessary courses are added. A business should monitor changes and technological advancements within its industry. This information should be applied when adding or editing courses.
Refreshing your training content is also a good way to keep employees motivated and interested. Growing your course offerings will provide more ways for workers to develop their careers, which adds value to what they bring to the table.
- Training Goals That Don’t Line Up with Business Objectives
Communication is important within an organization. If you don’t communicate between departments, then work may not be done as effectively and efficiently as possible. This is especially true in training.
The training goals set for employees should line up with the overarching business objectives. When there is no communication or review to ensure this is happening, this can lead to training that lacks direction or doesn’t support business goals.
- Not Considering Learning Style in Training
There are many learning styles that are based on how humans process information. Updating your training content to address as many learning styles as possible will yield better results. Some learners need visual or auditory material to help them retain information. Others may do better with written text.
Other methods include incorporating social activities. Learners can engage and ask questions to gain a deeper understanding of the task or subject.
- Training That Isn’t Relevant to a Job Role
Different job roles should have unique learning paths associated with them. These should provide relevant, necessary information. Adding content that isn’t relevant will waste time, cause confusion, or lead to a lack of interest in the training material.
Keep the content relevant to ensure that training aligns with individual goals and business needs.
The Effects of Misaligned Employee Training
Why does misalignment matter if your employees are learning the basics? It can lead to a loss of productivity, poor customer experience, and employee dissatisfaction.
- Less Productive Employees
Employees who do not possess the necessary knowledge will be less productive. You’ll get less value out of the jobs they do because they aren’t able to work as efficiently as they could. That means your business is likely missing out on profits due to lower output.
- Lower Employee Morale
Employees who do not feel properly trained will feel less motivated and have lower morale. This can further decrease productivity and lead to higher turnover. Finding replacements is time-consuming and expensive.
- Decreased Work Quality
Without the right skill set, the quality of work will decrease. Employees need to know their job roles and how to handle each task with confidence. If your training program isn’t adequately preparing them for their responsibilities, then it’s impossible to expect high quality results. A lower quality product or service is something that customers will notice.
- Increase in Errors and Safety Risks
Employees who aren’t well-trained are more likely to cause errors and mistakes. Those who work with equipment or in an industrial or warehouse setting will face more safety risks if not properly instructed before they join the workforce.
How to Use eLearning to Correct Training Misalignment
Finding a good LMS platform will go a long way in realigning your employee training program. If you don’t have one already, check out LMS reviews to see what’s out there and what will work for your business needs.
Once you have a learning management system in place, then you can begin correcting the training misalignment problem. Here are a few good places to begin.
- Perform a Needs Assessment
You can’t close a skill gap if you don’t know that it exists. Perform a needs assessment to determine what you already have in your training program and what you truly need. Look for areas that employees have expressed frustration with as well as any parts of your business that aren’t performing well. These are clues to what training needs to be added to your program.
This is an important first step, but it should also become a regular part of employee training maintenance. Plan to conduct needs assessments moving forward to check for skill gaps and other issues before they become an expensive issue.
- Compare Training and Business Goals
You should have a list of your business goals and training goals. Compare both to ensure that your training objectives support your business goals. If not, then it may be time to expand or change your training program.
For example, if your business wants to improve the customer experience this year, then it’s time to strengthen your customer service courses.
- Implement Targeted Training Content
Most businesses have generalized courses that all or most employees must take. These often cover broad topics like conduct guidelines or basic rules that apply to everyone. However, your training program should be more targeted than that.
Each job role should have a specialized learning path. Also look for specific tasks, objectives, or refined areas within a role. Training related to these specialized areas should also be offered.
When adding new content, make sure it provides the quality your employees need. You should also ask “Are you using your eLearning content legally?” when adding new material.
- Ensure That Training Addresses Learning Styles
Make sure that training content is delivered using multiple formats to address all learning styles. That means including text, audio, images, and videos. These can be combined using tools like interactive videos.
An interactive video can cater to visual learners with images and video clips while also providing text in the form of captions or on-screen highlights. Audio learners can benefit from narration.
Supplemental material can also be uploaded in the form of text documents, transcriptions, photos, and audio files.
- Plan for Ongoing Monitoring and Updates
Getting your employee training program aligned now is beneficial. However, don’t forget that this is an ongoing process. After putting in the work to close skill gaps, expand course offerings, and meet business goals, a plan should be put in place to continue to monitor and update as needed.
By staying on top of advancements and changes, you will keep your employee training program well-honed and ready to produce motivated, knowledgeable team members who are happy in their job roles.
