Many employees, even with degrees, often seem to lack many basic skills required to do a good job. Some companies are even plagued with having uneducated personnel particularly in areas where new skills are constantly required in order to be competitive in business. This often results in new employees needing to be hired.
“Hard” skills include economics, accounting, information technology, strategic planning, etc. While “soft” skills are the human relationship skills that include: emotional awareness and management of mood, the ability to create an atmosphere of trust and growth, taking actions that result in a deeper level of commitment and integrity, and discovering the ability to connect to others effectively. In sociological terms, soft skills refers to the cluster of personality traits, social graces, facility with language, personal habits, friendliness, and optimism that mark people to varying degrees. It complements hard skills, which are the technical requirements of a job. Both hard and soft skills are crucial in any organization, particularly when it comes to dealing with customers on any level.
As the company grows, soft skills training become more important because the responsibility of leading the company also grows and changes. Outstanding leaders of the organisation are often not the most talented at technical skills, but they are the ones who have learned to be good judges of talent and excellent at nurturing the best in their employees. Effective leaders in every department find that training staff in soft skills creates a deeper commitment to their job.
In general, workers that have been up-skilled in general “people skills” are able to do their job faster, make less mistakes, and this, of course, contributes to the company’s bottom line. An advantage of skill-based training is that, the results are measurable in increased productivity. As the organisation begins to function in greater harmony, the business accelerates. It is a very pleasant side effect that these soft skills attract committed and enthusiastic customers. Customers who interact with organisations that have strong and effective leadership become an additional sales force because they also convince their friends and acquaintances that the company’s expertise is worth paying for.
Why should businesses spend money on soft skills training? Simply because staff that have the right skills to do an exceptional job are more productive and give your business the competitive edge. Trained staff tend to contribute more in the workplace as well and that leads to better team work and a better quality of service for every customer . It’s a fact that a well trained workforce can have a measurable impact on performance and the bottom line. Businesses must keep changing their work practices and infrastructure to stay ahead of the competition and keep up with the global marketplace, ensuring that employees have the skills to cope with new markets and have the latest skills specific to their own industries. These result in greater benefits and productivity for the company.
Company management want to know that the money they are spending on training is well spent and that they are getting a sufficient return on their training investment (ROI). Regardless of the size or type of an industry or business, effective training does have a measurable impact on performance and the bottom line. According to a research study (Source: Smith A., 2001, Return on Investment in Training: Research Readings ), productivity increases while training takes place, the staff who receive formal training can be 230% more productive than untrained colleagues who are working in the same role. Improvement factors include increased productivity where the training staff can do their job more rapidly, deliver increased level and quality of service and increased efficiency.
Training also provides a cheaper solution to the company because investing in the company’s own workforce saves a great deal of money and time in the long run. Achieving accreditation and business awards can make the company well known in the marketplace and give them a great reputation. Improved employee retention is another very important factor which saves significant costs as losing one competent person can be equivalent to one year of pay and benefits.
Today, smart businesses are looking to training and soft skill development as an investment rather than an expense. Over time, companies that are consistent with soft skill training see growth in turnover, higher profits and reduced costs, innovation and higher levels of staff motivation and enhanced loyalty. Above all, the main reason to train is to improve the company’s bottom line. The investment in training consists of the cost of the training and the time spent by the personnel from their jobs. By measuring the effect on the company profits before and after training, and then comparing with the costs of the training, a company can determine their return-on-investment and measure, over time, how these have positively affected their company’s bottom line. We are still in business after 15 years, training hundreds of thousands of staff, simply because businesses have done the ROI for themselves and come to the clear conclusion that delivering soft skills training for their staff does substantially improve the bottom line of their business.
