According to City & Guilds’ 2006 Happiness Index, almost two thirds of UK and Irish respondents state that learning new things makes them happy at work. Another 25 per cent said that they left their last job or were thinking of leaving due to lack of career prospects and training and development plans. Claire Watson, from SHL provider of psychometric assessment and development solutions takes a look at training and development in smaller organisations.
While smaller businesses may recognise the importance of training and development, with limited resources, they will find it harder to financially invest in such initiatives. It is not surprising then that smaller businesses struggle to attract and retain the top talent they need to drive their businesses forward. Smaller businesses are missing out as candidates are increasingly asking ‘what has this company got to offer me? What can it add to my career development?’
So how can a smaller organisation make the most of their training and development schemes without depending entirely on expensive external courses and programmes?
The process of training and developing a new employee should begin at the recruitment stage – it is essential that as a small business you are getting a candidate who will fit into the culture of your business, is interested in your company, wants to contribute to the company’s mission, wants to develop themselves in that role and has the potential to be successful in the role they are being recruited for.
The majority of larger businesses have woken up to the benefits of objectively assessing new recruits and existing employees for the purposes of talent management. SHL has substantial evidence showing that organisations using scientifically based assessment and recruitment tools are more likely to succeed in recruiting, retaining and developing the correct person for individual roles. The cost of failure resulting from a poor hire or promotion is often crippling to smaller organisations. As such, the use of objective assessment is increasing among small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). Smaller organisations are also beginning to reap the benefits of objective assessment.
SHL’s Partner Network (SPN) was specifically set up to service the needs of SMEs. This network brings the benefits of SHL’s tools, in an affordable way, to smaller organisations.
Objectively assessing potential can dramatically enhance the effectiveness of a company's talent-management programme. Psychometric assessment helps managers to identify the gaps and training needs of an individual from the beginning of the recruitment process. This means managers can approach development projects from an informed angle
Rather than relying on recommendations or historical evidence, objective assessment can identify training needs and provide a clear indication of an employee's potential and leadership capacity, as well as identify the best candidates for promotion.
Companies must then develop a Talent Management culture. Assess skills and map development needs against role demands, as this makes it easier to identify gaps. Approach development on an individual basis – don’t tend to think that ‘one solution fits all.
Developments in the field of occupational psychology add new insight by highlighting a basic element that affects all learning and one that is often overlooked in business: the personality of the employee. Personality is crucial as it can act as a key moderating variable that will affect a person’s experience of learning. Put simply, people learn best in different ways.
For example: people who have a strong preference for active and involved learning will be most effective when they have to discover the answers by actively seeking them and seeing the tangible results of an action. Alternatively, people who have a preference for observation tend to learn best by watching and listening to others before getting involved in a learning activity or experience.
This approach is particularly suited to smaller businesses, as with a smaller workforce it is far more realistic to aim to tailor learning and development to the preferred learning styles of the individual. This approach demonstrates to employees a greater level of commitment to them and their personal development, which will have a positive impact on their loyalty and commitment to the business.
Another idea that smaller businesses can borrow from their large counterparts is mentoring. Partner up newer employees with more experienced ones and encourage monthly meetings between them, where they can discuss their career, working styles etc. By developing a mentoring culture in your organisation more experienced employees can pass on their knowledge and expertise to newer recruits in a more informal way.
By nurturing the talent within your organisation you’ll be improving staff productivity and reducing turnover, as well as the consequent re-recruitment costs. Also, you’ll be walking one step ahead, predicting who will be the key drivers of your future success. With the help of objective assessment, delivered by the trained professionals of SHL’s SPN, smaller businesses can make the most of the talent in their businesses, ensuring that they get the most out of their training and development incentives.
About SHL Group Limited SHL is a world-leading provider of objective, scientific psychometric assessment and development solutions. SHL takes the risk out of the selection, recruitment, promotion, succession planning and development of talented people at all levels
For more information please visit www.shl.com or call 0870 070 8000
