Skip to main content

Training staff is essential, but expensive - it does not have to be

According to a nationwide study in 2011 by Kenexa, the top 5 reasons why employees quit their jobs are:

  1. Lack of opportunities for professional development (30%)
  2. Inadequate compensation (28%)
  3. Boredom/lack of challenge (27%)
  4. Poor work/life balance (20%)
  5. Job stress and unfair treatment (20%)

For small business owners, providing professional development to a growing and increasingly competent workforce can be expensive.  There are however, some good short term options for employers that do not have to cost so much.  One of the best I have come across is MindTools .  It is a club which charges an annual membership fee ($1 for the first month, then $19 / month or $27 month ) which is well worth it.  They offer succinct articles, discussions and videos as well as reading recommendations on a host of leadership, management and other topics. Other options are often to be found in your local Small Business Development Center, and sites like bizfilings.com.

Some of the most appropriate training, however, can be harnessed from your own experience and knowledge in-house, by developing an atmosphere in whcih employees can learn from their mistakes without fear of retribution, and share those learnings with others to develop greater in-house capability.

At Namaqua Consulting we offer a range of training options for managers, leaders as well as more general employee awareness and development sessions  e.g Harassment and Discrimination Training for Employees and Supervisors.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Workplace Harassment Training is Essential for Small and Large Businesses

The EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission) is in the process of creating a new task force to prevent and address the issue of workplace harassment. The newly sworn in Commissioner of the EEOC commented that: "The EEOC is working to leverage our resources to have a greater impact on the persistent problem of workplace harassment," said Yang. "By identifying underlying problems in workplaces and industries where we see recurring patterns of harassment, we are developing strategies that focus on targeted outreach and education as well as systemic enforcement to promote broader voluntary compliance." Small business owners need to be aware that the EEOC will be looking with equal force at employers across industries, and they need to be sure that they take precautionary measures to educate themselves and their employees on the nature of harassment and discrimination. Many employers may not be aware that they are responsible, and their supervisors are
1 comment
Read more

Passive Aggressive Behavior – Understanding and Managing it in the Workplace

In the Radical Collaboration world, we talk of three different kinds of working environments: While the Red and the Green Zone may be obvious in how they show up, the Pink Zone is equally powerful, and just as destructive as Red Zone thinking. Essentially, two words sum up the Pink Zone, “passive aggression”, but many hours and emotional frustrations result in its expression! Why does it show up, and how can you deal with it when it does? There are many reasons why people can become or act in a passive aggressive manner: They feel powerless or voiceless, and this is a way for them to have impact. They do not enjoy conflict and perceive deeper interactions with others as having the potential for conflict. The politics of the workplace may dictate that it is unsafe for them to speak out especially if it is against a superior or a well-liked colleague. The management style of the company is such that open communication is discouraged, or that bad behaviors are not managed.
Post a Comment
Read more

The Space For - And Power of - Apology

Recently, I found myself in a situation where I become the unwitting focus of a poison email copied to eight other people.  I was stunned.  My immediate reaction was a knee-jerk response, wanting to send a smarting reply that would put him down, and show how I was the unwitting victim of his surprise attack. Instead, I chose a different route, and decided to slow down.  My Radical Collaboration training has taught me that taking a breath and stepping back from something when I notice a physical or emotional reaction, gives me the ability to try to understand my own “need” behind my reaction.  In this situation, my need was to be seen as competent and in control by others.  As a result, I had to own that it was MY interpretation of his email which fed MY own feelings of incompetence, and I had to manage that, not him.  He did not intend my reaction. By understanding that about myself, it allowed me to divorce my reality from an attempt to interpret his intention.  But it was also
Post a Comment
Read more