Training and Development in the Workplace: Why it’s Worth the Effort

“‘Cause it’s a bittersweet symphony, that’s life. Tryna make ends meet, you’re a slave to money, then you die.” – The Verve

The lyrics from this song couldn’t have been more authentic. How bittersweet it is to spend more than half of your life working just to make sure you are able to live. My philosophy is, if you are required to work to live and more than half of your life is spent on work, why not enjoy what you do? In some cases, that might be fairly easy depending on your career path.

In other cases, work is not the greatest, and it is just a means for survival. This is why you, as a supervisor, hold an important responsibility to create and maintain a healthy working environment for your employees. The less rewarding or more stressful a job is, the more difficult it can be to show up and/or be mentally present day after day. Job satisfaction is a hard task, and even harder when you are not considerate of your employees.

In my experience, I have witnessed the difference it makes when an employee has a supervisor who invests in them versus a supervisor who does not put in that effort or just tolerates them. Statistics also support that one key factor in retention is employee recognition. The question is, as the employer, how can you make your workplace environment a place where an employee wants to stay?

Inevitably, people will get promoted. Also, people will quit or get terminated. That is just a part of the territory. However, there are things you can do as an employer to improve retention. Pour resources into your employees. It is cheaper to train and develop the staff you have than to hire new people. The first people you need to start with are your supervisors. Supervisors are the brains in the body of the workplace.

Without a properly working brain, the body’s functioning is impaired as well. How do we get a brain to work properly? We exercise it. In this case, we train it. The supervisors set the tone for the team. If the supervisor is lazy and unmotivated, their employees will follow suit. In this article, we will focus on the importance of training and developing employees with a special focus on supervisors.

What makes a supervisor “good”?

When I think of a “good supervisor,” I think of a trustworthy and safe person. Someone who has positive behavior, attitude, and a strong work ethic. A good supervisor has excellent people skills in addition to good judgment. While they lead by example, they also delegate tasks to consistently improve their employees’ abilities and professionalism. They are clear about what they expect from you and will never ask you to do anything they would not do as well.

A good supervisor will not only hold their employees accountable but, more importantly, themselves. A good supervisor is human first and can acknowledge, apologize, and correct their behavior when they make mistakes. It is hard to find a good supervisor because these qualities do not just appear.

You cannot find a fresh adult straight out of the womb. They are first babies, toddlers, preschoolers, school-aged, adolescents, young adults, middle-aged adults, and finally older adults. Like life itself, a good supervisor is developed. As they are developed, you keep their skills sharp by continuing to train and guide them.

Anyone can learn the company policy and procedures, but not everyone can implement them appropriately. This takes a well-rounded individual to lead the team accordingly.

Training and Development for Employees

As an employer, you must train your supervisors on several components. For instance, they need to know how to provide direction and sustenance. This goes beyond giving directives. Giving direction and sustenance will require some nurture and mentorship. It is imperative that the supervisor can be supportive of their employees’ personal and professional development.

As much as we love to keep things professional, life happens, and personal will at some point spills into the professional workplace. For example, if your supervisee comes to you and says that their family member passed away, but that family member is not in the bereavement policy guidelines, it does not mean that their family member is not as important.

Maybe you aren’t able to offer paid time off because of company policy, but that does not mean that you cannot provide another means of support. They may still need your support in a different way, such as providing days off for their mental health. Learning how to have balance is an important skill to apply in every situation.

Next, a good supervisor will be one to foster an environment of continued education. Again, they will lead by example by always looking for opportunities to develop themselves. In addition to self-development, they will encourage their staff, both individually and collectively, to continue to learn by enrolling them in training relevant to their role and encourage them to participate.

As the supervisor, you will know your employees’ strengths and areas of improvement. Where people tend to go wrong is by focusing on the areas of improvement. However, if you remember that balance is key, you will apply that to this situation as well.

An easy way to cause burnout is by making a person feel inadequate. If we are only developing the areas that are considered “weak points” but not nurturing the strengths, we will decrease their confidence. On the other hand, if we never acknowledge those weak points, then we are hindering them from their potential growth.

Inspiring Your Team

Subsequently, as a supervisor, you must inspire your team. Inspiring your team can be a difficult task because it takes some tenacity. Words, rewards, and recognition can only go so far. They need to feel a sense of purpose in what they are doing. Helping them see that their role and the company’s goals coincide.

You need to lose the “everyone is replaceable” model and make sure your employees feel like what they do and who they are matter. When employees see their value, they will work harder and strive to be their best.

Providing them with feedback when they are doing well and when they need help is important. Implementing the relationship bank would be a great instrument in every supervisor’s toolbox. The relationship bank consists of deposits and withdrawals. It is important that you are continuously putting deposits in with your employees because when it is time for withdrawals, the impact will not be as big or bad if you have invested in your relationship bank.

To avoid going into the negative in your relationship bank, look for opportunities to put in big and small deposits. Examples of big deposits are approving vacation requests, giving them credit when they do something for the team, showing care about their personal life, if you know they have been sick or their child or dog, checking in on them.

Small deposits can be something as simple as asking them how they are doing, learning their likes and dislikes, complimenting them when they are doing a good job, pulling them aside when they need correction (which can also be a small withdrawal).

These deposits can serve you well when you have to take a major withdrawal, such as not approving a last-minute vacation request because you already have three other employees who requested the same days well in advance. Or if you have to take a smaller withdrawal, such as holding them accountable for a mistake they made.

Additionally, while you implement all of this, you should also anticipate that there will be challenges and conflicts. To achieve goals, you must conquer the obstacles that will arise. Conflict is in everything that we do, but how we tackle the conflict is important. A good supervisor will acknowledge the conflict instead of avoiding it or tiptoeing around it.

Encouraging open communication requires the promotion of understanding one another as well as working together. What I find is that companies tend to hire people based on their work performance and what they perceive to be people’s skills. However, they do a disservice to their employees and supervisors by failing to invest in their growth.

Next Steps

I provide training not only for employees but also for supervisors specifically. Supervisors not only need training and continued growth, but they also need support. Call and schedule a consultation with me about how my supervisor and employee training can improve your organization’s work environment. I look forward to working with you.