L&D that makes a difference

How to Create Business Impact through Employee Training

impact

Welcome! We have created this page to support you in making the most of your L&D work in your organization. Here we provide you with the know-how so that you can create employee training that drives real impact in your business.

We know it can be tricky and a lot to think about, so we thought we'd give you a hand to make it a bit easier for you.😀 So, let’s get to it!

Know Your Business & Goals

First thing first. There's no such thing as one size fits all. But your industry will decide your focus areas, key metrics, and KPIs.

Although no business is the same, there tend to be common touchpoints within the realm of each industry. And this is the starting point for creating impactful training!

Often, we meet companies that don’t know what they are trying to reach. Perhaps they are just looking at completion rates of their training. Or they create certain training to show that they have it without following up on how it's actually doing. But that way, you might miss the bigger picture. It always needs to be connected to your business goals!

Common Business Goals

If you don't already know what metrics and goals you have in your business, we have collected common points for our biggest customer segments. Here are the most common ones:

Click on Your Industry ⬇️

Customer Loyalty:
Customer Loyalty has the biggest impact on revenue in the retail industry. Returning customers spend more, are less price-sensitive, and are more likely to recommend the store to others. Building strong relationships with customers and fostering loyalty through exceptional service and personalized experiences can significantly boost sales and profitability.

Guest Loyalty:
Guest loyalty is important in the hospitality industry as it directly influences revenue. Satisfied guests are more likely to return, spend more during their stay, and recommend the establishment to others. By delivering memorable experiences, exceeding expectations, and cultivating loyalty programs, hospitality businesses can enhance guest retention and drive long-term financial success.

Safety Incidents:
The number of safety incidents is a critical KPI in manufacturing production. It directly impacts the well-being of employees and the company's operations. Each safety incident poses a risk to people's health and safety, potentially leading to injuries, fatalities, or production disruptions. By prioritizing safety protocols, training, and a culture of safety, manufacturers can mitigate risks, protect their workforce, and maintain uninterrupted production processes.

Food Safety:
Food Safety is important in food production due to the inherent risk of illness to consumers. Failure to comply with food safety regulations and standards can result in contaminated products reaching the market, leading to widespread illness outbreaks, product recalls, legal liabilities, and damage to the company's reputation and finances. Strict adherence to safety protocols, hygiene practices, and regulatory requirements ensures public health is safeguarded and consumer trust in the food supply chain is maintained.

Assess Your Workforce

Now you know your business goals. The second step is to know your workforce and what they need. Where are they now, and what do they need to reach your business goals? This is where you do a skills assessment and find the gap that your training needs to fill.

Identify skill gaps by collecting insights through surveys, focus groups, one-on-one conversations, or formal assessments of worker proficiency. Once identified, it's time to bridge these gaps with training to reach the business goals.

(Psst... want to know more on skills gap? Follow the yellow button below👇)

Retail

Example of employee training to address the business goal of Customer Loyalty:

Customer Service
Product Training
Communication
Conflict Resolution

Hospitality

Example of employee training to address the business goal of Customer Loyalty:

Customer Service
Communication
Conflict Resolution
Product Training

Manufacturing

Example of employee training to address the business goal of Safety Incidents:

Safety Training
Ergonomics
Product Training
Safety Protocols & Routines

Food Production

Example of employee training to address the business goal of Food Safety:

Hygiene Training
Product Training
Hygiene Safety & Routines
Safety Regulations

Common for All Industries: Leadership Training

Having strong leadership has a tremendous impact on all businesses. That's why leadership training is a good fit in any industry for any and can help you impact all areas of your business. In fact, great leadership could potentially double your business's profits and help you develop the rest of your employees faster and better.

📌Tip for better knowledge retention: Ensure your employees stay sharp with regular knowledge refreshers and automate repetitive training. This is important to keep your team skilled and also plays a critical role in meeting compliance standards, a key aspect for all industries.

Measure & Track Your Training Initiatives - A Must

Let’s say you have created some awesome training to address your business goals and skill gaps, and it’s ready to launch. But before you press the launch button, hold on just a little!

To be able to say that your new training has made an impact, you need to know what it looked like in your business before you launched it. This is how you then can see the effect of your training initiatives.

Look at the data you already have on your business. Where do the customer loyalty numbers stand now? Do you already have training, how is it doing? What does the completion rate of it look like today? And so on.

Also, remember to measure these things along the way. Measuring and tracking is how you know what parts of the training are working and what parts need tweaking and improvement along the way.

💬“Tracking progress is crucial to ensure behavior change and optimize the impact of training.” - Søren Jensen, Head of Retail L&D at Specsavers

Which L&D Metrics to Look At?

So, you launched your training. Fantastic! But what do you actually look at to know if its succeeding or not?

There are indicators that show how well your training is performing. From an L&D perspective, important metrics are:

Completion Rates
Time Spent on learning
Content Ratings
Feedback from Learners

If people complete their training, they are more likely to see a change in behavior aligned with their goals. And to keep an eye on this you need to track your training.

Don't panic if your completion rates are low! Instead, look at the scores, time spent, and feedback given to make improvements to increase those numbers.

Once you have gotten the numbers, look at the correlation between them and your business goals. Can you see a sales increase in the specific product you trained your workers in? Is customer loyalty slowly increasing after continued customer service training?

Tip: Visualize your metrics to make it easier to get an overview.

See How to Find the Data in Our Analytics Tool

Measuring and tracking is how you know what and if your training is working. It is also what you need to prove that the training is having the effect you want on your business. Below you can see where you find the data you need in our platform.👇

How to Create Business Impact through Employee Training

Know Your Business & Goals