5 Ways to Ensure your Management Team is Engaged in Employee Training
In LinkedIn’s 2020 Workplace Learning Report, “activating managers is the #1 challenge being tackled this year”. In other words, a lot of companies are struggling to get managers to make learning a priority. This is something we see occasionally with our clients as well. In our experience, it’s often middle managers who haven’t yet “bought in” to the idea of a new training development plan. Why? It’s usually because senior managers have made decisions about the training without input from their “on the ground” middle management team. It’s one of the reasons why we advocate for companies to involve staff at all levels in developing training, whether in some kind of training working group or pilot program. Here are some tips to help you get your management team to buy-in:
Understand and clearly articulate the goal and outcomes of the training program. Why do you want to undertake this training? How will it help employees, the management team, and senior executives perform better? It’s even better if you can demonstrate this need with an experience instead of words – maybe it’s a field trip, maybe it’s research into a competitor, or maybe it’s a stop at an employee’s desk/workstation to show why the current method isn’t working.
As mentioned above, don’t set everything in stone until you’ve had a chance to solicit feedback from your management team. Give them a chance to contribute and strengthen the training strategy/product.
Tie completion of employee training initiatives to performance management outcomes. This is a great motivator to encourage managers to adopt new practices.
Give managers the support they need to deliver the training programs. Maybe that’s a manager’s companion guide to correspond to new hire training, or speaking points to help them answer employee questions.
Celebrate success. If you’ve had a successful launch and implementation of a training program, and you’re seeing the results in your metrics, celebrate! You’ll be more likely to gain management support next time if past successes are clearly articulated.
If you’re ready to discuss your employee training program, reach out. We’d love to chat!
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We’re Erin and Peter, a husband and wife team passionate about making your organization successful through employee training and engagement. Join us as we explore new opportunities to improve your workplace.