Why it’s time to stop glossing over the gaps in your training policy

So, this is the new normal. Or at least, as normal as things are likely to get in the aftermath of the pandemic. We live in a culture of hybrid working, of reimagined expectations and of realigned values and desires.

For perhaps the first time in a long time, maybe the first time ever, how we work and how we grow, professionally, is more important – or maybe as important – as how we’re remunerated.

The question is whether the business community is keeping pace with those cultural changes and adapting workplace and development processes and policies to reflect the new 21st Century workforce.

For business leaders, this means re-evaluating how they run specific areas of their operations, whether it's reducing travel commitments to quarterly or annual conference gatherings or providing hybrid or remote work options.

Beyond new recruit orientation, another area that managers may need to look into more closely is the kind of training they provide to their staff.

For many businesses, that will mean starting to address some subjects that are frequently glossed over in the workplace in order to improve training practises and materials that proactively help their employees to succeed in a more complex world.

In addition to improving work-life balance, confidence, and accountability, educating staff about the significance of these overlooked topics could help them avoid more serious work-related problems in the future.

1. Mindfulness

Few employers have fully included mindfulness into learning and development programmes. The pandemic and associated events have had a profound effect on our cultural psychology and how we deal with disagreement and conflict.

One of the most important ways to keep small conflicts from escalating is to teach your teams the power of being able to take a moment to consider alternative perspectives.

2. Training and development for managers

Managers often lead teams for ten years before experiencing any significant professional growth, and in most cases this is simply seen as the status quo rather than a challenge to be addressed and overcome.

3. Emotional intelligence

Much professional training focuses on knowledge transfer or information sharing and fails to link that knowledge to emotionally engaging narratives. Training in emotional intelligence aims to foster and support transformational change when we encounter new information and are empowered to act in response to that information.

4. Mental health and wellbeing

It seems hard to imagine now, but it’s only in the post-pandemic world that mental health and wellbeing are being fully recognised as the issues they really are.  

Productivity, job satisfaction, and general morale are significantly impacted by problems like stress, anxiety, and depression, and if employees can learn how to maintain a healthy work-life balance the results will be seen in positive trends around sickness absence and productivity.

5. Responsibility in the workplace

Employee education merely increases awareness, whereas accountability alters culture. One-time actions must be used as a part of larger-scale change initiatives.

In order to comprehend the underlying causes of the need for training, it should also be tied to a series of cumulative interventions. Pre- and post-onboarding, impact tracking, evidence-based procedures, and behaviour measurements all benefit from accountability measures. 6. Training For

6. Sexual harassment and unconscious bias

Companies that wish to develop a culture that puts its employees first must provide training on unconscious prejudice and sexual harassment.

The #MeToo and #BlackLivesMatter campaigns have received widespread support over the past five years, which has prompted businesses to alter their training and policies. It is beneficial to the employer brand and profitable to create an inclusive workplace culture that encourages women and non-binary employees.

7. Trust and transparency in action

Businesses are often judged by their response when things go wrong. And given nothing goes according to plan 100% of the time, building trust with staff early on is crucial.

When it comes to explaining how to report an event, most employers do a decent job. But, very few do so when it comes to revealing what happens as a result of that event. Building trust is based on transparency, which is essential when things go wrong at work.

8. Technological resources and practical advice

Training your team members on the skills they need to develop helps to avoid burnout, anxiety, and work frustration.

Business leaders often make the false assumption that workers fully understand common tools like email, chat, and project management software. In fact, that depth of understanding is much lower than you might think.

It’s important to not only set the baseline results you want to achieve, but to also include learning objectives that provide results and offer annual development opportunities.

10. Business career pathways

Companies must value each individual completely, looking beyond their current position to identify potential areas for advancement.

By doing this they increase employee engagement and retention, and their best employees are statistically less likely to look for their next chance elsewhere,

If you’d like to know more about how Constantia Consulting can help you to make sure your professional training and development processes embrace commonly overlooked triggers for poor or suboptimal performance, please get in touch. We’d love to hear from you.