As a business leader, it’s always tricky to determine the best possible use of your organisation’s resources. While the economy around you fluctuates and shifts, you’re likely juggling the competing demands for greater efficiency, boosted productivity and continuous innovation. Achieving your strategic organisational objectives can often be extraordinarily difficult when you’re dealing with near-constant marketplace disruption and the inherent internal obstacles of any organisation.

The good news is, you currently possess the most valuable resource you’ll ever need to achieve your organisation’s loftiest of goals – your staff. Investing in your staff through tailored learning and development programs is easily the most reliable method for achieving business success, and here’s why.

Retain the best people

Your organisation could have every element of its strategy, mission and objectives perfectly aligned but if you don’t have the right people on the ground to execute, you’ll simply be treading water. Not only that, it’s also been estimated that each new hire could cost your organisation an average of $30K! It’s for these reasons that staff retention is so vital and a recent study by the Chartered Institute of Professional Development found 95% of hiring managers believe corporate training is the ideal staff retention tool.

We all know that having room to grow is important for an employee to feel they’re a real part of an organisation’s future. By investing in timely training opportunities, your employees will develop a greater sense of self-worth as they become more valuable to your business. As Richard Branson told Inc Magazine "It should go without saying, if the person who works at your company is 100 percent proud of the brand and you give them the tools to do a good job and they are treated well, they're going to be happy."

Boost organisational productivity

While it’s tempting to believe productivity is the responsibility of employees, it’s actually business leaders who are accountable for a more motivated and happy workforce. Offering development opportunities not only ensures your employees are more likely to stick around, it also boosts their performance, in turn driving the productivity gains you need to achieve your strategic objectives.

A study by the University of Warwick found that happier workers were 12 per cent more productive than average people, while unhappier workers were 10 per cent less productive. On a global scale, it’s been estimated that disengaged employees cost the economy $300 billion each year in lost productivity.

Learning and development programs may lead some staff to seek promotions and wage increases because of their enhanced skillsets. However, research from UNSW has shown that training can increase workplace productivity by more than 8%, exceeding the wage gains of upskilled staff. Also, as Zig Ziglar famously pointed out “The only thing worse than training an employee and having them leave, is to not train them, and have them stay,”

Build a culture of innovation

It’s well established how valuable innovation is for ensuring your organisation’s long term competitive survival. It’s less well known that the most effective way to create an organisation-wide culture of innovation is through learning and development.

It can often be difficult for your employees to think creatively and innovate in their role when they’re constantly faced with their daily duties. Training programs provide a valuable opportunity for staff members to take a step back from their work, enabling them to view processes from a critical point of view.

We know from our own research that providing managers with the knowledges sets and essential skills they need to operate as effective managers and leaders, has a flow on effect for improving efficiency and empowering innovation. When we enable managers to operate at their full capability, we empower them to find new and innovative ways of operating our organisations for the better.

All the evidence stacks up to prove that matching the right skills to organisational needs and backing this up with an investment in learning and development is your best bet for achieving business success through a more engaged and motivated workforce. If you’d like to hear more about how you can start getting the best from your people, get in touch with us today. Request a free budget planning consultation with AIM.