When people say they left their jobs because of their managers, often it’s because the manager did not give them enough opportunities to advance their professional skills, writes John Labbe in “Are You Doing All You Can to Prevent Turnover?” The booklet is geared toward helping automotive aftermarket professionals better run their businesses.
Labbe, owner of JEM Performance Consulting, in Arlington Heights, Ill., says training is an essential element for any business. When employees receive good training, they tend to stick with one employer longer. Here are some questions to consider when evaluating employee training:
- Did the employee(s) learn anything?
- Are they using what they’ve learned on the job?
- Is the changed behavior or new knowledge improving your business results?
Labbe says training is successful when the answer to each of the previous questions is “Yes.”
In his guide, Labbe provides a series of tips and techniques automotive business owners can use to provide the types of training needed to keep their best employees. Here are some suggestions:
- Just do it. Training has to be done. Employees can’t be expected to learn their jobs through osmosis. “One of the dumbest things I have ever heard is the idea that smart workers don’t need training because ‘they’ll pick it up as they go along,’” writes Labbe. “People used to believe in a flat earth, too.”
- Make sure all training is meaningful to the job. Damage can be done when job training doesn’t fit the job description. Managers need to put their effort into making the training as real to the job as possible. “If your new hire needs practice selling tires, then make him take you to the tire display and sell you tires for your vehicle, and then your wife’s vehicle, and then your uncle’s truck. You get the idea,” says Labbe.
- Keep the focus on improving strengths. Often, business owners base their training on what they believe are their employees’ weaknesses. Instead, Labbe suggests focusing on employee strengths. For example, if a technician does good diagnostic work but suffers in communicating with customers, spend more time leveraging that diagnostic skill than on shoring up customer service techniques, suggests Labbe.
According to Labbe, a recent Gallup poll shows that most people leave their jobs because they “were not appreciated.”
“What more powerful way to show that you appreciate your talented employees than by investing in their future?” asks Labbe. “Training pays in reduced turnover and increased loyalty.”
