Pep Guardiola is one of the most recognizable and successful football managers in the world.  If you asked him what makes a good footballer a great footballer, he would put it down to training.  In his book, written about his first year at Bayern Munich, he wrote, “If you train badly, you play badly.”  Translated into the corporate world, this suggests that upskilling your employees is an essential part of high performing cultures.

Unsurprisingly, science backs Guardiola up:

“The amount of time an individual is engaged in deliberate … [training] activities will be monotonically related to that individual’s acquired performance” (David Smith, Journal of Sports Medicine, 2003)

In other words, the more you train the skills you need, the better you perform overall.  At a superficial level, we all understand that you need to train employees, but when we need to save money, the training budget is the first to go. 

The amount of time an individual is engaged in deliberate … [training] activities will be monotonically related to that individual’s acquired performance

Why training needs to be at the forefront of your HR strategy

There are, however, some compelling reasons why companies should increase their investment in training – not only to reverse a decline, but also to grow and strengthen the organization.  Forbes Magazine, in its dedicated channel for HR executives divides these reasons into two categories: those that benefit the employer and those that benefit the employee.

Benefit the Employer 

• Retention 
• Succession planning
• Recruitment

Benefit the Employee

• Engagement 
• Growth
• Increase their value

Preparing the future of your team benefits both parties

One of the biggest positives of encouraging a learning culture in your organization is that it removes the temptation to stagnate.  If an employee expects to grow and learn new skills, that expectation permeates planning, strategy, vision, leadership.  The organization looks to the future, rather than resting on past successes.  Richard Branson, the British entrepreneur warns of the danger of sitting back:

Providing a full suite of development opportunities to your staff tells them that you want to keep them.  This isn’t a “one night stand”; you are investing in a serious relationship.  Not only do you want to equip them to do the job they have now, you want to prepare them for the job they will have in the future – whether next year or in five years’ time. 

And like any serious relationship, there is a two-way benefit.  One of the greatest internal risks an organization has is employing a new senior leader. Can they get up to speed quickly? Can they make an immediate impact, will they build trust with the staff? 

Further reading

Upskilling your employees means that not only do you have a wide range of internal candidates, it also gives your new leader a team of gifted employees to support them if you do decide to recruit externally.  If your new leader doesn’t need to spend time reorganizing the talent, they can focus on the important job of growing your business.

Why upskilling is important when considering employee engagement

According to a 2018 survey, 80% of millennials consider learning a new skill an important factor when looking at a new job offer; 93% value lifelong learning; 22% are willing to take time off work to gain new skills and qualifications.

80% of millennials consider a learning a new skill an important factor when looking at a new job offer

Millennials now make up nearly a third of a job market, in which supply of jobs has outgrown demand. 

Global employment rates have soared with skills gaps reported across most sectors.  If you want to recruit the best talent and keep it, you need to be able to offer a benefits package that meets the development expectations of your recruits.

Upskilling your workforce engages with them at a level they understand.  They know that you want performance, but can see the benefit to them as well.  They recognize the equation is balanced, and while it remains balanced, you have an engaged employee who can see a future in your organization.  As the growth and development opportunities taper off, so the restlessness and desire for a new challenge may grow.

When millennials were growing up or at university, a frequent source of weekend entertainment would be a walk to the local Blockbuster store to pick up a couple of videos.  Despite several rescue bids, the company has now completely vanished.  In 2014, Forbes identified several of the reasons Blockbuster failed.  The conclusion to the article highlights that the inability to learn new things was the key underlying factor.

“It (Blockbuster) was a very tight network that could execute with extreme efficiency, but poorly suited to let in new information.

An organization can only learn and adapt when it encourages its employees to learn and adapt.  Creating a learning culture, constantly upskilling employees is a fundamental business survival skill.