Marcus Richards
Can you tell how many startups are made each day? If you had to guess a random answer for this, what number would you guess? A hundred startups a day? A thousand startups a day? Maybe, ten thousand startups a day?
According to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM), around 137,000 startups are made each day worldwide. This is a staggering statistic. Adding up the numbers, you’ll find that there are 50 million new businesses formed each year.
The fact that 137,000 startups are being launched every day around the world is indeed encouraging for the business community. However, GEM also mentions that every day, 120,000 businesses get terminated or go out of business. This is harrowing, but what’s even more harrowing is that many of these companies that go out of business are startups that hardly manage to survive only a few years.
Startups go out of business for many reasons, but one of the most impactful reasons for this is the lack of proper employee development, and for that, these businesses need to provide training to their employees. However, while many startups do run weekly training programs for their personnel, they are not always efficient.
Today, we’ll tell you how you can run your startup’s weekly training programs in an efficient manner such that it’ll not only develop your employees and their skill sets but will also turn them into good team players.
1. Tailor Training to Individual Needs
Every employee in your startup is unique, with different skill sets, knowledge levels, and learning styles. To ensure maximum engagement and effectiveness, tailor the training programs to meet individual needs. Conduct an initial assessment to identify skill gaps and areas for improvement.
Based on this assessment, design training modules that address these specific needs. Offering personalized training opportunities will not only boost employee performance but also create a culture of continuous learning within your startup.
2. Entertain the Attendees with Some Lunch
Since it’s a weekly training program, the best way to entertain the attendees is by giving them free lunch. For that, you can place an online group order to any one of the catering services around you. Online group orders will allow you to place individual orders for meals for all your attendees. That means people who are allergic to certain types of foods or are either vegetarian or non-vegetarian can tell you about their food preferences beforehand and you can place the orders accordingly.
Ultragenyx’s Training Coordinator Gina Myers followed a similar approach while hosting training events for her own company. At that time, she would simply visit the CaterCow website to check out the food options available, order them without having to spend a fortune on catering, and simply wait for delivery while carrying on with the training sessions. A decent lunch will refresh your attendees and prepare them for the next few training sessions of that day.
3. Provide Ongoing Support and Feedback
According to a report by Zippia, 4 out of 10 employees who receive very little or no feedback at all are almost always found to be actively disengaged from their work. Therefore, your training programs should not be limited to the duration of the sessions. Rather, to ensure the long-term effectiveness of the training, you must provide ongoing support and feedback to participants.
Assign mentors or coaches who can guide employees as they implement their new skills in their day-to-day work. Encourage regular check-ins to assess progress and provide constructive feedback. Ongoing support and feedback create accountability and enable employees to continuously improve their performance.
4. Embrace Technology for Saving Time and Resources
If you can make the most of the available technology, you can enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of your company’s training programs. You can also save a lot of time and valuable resources in doing so, especially if you can switch to a completely online or hybrid training program.
Online learning platforms, video tutorials, and webinars can provide flexibility and accessibility, allowing employees to engage with the training materials at their own pace. Utilize tools such as learning management systems (LMS) to track and monitor employee progress, offer quizzes and assessments, and provide additional resources. Technology-enabled training not only saves time and resources but also enables scalability as your startup grows.
5. Encourage Continuous Learning
Encourage a culture of continuous learning within your startup, because learning is something that shouldn’t end with the training program. Provide resources such as industry articles, books, and online courses that employees can explore independently.
Organize regular knowledge-sharing sessions or lunch-and-learn events where employees can share their expertise and learn from one another. Promoting continuous learning lets you foster a growth mindset and ensure that your employees stay updated with the latest industry trends and best practices.
With proper training and guidance, you can easily turn your employees into valuable resources. As you do so, you can rest assured that your startup will be in good hands in the coming years, and will be able to sustain for a long time in its respective industry if not forever.
