Raise your game - maximise your workforce.
Ensuring staff are able to develop and enhance their skills in a challenging market place is critical to business success and fosters innovation. Customers will see, hear about and want to experience the quality service that results from effective training. Delivering quality for the customer, whilst encouraging employees to innovate and be pro-active in promoting services / products, will give your company that vital edge over the competition. Many of our clients have implemented simple but robust and effective systems to understand their employee's development needs: to ensure they can achieve the optimum business performance and raise their game. Introducing a competency framework that sets out the skills and knowledge required can make a big difference in helping you and your employees understand what is expected of them. In turn these frameworks feed into training and business plans, to ensure you are commissioning training that is fit for purpose whilst delivering on your forecasts. Understanding your business needs is the foundation to success and often an apsect that benefits from a fresh, external overview. Clive Barwell,Director, Paramount Group commented, "I was particularly impressed with the way in which you (Ripley Training) took time to understand our business and identify the key skills gaps amongst some of our employees and then set about delivering a bespoke session. Too much training is 'off the shelf, take it or leave it', which perhaps works in a generic call centre environment, but doesn't for professional firms like ours." With a competency framework providing the structure, the next step is performance appraisal. To measure success, identify training requirements and maximise the benefits, for the business and employee, hold regular appraisals that are supported with accurate job descriptions. Use appraisals to set and review personal targets that meet business plan objectives, and you will see a marked improvement in performance and the ability of your business to respond to change. The Business Plan and performance appraisals must be integrated, with each informing the other, to enable employees to understand their contribution towards the success of the business - whatever their role. As a result staff are more motivated and can recognise their contributions and achievements towards the delivery of the Business Plan. Keep objectives SMART - Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Timebound - to avoid some of the potential pitfalls of performance appraisals. Paul Berwin, LLP Partner, Berwins recognised the value of improving the effectiveness of appraisals, for employees and the business, and was particularly impressed by the skill with which our company 'read' both the needs of the firm and the requirements of the participants. It's about listening and watching - understanding that each business has specific needs and responding accordingly. To meet appraisal and business plan objectives employees may require some form of training. At one level there's training to meet statutory requirements, i.e. health and safety and compliance such as first aid, food hygiene and manual handling. On another, there's training and a work environment that nutures and values skills, knowledge, experience, talent and aspiration - critical for any business looking to raise their game and exceed customer expectations. If you would like to discuss any of these aspects please contact Mike Smith, Managing Director, Ripley Training Ltd on 01423 861122.