Creating a Productive and Connected Workforce in a Digital Era

Creating a Productive and Connected Workforce in a Digital Era

In today's fast-paced digital era, the traditional workspace is undergoing a seismic shift. The challenge for businesses isn’t just about adopting new technologies, but also about creating a workforce that’s both productive and connected in this digital landscape. How do we achieve this? Let's explore. 

Read More

What Training Should you Recommend for Employees?

No matter what size of business you operate, it can benefit from employee training. Chances are your staff already has the skills needed for the role - that’s why you took them on in the first place - but everyone has their weak spots, and you can build on employees’ strengths as well. 

In this article, we take a look at some of the most common employee training areas and what they can expect to learn when they attend a workshop. These training areas include things like communication strategies, productivity training, project management, and leadership training.

Communication Strategies 

Most people can think of an example of good communication and poor communication. If communication is not working, you tend to misunderstand each other, and complications arise. This isn’t a big deal when you’re going for coffee; it’s more important when you run a business.  

If you want to run your business more efficiently, then focus on your communication strategies. Communication training takes the form of workshops that develop better strategies for listening, speaking, and checking your understanding. This training helps to fine-tune employees’ skills.

Productivity Training 

When it comes to productivity in the workplace, time management is a high priority. Unless your employees are using their time effectively, you will lose money which will affect your bottom line. At the same time, you don’t want to pressure your workers too much, so offer some training.  

In productivity training, your employees will learn how to develop a clear sense of purpose, create priorities for the day and week, change negative behavior patterns, and develop strategies for time management. This type of training can improve your bottom line right away.

Project Management

These days, every task is a project, especially if you are working across platforms and digital workstations. Unless you have a suitable project manager and employees trained in project management strategies, you might run a business that is inefficient and loses out on revenue. 

Again, project management training takes place on retreats and trains employees to work with groups to reach goals and meet targets. Project management can be complicated, especially when sharing complex ideas; these skills need to be sharpened to take your business forwards. 

Leadership Training 

Building a strong and effective workplace takes time; it also takes some investment. One thing you most certainly need in your workplace is leaders, some of them are born, but most of them are made. You can turn your employees into leaders by investing in some leadership training. 

TKI is a form of leadership training that supports conflict handling, which keeps your workplace harmonized and productive. Why not invest in TKI training to create an assertive and cooperative workplace that results in a stronger team that understands each other better.  

Health and Safety Training

When it comes to the safety of your staff, it’s important to do what you can to provide them with all the tools they need to look after themselves and each other. Being able to spot potential risks within the workplace, as well as ensuring they stay on the right side of the law in everything they do, is imperative. 

That’s why it’s good to be mindful of both personal and professional problems your staff can face, especially legally. Fentanyl offenses are on the rise, so it’s good to check in with your staff to ensure they’re doing everything to protect themselves and their peers.

Diversity Training 

The modern workplace contains a rich variety of personalities, ethnicities, sexualities, and genders, but not every workplace is equipped to support everyone in the best ways. Diversity training is important for helping managers to understand and support individual differences. 

However, diversity training is useful for employees at any level. Investing in diversity training helps to create a more inclusive and happier workplace; it also makes your workplace more productive because your employees feel more included and happier in their work environment.  

Digital skills 

Digital skills are often thought to be soft skills, things like word processing skills, email skills, and search engine skills; however, there is a little more to it than that. Although many of your employees will tell you they have digital skills, they might not have all the skills needed today. 

Suppose your employees have limited skills in spreadsheets, presentation software, and customer management systems. Why not send them on a course to upgrade their skills and offer more value to your business? Digital skills don’t take much time to learn but can add excellent value.  

Diversity training is important for helping managers to understand and support individual differences. There are many companies who specialize in diversity in the workplace services that can make sure no one feels left out in the office.

Final Thoughts 

If you want your business to grow in the right direction, then you need to train your employees and add value to the business core. Without training, your staff will be less productive, more fractious, and have less connection - not what you want in the modern workplace at any level. Growing your business takes time and investment, especially in core skills for your staff. 

There’s good news! Training your staff and increasing their skillset has never been easier; all you have to do is invest in the best skills training program for your business. Whether you need stronger leadership or better communication, build up the skill you need in your business today.

Advice on Managing Your Remote Employees

With more employees now working from home than ever before, business owners are finding it much more difficult to manage their teams. Whether remote working is only temporary or it’s something that you’re planning to embrace into the future, many workers are finding themselves separated from one another for the first time. The key challenges for managing remote teams are: 

●      Reduced face-to-face-supervision

●      Information flow breakdowns

●      Worker/social isolation

Fortunately, there are some proven ways to make managing remote employees much easier, ensuring that productivity and motivation are prioritized. Here are the best options to consider when you’re looking for ways to ensure that you're managing your remote employees more effectively: 

Daily Check-Ins

Having a set time every day where your team members can check-in and catch up is vital. This should become an established part of the workday and can take one of two formats. The first is one-on-one check-ins between employee and manager, while the alternative is team-based check-ins for entire departments. The more collaborative your workplace, the more beneficial team check-ins will be. Those daily meetings should be a chance for consultations and for addressing concerns or asking questions. You should also make it easier for remote workers to book additional time with their line managers or department heads. There are always going to be issues that will need to be addressed, and the easier that you make it for your employees to communicate as and when they need to, the more valued they will feel and more part of the organization.

Streamlined Communications

Improved use of more streamlined communication tools is essential for all businesses with remote workers. Emails may be quick to send, but they can be very inefficient because they can easily be ignored. Videoconferencing is a useful communications tool, but it’s not the only option. Your HR team should be very focused on maintaining the high standard of communications that are easy to achieve in a physical workplace, and they have access to more collaborative tools than ever. Cloud-based HR software can cut down on wasted time and ensure that every member of your team is being focused on. Cloud-platforms are indispensable for remote team management.

Remote Social Interactions

One of the main aspects of the workplace that is lost when teams go remote is the social element. This is more important than you might think. Those water cooler catch-ups and break room interactions are vital for team-building and can go a long way to improving internal communications and cross-departmental collaboration. There are lots of options to consider for remote social events. You could simply add ten minutes at the start of formal online meetings for non-work-related chat or go all out and host pizza parties or virtual tours of set locations. Team members must know that they aren’t working in isolation, and those remote social interactions can be one of the most important strategies to adopt while also being very budget-friendly.

There are lots of benefits to remote workers, both for the company and the employees alike. However, it does mean making sure that different management strategies are utilized. The more that you try out new options and adopt new management practices, the more aligned your company will be, even when your remote workers are working geographically distant from each other.