Let's face it. Training and tutorials are something that basically everyone hates to do, but really, everyone needs to go through during the early stages of development in any skill-set. But how do we ensure that everyone gets the same basic principles or standards for operating procedures taught to them? You might be surprised to learn that many offices or workplaces don't even use the training manuals available to them. Most of the training for the job is conducted as on the job training or the knowledge is passed down orally. Another common occurrence is for a start employee or manager to adapt the existing material and way of doing things to their own methods. While this might make the individual employee or their own individual tasks more efficient, it starts a long train of events that ultimately make the communications in the workplace as a whole more and more chaotic. This happens more often than you might think.
Much like how communication is an often underappreciated and underutilized skill set, training is often overlooked once the first iteration of the standard indoctrination process is established. But this is a bad business habit to form. The market in almost every industry only grows more competitive as time moves forward. One of the ways this happens is simply that new competitors bring improved business practices to the table as a means to make up for their lack of credibility in their work history in compared to the already established competitors in the market. They do this by studying their soon to be competition in hopes of finding flaws in their existing business models to which they can fix or improve upon at launch. Doing so often renders the previous business practices in an industry obsolete, and in time this will come to light for the existing customers as the previous business practices become more and more archaic.
It may sound obvious that the constant improvement to a means of conducting business would be a given, but the larger a company or business grows, the harder and harder it is to enact changes. An official change in the business model, training, or even slight adjustments to anything pertaining to the day to day needs of the business would require approval from the top to enact in mass. This is the risk that bigger businesses run as they continue to grow. There should be a dedicated department in any growing business to ensure that the training and a facilitation of market needs remain up to date, standardized, and well understood throughout the organization. The attention to detail required for this is more likely to be overlooked though, in light of the constant struggle to fulfill orders and keep the doors open. But it's a topic that if left unattended, will surely cause harm later down the road. Constant updates to the training manuals or methodologies for your company will help to better ensure that when your more seasoned employees leave, you won't lose all of their expertise and best practices along with them. Since most companies rely on "on the job training" or (OJT), then that leaves much of the transfer of knowledge to be primarily done in the form of verbal communication. Much like the old phone game that many of us grew up playing, the end result of the intended message will most likely be incorrect.
But why does this happen in the first place? As a business owner, it would stand to reason that you would expect your employees to follow the standards to which you set out for them. But that's the perspective of someone who's "job" can't be taken away at any time. Employees are often measured and retained based on their ability to provide value to their employer. Many times the idea of changing things up or suggesting improvements is met with negative feedback or forced conformity to what is already in place. Many people simply choose the easier path of not making waves by making suggestions for changes in the workplace, and simply rely on the fact that so long as things are running smoothly, them their bosses won't really ask them any questions and they'll keep their livelihood secured. The norm of pushing back on the idea of change or improvisation has always been able to run rampant in the office work culture. This is one of the leading factors that allows newer, less established businesses to overtake others who have been the leaders in any industry. Employees already have a full plate of tasks and responsibilities that they're constantly juggling in their day to day duties, and they rightfully should. That's what they're paid to do, and it's how a business remains profitable. However, what they're not responsible for is dealing with negatives and detractors when they attempt to improve the existing business model. It's for exactly this reason, that communication becomes so important. The environment in which I just described is one where employees are proficient enough to handle their tasks, and most likely find things that could be improved upon within their existing business model but don't have the proper channels to communicate this up the chain of command.
A lack of receptiveness from the higher ups will only stifle the growth of their subordinates and the business as a whole. Doing so will almost always lead to negative outcomes such as losing valuable employees who didn't feel appreciated or who simply felt constrained by outdated business practices and choose to seek out other employment opportunities in your competitors of whom they believe will be more successful in the long-run. Regardless of the choices I just mentioned, it's obvious that any of those outcomes would leave you and your business vulnerable when one or more valuable employees decide to leave and you have no real way to make up for the loss of their experience and methodologies that had been keeping your business profitable. An existing work environment that doesn't allow for free communication is a difficult problem to remedy. So how can you possibly start to make some headway in fixing this issue if you find that your business is subject to this type of issue?
Well for starters, you can start to make efforts to encourage your employees to speak up. But this is easier said than done. After all, very few people actively look forward to the thought of arguing their point across in a place that will pay them the same regardless if they do or not. Truth be told, most of the time the biggest disconnect stems from middle management staff. These positions are often filled by people who have proven themselves to be ready for the next levels of responsibility and authority, but have no real experience in it. So they're still trying to figure out how to handle new levels of authority while dealing with the emotional conflicts of separating themselves to some degree from those of whom they were previously working very closely with. Aside from the fact that an advancement in their own careers is going to be more of a motivator for them to continue to improve and climb the ladder, they're also simultaneously even more nervous to make waves on their way up. The move from middle management to the more profound positions higher up in almost any company can be the difference between scrapping by financially, or being able to afford to put their children through college. As a business owner, the idea that someone you trusted enough to promote and give more responsibility to not wanting to speak up may sound ridiculous. But in their eyes, they've potentially only gained more for that they could potentially lose. Which can be quite nerve wreaking.
One of the many ways that has been proven to help overcome this myriad of obstacles in improving our work environment is to hire a consultant to help train in communication methods or to help point out inefficiencies in communications that may exist within your business. Having an unbiased arbitrator is a common practice that works in several fields, and communication is no different. You're more likely to get true, positive, and actionable responses from your employees if they aren't off-put by the presence of their boss. Budd Consolidated offers team training and consultations, and inter-workplace communications is just one of the many topics we can help with. Simply visit our website www.buddconsolidated.com to learn more about what we have to offer, or just click the button below to book your free discovery call today!
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