4 reasons why you should implement your personnel development measures NOW! And how to do it.
The effects of the coronavirus have hit Germany to an extent that no one could have prepared for. The necessary reduction in human contact not only has economic consequences for companies, such as short-time working, loss of workers and production and even the loss of customers, but of course also has an impact on internal processes. Many companies have reacted very quickly to reduce human contacts as much as possible and to comply with the necessary requirements and bans on gatherings, and as part of the earliest measures, in addition to the switch to nationwide home office, planned personnel development measures have been canceled or postponed. On the one hand, this is logical and correct, as most of these are face-to-face training sessions where many people often come together in a confined space. On the other hand, the further development of employees is an important tool for your company which, in our opinion, should not be lost sight of even in times of crisis.
Now you might be thinking, phew, we really have more important things to do at the moment than worry about implementing personnel development measures, we have to see that we somehow "survive" the crisis.
And for this very reason, we would like to show you 4 very good reasons today why you should continue your development measures right NOW and how you can do this under the current circumstances.
As an entrepreneur, you are dependent on qualified employees and managers, especially in times of crisis. Challenging times and situations demand a lot from everyone involved and your employees and managers need the knowledge and expertise from the planned measures now more than ever to ensure the long-term success of the company.
The current situation does not allow face-to-face training at the moment and this will not change in the foreseeable future. We will have to deal with assembly bans and social distancing for a long time to come and valuable development measures should not be postponed forever, as you run the risk of your company's success and development stagnating. Waiting is definitely not a good tactic now, because "Good things don't always come to those who wait - they come to those who do". You will give yourself an advantage if you implement your personnel development measures creatively now and are then ready to hit the ground running once the crisis is over.
Many companies are currently fully occupied with crisis management and projects and investments are being postponed. This means that sales staff in particular are currently underutilized, as they only have limited access to their customers at the moment and in the coming months. However, as soon as the situation returns to normal, they will be so busy "racing" to make up for the "lost" business that they will have little time and focus for development measures. So it only makes sense to use the "quieter" time productively and train your employees now so that they can actively apply their newly acquired skills once the crisis is over.
The topic of digital transformation is on everyone's lips. Many industries and business areas are now more or less digitized. However, the MTI study " has shown that many companies still need to take action here and are either just starting to deal with it or are not yet as far advanced as they would like (if you would like to find out more, register here and receive the full study report free of charge). But now is exactly the right time to use the crisis as an opportunity. The current situation gives you the opportunity to make a virtue out of necessity, digitize your HR development and thus be optimally positioned for the future.
But how exactly is this supposed to work in times of lockdown and assembly bans?
Reason number four has certainly already given away a little bit of what we are getting at. The magic word is "digital training". Digital learning formats offer interesting and effective alternatives both now and in the future and also offer a number of advantages, such as
- Cost savings due to the elimination of travel and accommodation costs
- Flexible participation
- Less logistics effort (no organization of training rooms etc.)
- Greater personal responsibility of the participants
- Greater sustainability: learning content can be called up again and again
When implementing digital development measures, many companies rely on new, ready-made provider formats that focus on different topics. This is practical, as you as a customer can choose a suitable training course from a catalog of measures. We also have ready-made training courses from various areas such as leadership development, team development or sales in our range and adapt the program individually to the needs of our customers. If you are looking for ready-made training courses for your company or would like to find out more, please contact us here and arrange a free initial telephone consultation.
Currently, however, in many cases companies have already commissioned face-to-face training or the face-to-face training has already been in progress for some time and has now had to be canceled or postponed. In such a case, it would of course make no sense to switch to a new, digital format now. Rather, it makes sense to take this face-to-face training and translate it into a digital format.
As a rule, we recommend that our customers split attendance days into several individual modules. For example, a two-day classroom training course becomes a digital format with 8 modules:
In addition, the participants should also be stimulated before, between and after the digital sessions with impulses on the subject matter. We do this, for example, with learning nuggets in the form of videos, podcasts, self-learning material or small tasks in which the participants have to apply the knowledge they have learned independently.
For a major customer, for example, we structured the individual digital modules as follows:
This format relies on a high degree of personal responsibility on the part of the participants and the online session with the trainer does not amount to a frontal lecture but always focuses on group work and participation by the participants.
So you can see that, in theory, it is not difficult to translate face-to-face training into a digital format and thus develop your employees even in these times. With the right concept and a little technical know-how, your employees and managers may soon be learning digitally too.
WE BRING YOUR STRATEGY TO LIFE
Personnel development in transition - now is the right time. The current crisis shows how important qualified employees and managers are for long-term success. Digital formats make it possible to continue development measures flexibly and even develop new strengths. With customized concepts, we translate existing classroom training into effective online modules - practical, interactive and sustainable. If you are considering how you can future-proof your HR development and lead your company out of the crisis stronger than before, please contact us - together we will develop solutions that make an impact.
You can find out what this can look like here: Case studies & experience reports