There are few things in life as rewarding as seeing your offspring grow, develop, and become little knowledgeable people. As a mother, I know that it is not only a necessity, but also a point of pride, even an obsession at times. As a company, an organization that not only cares for the professional development of its people, but also for their personal growth within the corporate culture will have all the tools they need, like children who have just begun to walk. With the proper support, well-managed business professionals have the capacity to "change" the world, just like children.
In our analysis and everyday relationships with various businesses, we've discovered that organizations offering better developmental opportunities for their employees around the world, particularly in Spain, provide more internally controlled training, connection to the business, consolidation of corporate universities, and a more individualized training approach that uses more intense coaching and tools, such as social networks.
In addition, training is becoming more strategic and intensely focused on in our country. As the data shows, 95% of the 55 companies in Spain’s Top Employers reported key performance indicators (KPI) related to executive management, ten percentage points higher than the European and global average.
The companies measure the effectiveness of their training programs by direct evaluation from the participants, displaying increased knowledge and the ability to apply skills (also known as learning retention). However, they do have one area that needs improvement - the calculation of profitability. Only 24% of Top Employers in our country measure the return on investment due to training.
Training is meant to increase the career development prospects of each employee; for this, a wide variety of tools are used, some of which are explained in greater detail below.
The use of internal social networks, practice communities, collaborative encyclopedias (wikis) and blogs intensify the career development of employees. In the case of Abbvie Biopharmaceutical Company, for example, their blogs utilize internal and external experts from the Abbvie Campus. KPMG, another of our clients, has supported the implementation of internal networks. In addition, 96% of the organizations in our country’s Top Employers List have available online programs to perpetually train their employees. The available options can sometimes be dizzying. Some courses are open to everyone, including those related to office tools and languages, while other, more specialized and demanding programs are linked to custom development.
Another trend to note is the growing importance of coaching, both worldwide and specifically in Spain. In fact, companies use our country as an example, and many of them are shifting towards training their own managers as "coaches." However, they are below the world average in another custom tool: mentoring.
Training with corporate universities or academies has also intensified. Technip, Zurich, Accenture, Abbot, Gas Natural and Ferrovial are just some of the companies in the Top Employers List with their own corporate universities.
Lyreco, a leader in the B2B sector that focuses on distributing business solutions, has a corporate university, which is an annual program where companies can handpick their future employees from a talented field of candidates. The purpose of the corporate university is to equip participants with a transverse knowledge management model and set up working groups to develop projects.
Another trend that very clearly links training to the progress of the company is the use of internal trainers. We present a number of good practices in this regard.
With the plan of forming a Commercial Business Unit, Goodyear identifies individuals with critical knowledge of the business. The tire company works with them to design content, develops their transmission capabilities ("Train the trainers"), and facilitates learning throughout the entire business unit.
LG Electronics, meanwhile, features the "We All Learn From Each Other” philosophy, which reflects the idea of LG employees sharing their knowledge on a topic that may be of interest to other colleagues. Internal talent is used and shared whenever possible. The "trainers" not only have the opportunity to share their knowledge, but are also to be recognized for their abilities, while the development of their own skills (public speaking, presentations) is also encouraged.
Knowledge is power. Providing tools to develop our people is a big "risk" since they can learn a lot. In the Middle Ages, knowledge posed a great threat and even cost people´s lives. Fortunately, in the 21st century, knowledge does not endanger the survival of companies or individuals. In fact, it is a valuable luxury that no Top Employer can afford to miss.
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