What Is Corporate Training, And Why Is It Important?

Continuous L&D effort is what can take your business or organization a step ahead of competitors within the corporate landscape. For example, according to the Chief Learning Officer magazine, more than 70% of L&D experts agree that the companies they work for need to develop more custom learning courses to keep up with the market. The need appeared due to problems navigating the dynamic challenges of the modern corporate world without proper training. This resulted in a rich line of solutions, including retail, LMS extended enterprise, platforms for SMBs, and even specialized banking LMS solutions. Each is tailored to the specific needs of its industry. Today, we explore why corporate training is an invaluable tool for arranging learning and getting an advantage over competitors. We will also highlight the best practices and guides to help you train your team.

What Is Corporate Training?

The term itself refers to delivering L&D opportunities to your workers. The main idea of any corporate training program is to develop existing skills and give new knowledge to your team members. Thus, by upskilling your workers, you improve the overall performance of your business. Here is an example of what general training covers:

Specialized competencies
Interpersonal abilities
Management growth
Adherence to regulations
Industry-relevant understanding

It can also manifest in diverse ways:

Practical sessions
Informative gatherings
Digital learning platforms
Guidance from experienced individuals
Hands-on workplace instruction

Regardless of the form and ways of delivery, company training’s main goal is to align the existing skills of your team members with your goals. Hence, you increase chances of your business to reach your aspirations and be all competitive.

Advantages of Corporate Training Programs

So, we have already covered the question of what corporate training and development is, and now the time has come to share the benefits briefly. In simple terms, it’s an investment that pays off with your company’s success. Let’s take a look at the main advantages: Productivity Boost: highly skilled people are productive and efficient. The more skills they have, the more diverse tasks they will be able to perform, and the faster they can do it. Add skill-based creativity here, and you will get an idea of how such people can boost your company.Skill Development: As mentioned before, the main goal of all corporate learning programs is to improve skills, especially specific ones needed precisely for your business. Compliance: It’s always important to follow the regulations to make your business succeed. However, it’s not always about reducing to the possible minimum the legal risks, but also about potential health and safety issues. Leadership Development: it’s true that you may not need this for everyone in your team. However, it’s always a good idea to develop leadership skills within your business, as it helps cultivate future leaders for your organization. Talent Retention: retention rates are the cornerstone of any organization. According to Apollotechnical, replacing an entry-level worker costs around 50% of their salary. Things get even worse with more skilled and experienced workers. An established corporate training management program supports worker’s growth and offers career development possibilities.

Core Objectives of Workforce Development Initiatives

1. Provide Necessary Materials

According to Gartner, around 70% of workers believe they don’t have enough skills for their current jobs. With this in mind, start with onboarding to get your newbies up to the speed in your business. Don’t be afraid to implement the mandatory training, especially if you need to cover some job or business-specific training. Lastly, comes the non-required learning options to be chosen by choice.

2. Bridge Competency Deficiencies and Foster Continuous Development

McKinsey research shows that almost 90% of companies all around the world face the need to address existing knowledge gaps. Investing in corporate training development is a great way to address those. Such an investment includes teaching crucial soft skills, such as time management, creativity and motivation. Furthermore, this is the most efficient way to stay up to date with progress.

3. Invest In And Retain Talent

Deloitte states that 42% of workers complain that their employers are not maximizing their skills. Based on this, we can conclude that you risk losing almost half of your team because of lack of training. Online corporate training helps a great deal to increase retention rates by offering growing opportunities for your team.

4. Developing Company Culture

The key aspect here is to treat your people as individuals and build your culture around this. Start with diversity and inclusion training and webinar. The next step can be mental health support. Creating a belonging culture results in boosted performance and makes people feel valued.

Most Important Examples:

1. Leadership Development

Programs for developing leaders are intended to foster and improve the management and leadership abilities of present and future organizational leaders. Topics, including communication, team building, strategic thinking, decision-making, and change management, are frequently covered in these programs.

2. Sales And Customer Service

The goal of sales and customer service training programs is to give staff members the information and abilities they need to close deals and offer first-rate customer care. Topics, including customer relationship management, product knowledge, sales strategies, and negotiation abilities, may be included in these programs.

3. IT training

Technical and IT training programs are designed to help employees become more knowledgeable about certain technologies, software, programming languages, or IT systems that the organization uses. These schools may provide courses in data analysis, cybersecurity, software development, and cloud computing.

4. Diversity

The goal of diversity and inclusion training programs is to increase awareness of unconscious biases, cultural differences, and the value of embracing diversity in order to foster a more respectful and inclusive work environment. The goal of diversity and inclusion training programs is to increase awareness and eliminate any signs of pregnancy discrimination, unconscious biases, cultural differences, and the value of embracing diversity in order to foster a more respectful and inclusive work environment.

5. Project Management

The goal of project management training programs is to give staff members the abilities and information needed to organize, carry out, and oversee projects inside the company. Project planning, risk management, resource allocation, and project monitoring and control are some of the subjects that these programs might address.

How To Choose The Correct Type Of Corporate Training For Your Organization

Analyze Current Skills and Gaps

The corporate training definition somewhat hides this step, but we won’t. Remember, analysis always comes first, as this is the main aspect that helps to pick the correct type of training that would bring the most benefit to your business. To do this, establish your goals, then define what your team needs to achieve them, and estimate which of those skills will be most important for you within the next 5 years. Based on this, deliver a set of training topics to cover.

Set Clear Objectives

As simple as simple can get – be clear about your goals and objectives. What should your team know? What should they be able to do? Do they need leadership? Is it important for them to know your organizational policies and procedures, etc? Also, keep in mind that you need to align your training with business goals.

Fit Training for Your Team

People are the main target audience of your training. So, don’t neglect to think of their preferred learning methods, schedules, available devices, and habits. For example, independent bit-sized and interactive training is generally preferred by younger generations. This approach also works great with remote teams.