Are you a leader invested in the professional development of your team? (Good. Keep reading.)
Unfortunately, convincing the budget-makers to allot money toward upskilling can be challenging. But you can use data as a powerful tool to support your case.
Money Talks
And one of the key points it can make is that learning and development (L&D) is an investment. As a recent Chief article by Heather Sundell eloquently puts it: “There are plenty of reasons why [upskilling] is beneficial for the bottom line. … First, it’s cost effective since it enables employers to enhance their workforce without increasing headcount. Hiring isn’t just expensive; it’s also time intensive. The average time to fill a position is 36 days, if not longer. Focusing on internal talent helps hiring managers avoid the lengthy interview process.”
And a willingness to invest in upskilling doesn’t only affect hiring, but also employee engagement. Sundell goes on to explain that “28.3% of workers who left jobs voluntarily resigned because they saw few opportunities for growth or advancement.” The statistics indicate that a sense of staleness and lack of growth can be a strong motivator for employees to leave. Essentially, investing in upskilling can save money and retain employees.
Where To Begin
Congratulations. You have successfully made your case for using a portion of the budget for learning and development, and you have been granted permission to invest in training employees. Where do you begin?
There are several ways to get started. I suggest first conducting a needs analysis of the current skills and knowledge within your team. Ask yourself:
- What are the basic skills and knowledge necessary for similar roles in the industry?
- Does everyone on your team possess those skills?
- Have you noticed any pain points within your team when it comes to certain projects that could indicate a knowledge gap?
Also, poll your team and ask what they feel is lacking in their own training that could be helpful for their day-to-day tasks. Remind them that this is not a criticism of their work, but rather an interest in identifying their weak points to help them grow.
The Continuing Importance Of Data
Once you choose the appropriate learning programs designed to augment your team’s knowledge and skill sets, data will continue to play a vital role in tracking success metrics and making the case for continued training.
Before the development sessions begin, note down the baseline so that you have “before” and “after” metrics of each employee’s knowledge and skill level for the tasks they are training in. Keep tabs throughout the process to measure their improvement and retention. Try to make these data points as quantifiable as possible.
The metrics you use should be based on your specific goals for the learning your employees are undergoing. What are your objectives for the individual and the team?
For example, let’s say a senior marketing manager is tasked with driving more online engagement for the company. She decides to invest in employee training to help the team create higher-quality content that would achieve that desired engagement. Her success metrics should match these specific goals, so she might create the following “before” and “after” categories to help track her employees’ progress:
- Types of content created.
- Time needed to create each piece of content.
- Online interactions (clicks/comments/shares).
- Traffic driven to website.
As you can see, her metrics are very much in line with her specific company goals for online interaction and engagement.
Conclusion
As leaders, we should use every tool available to invest in our employees for a more engaging and productive workplace, and data is critical throughout every step of the L&D process.