With change coming thick and fast, anyone uninterested in acquiring new skills and fresh knowledge is a dinosaur – a fossil to be housed in a dusty display case in a seldom-visited room of the Museum of Print. In its Irrelevant Wing.

Thankfully, the overwhelming majority of employees want to learn new skills, to make their jobs more stimulating and improve their career prospects. While from the employer’s standpoint, there’s an onus on investing in training and development to retain and motivate staff, to stay ahead of the competition in a fast-evolving marketplace and deliver the solutions and levels of service that customers crave. 

Structured career development plans, with training at their heart, are fundamental to keeping staff happy. It’s far more likely that people will stay loyal and perform well when they can see an employer investing in their future. Moreover, training can boost communication between different departments and encourage valuable fresh thinking among employees. 

So far, so straightforward. But as ever, the devil lies in the detail. It can be difficult to figure out when to tap into internal resources and when to turn to specialist external providers.

“Time and resource are the main challenges faced by companies,” says BPIF programme director Ursula Daly. “These are obviously amplified if you are a small business where taking one person out of the office for a day can have a real impact on production. In-company support can also be a challenge. The learner needs to be completely supported by their team, who must all believe the training is worthwhile and support the learner accordingly.” 

Daly adds that in large businesses, in-house training can work well and the camaraderie that can be generated can really benefit a business. However, there is also the potential downside that its perceived value among employees may not be very high.

“It is worth noting that informal, ‘on-the-job’ training from a manager doesn’t bring the same motivational and staff engagement benefits as external training and does not have the same perceived value to the staff,” says Heather O’Connell, founder of training provider Bluebird Consulting. “The manager is simply seen as doing their job and it is not seen as an investment by the company in their staff.”

Finding time

The biggest problem with using internal resources to deliver training is that they have a day job. Training is often a ‘nice to have’ and the trainer’s other responsibilities are not reduced to enable them to plan and deliver the training well and effectively. It is squeezed in around their other work and is often seen as a lower priority, so the training planning and delivery either happens sporadically, is rushed or doesn’t happen at all.

There is also a risk of knowledge ‘dilution’. At implementation, the staff are trained by experts and then, after that, new starters are trained by their colleagues. Each time this happens, pieces of information are forgotten or not passed on and the knowledge is diluted. There is also a high risk of bad habits entering the training process, which are then systematically handed down. 

It is also important to recognise that the member of the team with the most knowledge and expertise may not be your best trainer. Even if they are, they will almost certainly need help in delivering a training programme. 

“Learning how to plan a session, thinking about different learning preferences and personality types are all vital components of a good training session,” says O’Connell. “Good trainers are generally outgoing, have an interest in people and the ability to hold a group’s attention. Assuming they want to be the trainer for the business then it’s a matter of making it a priority for them and reducing their other responsibilities so that they can learn how to train, prepare and deliver the sessions.”

Although line managers work with their teams much more closely and more regularly than a professional trainer ever can, it should be remembered that managers are not always the best teachers and often struggle to find the time to develop the skills to do this. They may also fall in to the ‘this is the way we do it’ trap and inadvertently discourage creative thinking. 

Pureprint Group chief operating officer Anthony Thirlby adds: “Using internal resources to train requires core skills, experience, attitude and the ability to deliver. Some small investment in delivering this knowledge through ‘train the trainer’ type courses can be a good investment. Using internal resources can support organisation culture and encourage responsibility and motivation.”

Keep learning

Eclipse managing director Simon Moore makes the point that it is crucial for his business to keep developing employees to ensure the right mix of skills to meet the changing needs of its customers. Having a multi-skilled workforce enables the business to react quickly when its order mix changes by, for example, moving employees between departments, thereby reducing its reliance on agency staff. 

“We have and continue to undergo a large amount of cross training with our staff as we combine the skill sets from our print and direct mail account managers,” says Moore. “We have recently brought the two teams together into mixed pods so that both teams are exposed to the variable elements of each other’s roles. We have found that being in the same environment has drastically increased the speed in which the teams are learning.”

So far as Moore is concerned, a combination of on-the-job, internal and external training is the most effective solution, not only from a cost perspective but also from results achieved. This ranges from sending key operators to manufacturers when Eclipse has bought a new piece of equipment to engaging with an external consultant for health & safety training.

Having over the years trained and developed some excellent and very experienced staff, Moore says it would be madness not to utilise the experience by passing that on through a range of specifically created training programmes, depending on the role within the business. But how does Eclipse identify training needs? 

“We use the annual performance review process to discuss training needs with individuals,” says Moore. “In the first instance we ask them to identify the biggest gaps in their skills that prevent them from realising their full potential. From this skills gap analysis we determine what is the best route to meet the needs of the business while at the same time improving the employees’ performance and/or skill base. However, we stress that there are far more opportunities for personal development than going on a course.” 

Recommendation can be a very reliable way to identify training partners. For instance, Eclipse partners with Kettering Borough Training for its apprenticeship scheme and Kettering has recommended trainers for IT, management skills and one-to-one coaching. Eclipse also taps into a wide range of print-related workshops offered by The BPIF, as appropriate.

In O’Connell’s view, the professional trainer’s role is to work with the business to provide more focused, clearly defined formal training: “Without structured training, you end up with silos of knowledge and understanding. Teams often have to learn on the hoof when things go wrong, which often means that each member of the team has to learn how to solve a particular problem individually. Their stress levels aside, it means that the problems can take much longer to solve and the business is paying for the extra time taken each time.”

On the technology side, there is clearly a role for the manufacturers. Yet some feel they could offer far more training support than is currently the case. 

Label Apeel managing director Stuart Kellock singles out HP as an exception. Although he says the manufacturer’s training offering is expensive, he feels it is good value for money. But on the whole he argues that conventional machine manufacturers are poor at providing added-value through training.

“There is a vacuum of good print training currently and if the machine manufacturers and suppliers had anything about them they would be looking to fill that vacuum,” says Kellock. “Remember, the trainee of today is the machine buyer of tomorrow. They are missing out on a golden opportunity to build a relationship with that buyer in their formative years and also have a group of strong advocates out there.

“I also think the same criticism can be levelled at some suppliers. Our ink supplier Paragon Inks has delivered in some great training over the years, which has made us very loyal. Our paper suppliers have been very patchy in the delivery and consistency of training. I find this very bemusing. Who sells paper? Well, given that 40% of my revenue is made up of substrate cost, I would argue I do. That is 40% that I make no profit from, so you would think it would be in the best interest of my substrate suppliers to have trained the people who sell their product, namely my fantastic sales team, to within an inch of their lives. What training we have received has been delivered after we have asked and without any formal structure.” 

Formulating a training strategy

Identify the skills individuals within your workforce will need to take the business forward in the future. This requires clarity from top management as to the direction the business is taking. The training team at the BPIF is among the external suppliers able to work with businesses to conduct a skills assessment if external support is necessary.

By taking time to look at the business plan and listen to feedback from customers and staff, businesses can usually identify their training needs. Then it is a matter of translating these into a strategy.

Promote a culture of learning and self-improvement. Embed this within the company, for example by making it a topic of discussion at each board meeting. Frequently, companies find that if they start employees out on the learning journey, employees will become the drivers.

Discuss individuals’ training needs as part of the annual performance review process. You can ask employees to identify the biggest gaps in their skills – those that prevent them from realising their full potential. 

Hard skills training, i.e. teaching practical/technical skills that directly help the individual understand and do their day-to-day job more efficiently and effectively are understandably often given priority. However, don’t overlook ‘soft skills’ as these can have huge benefits for those businesses that invest in them. Having a team that communicates well and works together happily and effectively, managers who manage well and leaders who lead is invaluable for an organisation and can be the difference between success and failure. 

Be sure to join the dots. Without structured training, there is the risk of ending up with unconnected silos of knowledge.

Consider coaching as a way to sustain the effects of training by giving regular short bursts of support and space for clear thinking. Although this is often only offered to senior management, it can be a relatively inexpensive way to develop and fast track other members of the team too. 

Internal training

It is important to recognise that the member of your team with the most knowledge and expertise may not be the best trainer and that they will almost certainly need help in delivering a training programme. Learning how to plan a session, thinking about different learning preferences and personality types are all vital components of a good training session.

Assess an individual’s skills, their ability to convey those skills to others and whether they have the time to give it the correct focus. It may be worthwhile giving them some ‘train the trainer’ time with a qualified trainer as there is a skill in imparting knowledge. 

Good trainers are generally outgoing, have an interest in people and the ability to hold a group’s attention. Assuming they want to be the trainer for the business then it’s a matter of making it a priority for them and reducing their other responsibilities so that they can learn how to train, prepare and finally deliver the sessions.

Mixing together staff from different parts of the business can build relationships, improve communication within the business and lead to useful cross-pollination of ideas.

Bear in mind that the in-house trainer’s technical knowledge is likely to be far more advanced than the participants’, and what they are capable of absorbing. 

Try to develop training courses that have a good balance between lecture and breakout. 

Working with partners

Ensure training providers have the expertise you require and ask for references.

Make the most of the wider opportunities that come with making an investment in training. For SMEs in particular, external courses can present tremendous networking opportunities and there are potentially valuable business development opportunities that come from exposing staff to other companies and external views/ideas.

Small firms may only have one or two people who need a particular kind of training. Typically this is too few to invest in a bespoke course, while an off-the-shelf ‘open’ course may not deliver enough return on investment. But don’t be hasty is ruling out external training. Some providers are happy to run hybrid courses, working with two or three firms that have similar needs in order to make the cost of bespoke training more manageable.

Don’t forget to use any useful training opportunities offered by machine manufacturers and other suppliers. Ideally, look to weave understanding of a particular piece of kit into a broader context: staff will always benefit from understanding what happens before a job reaches them and what happens after it leaves them.

Other key points

Documentation is extremely important. Training course attendees need to have some record of the training they have received to help embed the knowledge. No one will ever remember everything said in a training session, no matter how good the trainer. It also gives them something to refer to as and when situations arise.

Allowing individuals to practise what they have been taught helps them learn the content more effectively. 

Once you have made a commitment to provide the appropriate training, make sure that your employees are able to attend the courses. 

An area where training can be invaluable but is often overlooked is during periods of change. Whether it is because of restructuring, a changing marketplace or mergers and acquisitions, people find change difficult.