The Tribune

COVID-19 has provided businesses with the perfect opportunity to reset. Streamlining product offerings, trimming the proverbial operational expenses "fat", and downsizing staff numbers or positions may all prove necessary in these difficult times. Perhaps the lowest hanging fruit in resetting business operations is enhancing service levels, and assisting employees to become more efficient and effective.

Training has long been the most effective vehicle in making this possible. It is said to be the oil that keeps the engine of business functioning. While it is not the engine, even lay persons know that engines cannot function without it. Failure to address, and welcome, the advance of new training initiatives results in greater inefficiency in the workplace.

Make a commitment to take your service levels up a notch and invest in different avenues of training for your team:

1. Mobile learning - Mobile training refers to training programmes or content that is delivered or accessed via a mobile device. The objective of mobile training is to deliver knowledge content to a remote learner or student when they are not at a fixed or pre-determined location. Why not conduct training where learners live almost 24 hours per day? Research is clear that people of all ages in the corporate community are practically living on their mobile devices. Offering even traditional programmes via this format completely changes the game.

2. Social media learning - Social learning is a theory of learning process and social behaviour. It proposes that new behaviours can be acquired by observing and imitating others. Using social media sites where so many are living their lives provides an amazing platform for making this possible. Sales and marketing efforts, dating and just about everything else we do has gone viral on a myriad of social sites. It is time we take training in a more deliberate way to this useful and widely-used forum.

3. Adaptive learning - Even our early understandings of how education and learning work best involves a journey from known to unknown. Adaptive learning is an individualistic approach to training where we determine what a learner already knows in contact or e-learning situations, and begin the journey with what they do not know in heading towards a desired final destination.

4. Virtual training - Virtual reality has become quite common place in the developed and developing world for immersive training. While there is an upfront cost involved in developing applications to deliver the programmes, which could be technical (hard skills) or soft skills in nature, great savings are experienced in not having to purchase equipment, trainers, venues, food and beverage, etc.

5. Cross Training - For the purpose of improving performance, building capacity and forging strong mentorship bonds on the team, companies have used this powerful training tool for many years. It involves allowing team members to shadow champions in other units of the business to transfer, in deliberate ways, the skills. This works beautifully as a succession planning tool or to ensure that no one team member monopolises knowledge of an area.

6. Immersion Training - Skills to successfully advance a business often lie outside the organisation. Many successful companies have created opportunities where employees work on special projects, or on sabbatical in other companies and agencies, to acquire new skills and competencies that will grow their base business.

7. E-Learning - Research shows that more than three-quarters of the training and learning taking place on the planet happens online. To not use technology in staff training today is not only unwise, it is simply corporate suicide. Webinars, e-training programmes and online seminars are happening all day, every day and, in many cases, free of charge in the global arena. The astute company looking to grow the talent and business takes full advantage of these learning options.

• NB: Ian R Ferguson is a talent management and organisational development consultant, having completed graduate studies with regional and international universities. He has served organsations, both locally and globally, providing relevant solutions to their business growth and development issues. He may be contacted at tcconsultants@coralwave.com.