Why education will decide the success or failure of companies

By David Kálmán

At the beginning of the pandemic, there was an amusing bonmot circulating on the internet:

Who is the leader of digital innovations at your company?

A: CEO

B: CTO

C: Covid–19

Pandemic. Home office. Change. Online. These are the words everybody has been using for over a year across the globe. The majority of employees had to adjust to a “new normal” and set up an office and canteen at home.

Senior managers had to align with other departments and define new operations for workshops, meetings, and business appointments. And these were divided into external and internal.

From the beginning of this situation, there were “traffic jams” in the calendar, because every department wanted to discuss their own topic, KPI or strategy. At really busy times, you were supposed to be at three different meetings at the same time.

This situation caused employees of the sales, marketing and external communication departments to spend all their work hours on meetings. The only solution was to do the real work in the evenings or early morning before meetings start. And that’s why many people are working during home office more than during regular office work.

This situation is still ongoing and many employees are tired of online meetings, which are taking up all their time. However, one emerging issue will have a huge impact on the future success or failure of companies. That’s the time invested in employee development and education.

We have had to prioritise in the rush. If, for example, we had a meeting with our boss and the workshop organized by the education department scheduled at the same time, the boss won. And here we come to solutions and system changes that can improve our company by leaps and bounds.

Why should education be a top priority at companies?

A few years ago the consulting company, Towers Perrin, undertook global research on the motivation of employees and surveyed 85 thousand employees of middle and large companies in sixteen countries on four continents and found that targeted development of employees brings:

• Increased involvement by 9% to 15%

• Profitability increase by 14% to 29%

• Sales productivity increase by 15% to 20%

• Decrease in absences by 41%

• Reduced quality issues by 41%

What are the implications?

Employee training serves to shift skills, knowledge and levels towards above standard. An above-standard employee has a higher performance, greater enthusiasm and thus a higher benefit for the company. What steps should we take in order for training to become a systematic and important part of the company strategy?

1. At the level of company management, integrate education into KPIs and determine its direction, system and strategy. If we want to use 100% of company know-how, we have to think systematically and set up training goals:

• What skills will determine the success of our company in the market?

• What skills are a priority for different departments and will have the greatest impact on the result?

• What form of training is suitable for our company and our environment?

• How will we measure progress?

• What is the goal of training at the company?

2. Allocate time for education.

• What frequency do we choose?

• Can we choose one education day per week, during which employees will spend half a day on their own development?

• Can we choose an effective form of training and present every day part of a particular topic in a 45 minute block?

• How and in what frequency will the head of the department manage the progress?

3. Employee motivation.

At this time, it is very important to “sell” education to companies. We need to ask ourselves important questions regarding motivation.

• How do we reward employees if they undertake training for a long time? (Let’s be creative. The reward does not only have to be extra pay)

• How do we identify employees who deserve a reward? (the important thing here is the right measurement of the best)

• What are the primary reasons for self-development that will excite our employees?

If we increase training, we increase the competitiveness of our company in the market, we increase awareness of employee care and finally we increase performance. The biggest challenge is therefore to align employee training with the work tasks and priorities of individual departments.

So, who will be the leader in changing the direction of our company?

Let’s not leave it to Covid-19. Let’s take on the role ourselves! In the end, we can become the change we want to see in our company. However, this change must come from above.