Four Key Areas that Every Employee Should be Trained In

In our previous article, “The Priceless Benefits of Training in Organisations”, we learned that any organisation that invests in employee training is investing in their own success. We learned that by investing in a great training program, you will provide your employees with the fundamental skills necessary for them to break out of their old habits and make your organisation become a highly productive workplace. This in turn improves engagement, morale, business performance and profit.

Now that that we have learned of the many benefits of training, some of you may be asking what specific trainings should you give to yourself and your employees. While there are quite a number of training programs available, our experts at People Builders identified four key areas that are essential to you and your employees’ success at work as well as your personal lives.

1.  Self awareness is the ability to knowing your internal states, preferences, resources and intuitions. Managers and employees who are lacking in this area have the tendency to over-estimate or under-estimate their capabilities. Managers and employees who over-estimate their capabilities might think of themselves as competent and inspiring, while their colleagues think otherwise. They miss the opportunities of learning from their mistakes and feel threatened when confronted with opposing ideas and excelling colleagues. Meanwhile, those who underestimate their capabilities have the tendency to underperform and be lacklustre in their workplace performance as they are insecure and are afraid of venturing out of their comfort zones.

Having them trained in the area of self awareness will help them develop the following competencies:

• Emotional Awareness: Recognising one’s emotions and their effects
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•  Accurate Self-Assessment: Knowing one’s strengths and limits
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•  Personal Power: A strong sense of one’s self-worth and capabilities; having self-confidence; being assertive

2. Self Management is the ability to manage one’s internal states, impulses and resources. Managers and employees who are weak in this area may react impulsively to conflict and stressful situations. Because of this, they easily fall prey to anger, stress and depression which may lead them to under-perform and even quit their jobs.

Having them trained in the area of self-management will help them develop the following competencies:

• Behavioural Self-Control: Keeping disruptive emotions in check; impulse control.
• Integrity: Maintaining high standards of honesty and ethics at all times.
• Innovation & Creativity: Actively pursuing new approaches and ideas.
• Initiative & Bias for Action: Readiness to act on opportunities.
• Achievement Drive: Striving to meet a standard of excellence.
• Realistic Optimism: Expecting success; seeing setbacks as manageable; persisting in achieving goals despite obstacles and setbacks.
• Resilience: Perseverance and diligence in the face of setbacks.
> Stress Management: Working calmly under stress and pressure.
• Personal Agility: Readily, willingly, rapidly and effectively anticipating and adapting to change.
• Intentionality: Thinking and acting “on purpose” and deliberately.

3. Social Awareness is the ability to be aware of others’ feelings, needs and concerns. Managers and employees who lack social awareness are often deemed insensitive by their colleagues and are often in conflict with other people. They have difficulty getting things done and are more likely to pass the blame on others.

Having them trained in this area will help them develop the following competencies:

• Empathy: Sensing others’ feelings and perspectives, and taking an active interest in their concerns.
• Situational Awareness: Reading a group’s emotional currents and power relationships; being able to “size up” a situation and plan an appropriate response.
• Service Orientation: Anticipating, recognising and meeting customers’ needs.

4. Relationship Management is the ability to be adept at inducing desirable responses in others. Managers and employees who have poor relationship management skills are poor communicators and inefficient leaders. They lack vision and do not welcome change. They do not have healthy relationships amongst their colleagues and are not trustworthy.
If not addressed, problems are bound to arise within your organisation and ultimately decreasing the productivity of your employees.

Having them in this area will help them develop the following competencies:

• Communication: Listening attentively and fostering open dialogue.
• Interpersonal Effectiveness: Possessing diplomacy, tact and interpersonal skills, and knowing how to use them to ease transactions and relationships with others; the ability to relate well and build rapport with all people.
• Powerful Influencing Skills: Wielding effective tactics for persuasion.
• Conflict Management: Negotiating and resolving disagreements.
• Inspirational Leadership: Motivating, guiding and mobilising individuals and groups; articulating a clear, compelling and motivating vision for the future.
• Catalysing Change: Initiating, managing and leading change.
• Building Bonds: Nurturing and maintaining relationships, cultivating a wide network; connecting with others on a deeper rather than superficial level.
• Teamwork & Collaboration: Working with others toward shared goals. Creating group synergy in pursuit of collective goals.
• Coaching & Mentoring Others: Identifying others’ development needs and bolstering their abilities.
• Building Trust: Being trustworthy and ethical when working and relating to others; ability to establish a bond of trust with others.

Managers and employees who are lacking in these areas can be a liability to any organisation. Having you and your people trained by an expert trainer can turn these liabilities into valuable assets.

At People Builders, we offer training workshops that can help you and your employees excel in all these areas. Contact us today for a quick chat to see how we can partner with you to train and develop you and your team.