Home Pro Heroes 3/18/2024

Building and Implementing a Training Plan for Your Team, Pt 1

by Chris Crew

One of the biggest traps we face when building and implementing a training plan is to subconsciously overlook the basics.  Why?  Because they’re just so obvious.  Our brains love to focus on the challenging aspects of a strategy, and as a result, the details are often afterthoughts.  Trust me, I’ve seen way too many otherwise savvy companies tank their trainings because they were fixated on content and just expect the rest to fall into place.   It rarely does.

To help you structure the foundational aspects of your training, here is a brief checklist:

Identify the Skill Gaps

Before creating a trаіnіng program, уоu should first determine whаt the skill gaps are within each department. What are their current strengths and weaknesses? Whаt do уоu hope thе trаіnіng will provide? What do will be the next step for those who embrace the opportunity to skills up? This analysis will help you determine what type of training should be implemented and for who. 

Identify Your Audience

Though it may seem like a time saver to lump overlapping departments together in one training, that mistake can actually cost you more time (and probably some revenue) down the road.  You don't want to put a dispatcher in the same training as a an outbound caller, or a salesperson with a technicians, or a technician with an installers. The reason?  While some portions of the topic might be relevant to both, the rest generally isn’t. The result will be team members tuning out when it does not apply to them and never tuning back in when it does.  Save yourself the effort of having to retrain down the road by focusing on one group at a time.  Bonus: It will also make each department feel valued when the attention in just on them.

See You Wednesday!

The Home Pro Heros Team