Value of Training and Development
Why should I focus on training and development?
Why is training and development important?
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Manage risk in the business: Meet minimum standards for health and safety, operating equipment, and looking after themselves and others.
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Improve productivity: Training enhances employees' skills, leading to more efficient and effective work. Well-trained employees make fewer mistakes, saving time, cost, and resources.
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Increase morale and motivation: Training empowers employees, boosting confidence and morale. Opportunities for growth and development keep employees motivated and engaged. Upskilling can help staff feel like they have something important to offer the team, and can help build a sense of self, identity, and positive wellbeing.
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Retain good staff: Employees are more likely to stay with a business that invests in their development. Providing growth opportunities can foster loyalty.
Training and development can cost businesses a lot if it is done ineffectively. Below are a few principles that can help you decide how to approach training and development for your employees and business.
How do I know what training and development is right for my employees?
1. Meet your minimum requirements
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Core training: Ensure that basic skills required for safe operation are continuously upheld. This is fundamental to any training and development programme.
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Set Clear Expectations: Clearly outline the basic skills that all employees need to know. For training and development beyond that, make it clear whether you expect employees to proactively seek out training opportunities or if you will provide suggestions / options.
2. Ensure training is relevant
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Align with Business Goals: Make sure training programs are directly linked to your business needs.
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Job-Specific Skills: Focus on skills and knowledge that are immediately applicable to employees' roles. (see Attracting the Right Individuals on writing effective job descriptions)
3. Promote continuous learning
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Ongoing Development: Encourage employees to continuously improve (see a simple process for doing this below). Also, see how mentors and coaches can support continuous learning in Mentorship and Coaching.
4. Make training accessible
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Work with employees: Work with employees to understand their motivations, goals, learning styles, schedule, and any barriers to training and development they may have. See more in Workplace Wellbeing and Culture and MÄori Cultural Confidence.
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Remove barriers: Where practical provide support to ensure the best outcome for the employee and your business.
5. Measure and evaluate effectiveness
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Track Progress: To ensure the training and development you are delivering or supporting is relevant and effective, tracking employee progress will be important. There are a range of ways to do this outlined below. This information can help you adjust and refine to get better results.
What are some myths about training and development?
Myth 1: Training and development is expensive
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Lots of training and development is free / low cost - so cost may not always be a barrier. You/your employees may be able to access government or industry financial support (see the page on Financial Support).
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Some things are more expensive but worth it. Ensuring the training is relevant to your business will help determine whether it is a worthwhile investment.
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You can share costs with your employee and/or implement a bonding agreement for the cost of courses to ensure return on your investment.
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Myth 2: If I train my staff, they will leave (or want more pay)
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It is often true that when an employee feels they are adding more value to a business they expect to be paid at a higher rate. Working out a development plan, and being transparent with employees about the requirements for different types of roles / skills / knowledge and the value you relate to those will help manage expectations. A simple process for this is outlined here.
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It can also be true that training and development can advance employees' career pathway expectations and if there is no clear ‘next step’ in their current business they may go elsewhere. Sharing your expectations and the opportunities in your business as transparently as possible with employees will help them understand where you are at. Employees upskilling and leaving can still support your business in the longer-term both through reputation and returning of previous staff. When the majority of employers in the sector take this approach it also increases the skill base of all employees.
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Myth 3: Training takes staff out of work leaving me understaffed
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There are a range of options for learning - many of which are work-based and/or flexible and will fit in easily within a week (i.e. part time or outside of work hours training)
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Training and development is a great thing to focus on when the season is not so busy such as over winter for some industries.
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Myth 4: There are no training or development courses relevant to my business, so I have to do it myself
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There has been a lot of change in the government’s approach to industry training and development over the past five years. This has resulted in a lot of change in the types and range of training and learning available. Something more suited to your business may have been recently made available or in the pipeline.
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Share what training and development you want with your Workforce Development Council - Muka Tangata. It is their job to recommend changes to the system to ensure industry needs are being met.
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Myth 5: It is impossible for employees with literacy and numeracy difficulties to do training and development
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Training and development might look different for these employees, however, there are different guidelines and resources available (e.g. from Primary ITO, NZQA, Ako Aotearoa, Literacy Aotearoa, Pathways Awarua) for working with learners struggling with literacy and numeracy. This includes employees who are alliterate, or may have dyslexia or another form of neurodiversity.
What is Te Ara Poutama?
Poutama are a stepped pattern seen in toi MÄori (MÄori arts) such as tukutuku panels or in woven mats. It is a symbol of whakapapa (genealogy) and can represent levels of learning and achievement. This pursuit of higher learning is heard in the pÅ«rÄkau (story) of TÄnenuiarangi, who sought the three baskets of knowledge from the topmost heaven. Each iwi (tribe) has their own version of this story. Some iwi identify this pÅ«rÄkau with the figure TÄwhaki. The stepped pattern in the poutama is often interpreted as TÄne’s ascendency.
This approach to learning is grounded in a MÄori worldview as an ongoing and continuous journey of growth and expansion. This is also an example of the importance of educational achievement and the pursuit of knowledge is a shared view among many cultures.
Should you wish to learn more about TÄne’s pursuit of the baskets of knowledge, a version of the pÅ«rÄkau was produced by KIWA Digital which you can find here.
What simple practices can I implement to improve my approach to training and development?
Here are a few simple steps that will help you and your employees get on the same page around training and development expectations.
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Consider what goals your business has and what skills and capabilities you need in your team.
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Are you meeting your minimum requirements?
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Do you want to do something new in the future?
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Do you have weaknesses you want to improve?
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Do you want to improve efficiency?
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Identify what training and development goals you think apply to each area of your business and the employees working in those areas.
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If you want to hire new staff and promote a current employee to a supervisory role, a goal may be to strengthen that employee’s leadership and people management skills.
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If you want to improve the quality of pruning by orchard staff you could set a goal to have improved confidence and quality of pruning in your orchard/vineyard team in 12 months.
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Work with your employee to assess their training and development needs.
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Be transparent about business goals and the skills and capabilities needed to meet these.
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Discuss how they currently could meet those and / or how they could upskill to meet them.
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Explore their career goals and how opportunities could align to these.
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Explore training and development options with your employee and together come up with a plan that aligns to business goals.
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Support your employee to carry out their training and development plan, and monitor the results.
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Ensure your employee has the right resources to complete training and development.
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Check in with your employee on progress frequently.
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As appropriate, conduct a year end review.
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As needed, update the plan to reflect new business priorities, changing skills and capabilities of your employees, and new career opportunities.