When skills development is not desired by employees

You follow best business practices. You carefully planned training offered to all your employees on a subject that seemed relevant to you. The problem? Your employees are not as enthusiastic as you would have liked! You receive comments like “I don’t have time” and “this is not a priority for me”. The unifying effect you were hoping for is not there.

These comments might be demoralizing, but see it as a sign that something is lurking beneath the water. Indeed, skills development requires personal effort on the part of individuals who will invest their time and energy in learning. To obtain the expected results, we must ensure that they are able to receive training, but how can we do this?

When you impose an approach without first consulting stakeholders, it is rather difficult to obtain commitment. However, when the idea comes directly from the people involved, motivation arises naturally. Training needs should therefore be the subject of a frank discussion with employees and managers in order to assess the skills to be developed as a priority to achieve the company’s objectives. Perhaps you had lecture-style training on time management in mind because your team is struggling to meet deadlines? However, by talking with your managers, you may realize that the issue is really at the project management level since the schedules are not realistic and the estimates are flawed. So targeted training addressed to the right people would be a better investment of time and money for your business.

The moral of the story ? Discuss training needs regularly, not just during performance reviews but also during team meetings. These conversations will have other benefits: your listening to needs will translate into recognition and, subsequently, you will benefit from a commitment to follow training. You will therefore invest your money in the right place to target the points of vigilance of your business. This is a profitable strategy!