If you think training is expensive, try ignorance
You can save money, improve your bottom line and enhance your company’s reputation by implementing effective training, as Mike Jenkins explains.
Training — the formalised delivery of knowledge, competencies and skills — tends to be overlooked when times are hard, even though it has been proven that well-executed skills development can boost the prospects of even the most lacklustre business.
This is a tough message to sell in the teeth of the worst recession for a century, but that does not make it any less true.
As well as being more productive, skilled workers are better able to adapt quickly and effectively to change — as well as being better at implementing new investments and innovations.
There are other benefits. For example, training:
• keeps employees motivated, since new skills and knowledge can help reduce boredom;
• clarifies the objectives of the organisation, ensuring that everybody works towards the same goals, and
• increases staff retention, morale and loyalty because it demonstrates that the company values its people and is prepared to invest in them.
However, although training is important, it is not the whole story. There are also persuasive business reasons to implement effective employee development. There is, however, a clear distinction between the two.
Training is something that you have done to you (through lectures, demonstrations, and so on) whereas development is something that you do for yourself.
Focusing on their own development helps employees become:
• more aware of the trends and directions in technology and society;
• increasingly effective in the workplace;
• able to help, influence and lead others by their example; and
• confident of their future employability.
So, effective training and development are plainly good for both the business and the individual. However, this begs a fundamental question for business managers — how can they ensure that the training and development that they implement is fit for purpose?
HVCA Business Plus, the ‘umbrella brand’ for the HVCA group of companies, can help answer this question, and others, by providing expert advice and guidance on vocational education, training and employee development, demonstrating the benefits and value added to businesses when they invest in the skills of their workforce.
HVCA services include the following.
• Career development planning.
• Gas competence training and assessment.
• Local advice and support for employers and colleges.
• Management courses.
• New entrant craft, technician and graduate training.
• Supervisory and management training.
• Support funding availability.
There is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ solution to training and development because different businesses of different sizes have differing needs. The HVCA’s education and training department recognises this and provides members with a wide range of expert advice and guidance on matters involving recruitment, new-entrant and mid-career vocational education and employee development.
A programme of HVCA training courses addresses many essential elements of members' activities, and the association is registered as a Continuing Professional Development (CPD) provider with the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers, the Institution of Engineering & Technology and the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.
Indeed, the HVCA, together with its subsidiary companies, provides a great source of advice and guidance, presenting reliable and affordable ways of improving business efficiency and profitability. HVCA members have access to advice and guidance on employment law, people management, systems and procedures.
Of course, all the training and development in the world is useless if it is not applied. As the German writer and polymath Goethe put it: ‘Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do.’
For more information, visit the web site below or call freephone 0800 9171541.
Mike Jenkins is group co-ordinator of HVCA Business Plus and business development manager of Welplan.
