{"id":12142,"date":"2020-02-20T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-02-20T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sandler.dsstaging2.com\/case-study\/development-strategy-that-improves-employee-performance\/"},"modified":"2022-10-24T23:33:37","modified_gmt":"2022-10-24T23:33:37","slug":"development-strategy-that-improves-employee-performance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sandler.com\/blog\/development-strategy-that-improves-employee-performance\/","title":{"rendered":"6 Tips for Developing a Learning and Development Strategy that Improves Employee Performance"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

One\nof the main goals of an L&D strategy is to improve employees\u2019 performance. Your\ntraining sessions must result in a motivated and resourceful staff, one able to\nclose more sales.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But\nhow do you create a strategy that actually improves employee\u2019s performance? Well,\nit is by basing your L&D strategy on facts and number and not on guesses\nand preconceived notions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1) Compare performance to goals<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Start by checking your company\u2019s goals and comparing them to your employees\u2019 achievements. Are they hitting the sales target? Are the best-selling products\/service the ones you expected? What is the level of customer service satisfaction? Does your staff need help on how to ask for referrals<\/strong><\/a>?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Be prepared to spend some time doing this. If you have a large staff, share the load with a colleague. Put yourself in your employee\u2019s shoes to find out what is interfering with their performance and how an L&D program can change it. It is an important step in every great workforce management strategy<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2) Have a chat with the employees<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once\nyou finish doing the above, what you will have is a list of assumptions. Now\nit\u2019s time to draw realistic conclusions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For\nthis, talk to each employee and hear their side of the story. Ask the questions\nyou couldn\u2019t figure out by yourself. But also give them the opportunity to show\nthat some of your beliefs are wrong. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This\nis an excellent time to learn their impressions about past training sessions,\ntheir career goals, and their learning process. While you can\u2019t create a\nstrategy able to satisfy each salesperson, it can give you some guidelines\nabout what needs to be addressed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3) Talk to team leaders about staff\u2019s\nperformance<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Team\nleaders are another critical source of information. They know who isn\u2019t\nperforming well and should have an idea why. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet,\ntake their opinions with a pinch of salt. Some team leaders will think you are looking\nfor someone to point fingers too. Make sure it\u2019s clear you aren\u2019t starting a\nwitch hunt. Communicate that your mission is to implement an L&D strategy\nthat will benefit everyone, and that is impossible to do if you are not aware\nof specific challenges and pain points that appear in practice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4) Design L&D sessions based on\nhow they learn<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

After\nidentifying the challenges, it\u2019s time for you to design your L&D strategy.\nHere is where the information you got about your employees\u2019 learning process\nwill play a part. Because, sometimes, it\u2019s not about what you teach, but how.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many\npeople prefer to learn through writing materials, the way they used to do in\nschool. But others retain more information if they see or hear it. Ideally, you\nshould offer both options, but it might be unrealistic. So, choose the one that\nsuits the majority. And provide support materials about the essential points of\nyour L&D program in the other medium.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5) Link content to daily tasks<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

While\nplanning your L&D sessions, always tie your instructions to everyday tasks.\nFor instance, choose a couple of employees to pretend they are clients and let\nthem ask difficult questions to your salespeople.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If\nthe budget is there, you can go all out and hire a theatre group to enact real\nsituations, such as a hard-to-convince customer, and show how to solve them. The\nmost useful scenes are based on true facts \u2013 nicely fictionalized so as not to\nbreak any privacy law or embarrass someone. Then add a summary of the solutions\nto your handouts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

6) Use KPIs to measure employee\u2019s\nperformance<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

To\nensure your workshops aren\u2019t something people need to get over with<\/em>, use\nKey Performance Indicators (KPI) to measure your staff\u2019s achievements. They need\nto be countable items, such as the number of closed deals, number of positive reviews,\nnumber of monthly calls, average number of calls needed to close a sale, and\nsimilar. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once\nyou choose your KPIs, inform both staff and team leaders about them during an\nL&D session especially created with this purpose. This will allow them to learn\nwhat is expected of them, and leave no room for misinterpretations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Continuous improvement is the name of\nthe game<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

An\nL&D strategy that improves employee\u2019s performance is based on a correct and\ndetailed understanding of the company goals and of the staff\u2019s ability to learn\nand self-improve. Many sales might be lost if you base your decisions on\nassumptions or force people to change in a way they can\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Follow\nthe tips above to turn your training sessions into a tool for a higher profit. And\nbe ready to continue changing and adapting your strategy if the set KPIs aren\u2019t\nbeing met. Always remember that not planning ahead often means planning to\nfail.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the main goals of an L&D strategy is to improve employees\u2019 performance. Your training sessions must result in a motivated and resourceful staff, one able to close more sales. But how do you create a strategy that actually improves employee\u2019s performance? Well, it is by basing your L&D strategy on facts and number…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":114,"featured_media":12143,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1120],"tags":[1153,1038,1496,1033,1412,1035,1057,1049],"class_list":["post-12142","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","tag-business-development","tag-coaching","tag-hiring-and-recruitment","tag-leadership","tag-learning-development","tag-management","tag-professional-development","tag-sales-management"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n6 Tips for Developing a Learning and Development Strategy that Improves Employee Performance - Sandler<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"One of the main goals of an L&D strategy is to improve employees\u2019 performance. 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