Patricia Holdings, a leader in Australian company registration and trust set up, has partnered with Go1 - the world’s largest onboarding, compliance and professional training platform. The partnership coincides with the launched of the new Patricia Marketplace – the first of its kind B2B Marketplace for startups and new businesses in Australia.   

We are very pleased to be partnering with Patricia Holdings, and look forward to delivering our eLearning solution to their clients. This collaboration will activate Go1’s content offering for new businesses in Australia, to help support them in their incorporation and providing relevant learning to overcome complex challenges such as onboarding and compliance. 

Beginning in August, this partnership will enable Patricia Holdings' clients to find Go1's corporate learning solution as an add-on available from the Marketplace, to better support new businesses in establishing their staff training programs. This partnership is an acknowledgment of organisations increasingly looking for a holistic solution to their Learning Platform (LDS) and training content requirements to help boost employees’ productivity and business profitability.

Go1 Distribution Partnerships Manager Simon Yeowart said the partnership with Patricia Holdings was a natural fit for both companies. He said, "This collaboration will activate Go1’s content offering for new businesses, to help support them in their incorporation and providing relevant learning to overcome complex challenges such as on-boarding and compliance."

Patricia Holdings Head of Business Development Johnathan Pestano, heading up the Patricia Marketplace platform, said that he’s excited to make it easy for Australian entrepreneurs to access world-class content. “Starting any new business is challenging enough without having to worry about onboarding or compliance. This new Go1 partnership will help Australian business owners to seamlessly implement benchmark training from day-one enabling them to focus on growing their business."

At Patricia Holdings we've helped over 250,000 accountants, lawyers and financial advisors as well as entrepreneurs set up companies across Australia since 1968.

We’re on a mission to be the most trusted professional documents platform in Australia. From our humble beginnings pioneering the ‘shelf company’ concept, we’re now a leading Australian online platform for company registration, trust deed and SMSF establishment. Our vision is to enable anyone to seamlessly set up a company or trust in Australia.  

Transform your training with Go1 - leaders in learning, design and delivery. Go1 is the single end-to-end solution for all your business training needs. Go1 Premium gives you unlimited access to a growing library containing thousands of learning resources, from top training providers around the world. The growing library has courses covering compliance through to soft skills, all accessible via the Go1 Learning Experience Platform - and all in one easy monthly subscription. Go1’s platform is designed for personalised learning, advanced content curation and streamlined user management. 

Start your business and sign up to Go1 to access a 14-day trial of the full Premium library via the Learning Experience Platform. Please email simon.yeowart@go1.com with any queries related to the offering.

False

Patricia Holdings and Go1 partner to bring workplace training to new companies 

Take your teams's training to the next level with Go1’s Insights!  

The new Insights Feature is your playbook for addressing key training gaps in your team. 

As the Go1 training library grows and your team expands,  we want you to be able to  easily understand more about how your team is learning. With this feature you can understand what your employees should be learning so they don't miss out on content most relevant to their training needs. 

The feature recommended the top courses for  content areas that your team currently has low engagement with. Our content suggestions are based on what hundreds of thousands of Go1 users are doing, narrowed down to your industry specifically. We then make it quick and easy for you to add the content to a group or assign to individuals. 

View a snapshot of key portal insights; this includes user management insights as well as insights on how your portal engaged with  with key content topics in your industry. 

View GO1's content suggestions  - which grouped according to the topics that your portal has low engagement with. 

Quickly assign suggested content to users or groups or quickly add content to your content portal selection. 

Enable a monthly  insights email for all Admins on your portal. 

What do I need to know about this release?

Your portal will have a new item in the drop menu called Insights. 

To enable a monthly isights email for all portal Admins head to Portal Settings > Notifications. 

We want to hear your feedback on the Insights tab!  Please submit feedback via our Public ProductBoard Portal. 

The team are still finalising some details - it will be live as soon as its ready! 

Go1's newest feature to help simplify the content discovery process for you. 

Product Early Access: Training Insights  

Go1.com, the world’s largest online training marketplace, is pleased to announce a landmark worldwide partnership with Rosterfy, the global leading workforce management platform for volunteers, paid staff and contractors. This partnership will bring together two of Australia’s fastest growing technology companies to provide the most comprehensive solution worldwide for workforce management, inductions and online training.

Rosterfy works alongside an array of clients around the world from sporting federations and major events to charities, universities and local Governments, providing an end to end platform to centralise their workforce processes. With clients ranging from the past three Super Bowls and London Marathon to Hockey Australia and the Los Angeles Sports Commission, Rosterfy are rapidly expanding their offering to now over 15 countries worldwide.

Go1.com will enhance Rosterfy’s ability to increase volunteer and paid workforce engagement retention while saving clients significant administration costs, time and resources – a major boon to any organisation.

The partnership will allow Rosterfy’s clients to access Go1.com for induction and learning purposes through the portal to provide greater engagement with the workforce.

“Rosterfy eliminates the pain of managing a large workforce – be they volunteers, casual or contract roles. These workforce members constantly require training and we’ve been looking for a solution that’s easy to use, access and with high-quality content. From day one Rosterfy has always had basic training modules, but we realised the market needed a specialist - and that is why we are working with Go1. Their solution is flexible, cost-effective and their library of content takes the hassle out of building your own,” Rosterfy co-founder Shannan Gove said.

Gove continued, “we’re delighted to partner with Go1 which offers a flexible way for people to get upskilled anytime, anywhere.”

Go1.com UK general manager Mark Bolton hailed the partnership as a great step forward for all clients, in particular for sporting federations and event resource management.

“We’re excited to ink this partnership, which will strategically benefit both organisations and enhance the learning and training capabilities of Rosterfy’s clients.

“Rosterfy has the who’s who of clients on its roster and we look forward to helping them kick even more goals as they continue to grow,” Mr Bolton said.

Go1.com and Rosterfy set to redefine global training and workforce management in new partnership

Welcome back to our monthly round up of all things Go1! We've had some great articles come out in the press that you might find interesting, so we’ve put together this round up of links for you to read over. We encourage you to catch them now if you missed them earlier, or re-read them to see if there’s more you can learn! 

Dell and Microsoft pour millions into A.I. start-ups that are reshaping the workforce

Via CNBC featuring Go1 co-founder and chief operating officer, Chris Eigeland

JobReady partners with Go1 to deliver a new generation of learning

Via JobReady featuring Go1 co-founder and CEO, Andrew Barnes

Via Dynamic Business featuring Go1 co-founder, Vu Tran

Investment Attraction Incentive Fund lures four businesses to Logan

Via Jimboomba Times featuring Go1 co-founder, Vu Tran

Stay tuned for some more amazing things to come in August! 

Let's take a look back at some of the great things Go1 has been involved with in July 2019. 

An article from one of our partners, Roubler.

Automation is frequently seen as the answer to business efficiency. But can it really be applied to all aspects of onboarding new employees? Is it possible to influence an employee’s success using online onboarding tools?

Consider what’s involved in onboarding for a minute. The manager will need to ensure all the relevant paperwork is completed, provide organisation-specific training, give them the work equipment they need, convey potentially complex pieces of information in a way that is both easy to digest and hard to forget, and literally orientate them around the building. That means introductions to colleagues, signposting facilities, and explaining how things work in practice (which may not be the same as how they work in principle). All the while putting the new starter at ease so they can hit the ground running!

Trying to get a computer, or any other automated system, to take all of these duties on would be tremendously difficult, not to mention require the services of advanced humanoid robots. But this doesn’t mean automation can’t lend a hand – for example by using intuitive employee onboarding software and e-learning platforms – to take the legwork out and free up time for those aspects of the process that require a human touch.

In the Human Capital Institute’s study of more than 400 organizations, two-thirds reported that onboarding practices aren’t used to their full potential. Only 40% said onboarding is effective at retaining new hires, in large part because the process has been focused on paperwork rather than people. 

Furthermore, Gallup research found that employees are 3.4 times more likely to feel like their onboarding experience was a success if their manager took an active role in the process and are consequently more likely to stay in their role.

People are the key to giving new employees the best start. Technology should be focused on affording us more opportunities for the important things, better opportunities to connect. Those connections become bonds and in turn those bonds cement a stronger workplace culture. That culture, according to research by Gallup, is responsible for attracting the top 20% of candidates.

It’s clear that less time on administration during onboarding and more time face to face with your manager isn’t just a good idea – it’s a critical success factor. So how can we use online tools to make this happen?

Let onboarding software take care of the paperwork

“At Roubler, we eliminate all of the paperwork and data entry associated with onboarding, such as filling out an employee profile, entering contact details, emergency contacts, medical information, tax and banking information and uploading qualifications and licenses,” explains Andrew Northcott, Managing Director of Roubler.

Customisable onboarding is increasingly being increasingly incorporated into all-in-one workforce management systems. Once a profile is created, data can be entered by the employee via the employee self-service system and flows straight into other tools such as rostering, time and attendance and payroll. Tax declaration and superannuation information can even be sent straight from the system to the tax office saving managers, HR and payroll hours out of their day.

The paperless onboarding process can be completed via a mobile app or a web portal and only takes a few minutes.

“The greatest advantage of this is that employees have all of these tasks completed prior to starting, so their first day can be spent getting to know their colleagues and settling in,” Northcott says.

Spending half a day filling out paperwork can be isolating for new employees, particularly if they are chomping at the bit to get into their exciting new role. When that’s taken care of before they start, the first day can be filled with cake-fuelled morning teas, getting a taste of their new role and spending time with the most important person in their working lives – their manager!

Make use of e-Learning platforms and pre-built courses

There are undoubtedly situations where training needs to be delivered face-to-face, however e-learning tools like quizzes, short courses and games are a great way to train new employees on a variety of topics and get them prepared for their new role.

Consider blending e-learning with face-to-face options to reinforce learning. This works particularly well for topics like customer service and company culture.

Think about delivery. For the best results, training needs to be memorable and enjoyable. Can you turn some of your paper-based manuals into quizzes or games?  

Compliance training on a variety of topics such as fire safety and manual handling can be completed quickly and easily online. They’ll appreciate getting this done before the real work starts.

 Use e-learning platforms to deliver videos about the company culture and team – they can go a long way to helping employees engage with their new employer.

Short video tutorials on the software and processes that the employee will need to use are more engaging than manuals and can be referred to regularly.

Whether you’re a CEO or a retail sales assistant, starting a new job is nerve-wracking. Offering new employees the option to complete some online training prior to their first day can help them feel more prepared. They’ll also feel more comfortable when meeting and working with colleagues for the first time if they already have a degree of knowledge about the company and systems.

Online onboarding tools can greatly enhance the process, speeding up administration tasks to allow more time for those essential face-to-face activities that make onboarding a real success.

But before you purchase any software, there are three important things you need to consider.  

Think of onboarding as more than just filling out payroll information – it’s an entire process that inducts your employee into your company culture and their role. It should start the moment they are hired and continue until their probationary period is over.

Look at what activities are taking up the most time – is it administration, data entry, compliance training or on-site induction? Then look at which of those could be automated without losing personal connection.

Talk to employees who have recently started with you to find out what they feel could have been improved and get an idea of how much automation they feel would be of benefit before personal connection is lost.

By combining onboarding tools and face-to-face activities, and giving employees the chance to start the process before their first day, you’re not just building a successful, sustainable and consistent onboarding program, you’re nurturing employees who feel engaged and connected to your organisation from the moment they are hired.

Katrina Strathearn is the Marketing Manager of Roubler Australia. Roubler’s all-in-one HR system automates employee onboarding, rostering, time and attendance, leave management and payroll with Go1's Online Learning Management System.

How onboarding tech sets new starters up for success

This month, we're focusing on all things management - so keep an eye on the blog over the next few weeks to read more about Go1’s relevant training content!

Even if you are an experienced manager, it's important to not neglect your training. New managers typically understand that there is a lot they need to learn, with training they need to do. Whereas more experienced managers don’t necessarily need to focus on management techniques and practices, but instead on ways to take the next steps towards effective leadership and management. 

The workplace is evolving and managers must accommodate themselves to today’s ecosystem. The challenges managers need to be aware of today often involve their ethics and the way they make decisions for their team to ensure they align with today's corporate culture and social norms.

This week, we'll look at two courses that will help managers to ultimately shape healthy and effective teams in today's workplaces. As a manager, you'll learn how to: 

Ensure that you lead teams with equal employment opportunities and are aware of appropriate practices in regards to discrimination and compliance

Consider what ethical leadership means today in business, and equip yourself with tools to build an ethical culture in the workplace.

Equal Employment Opportunity for Managers

This course covers Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) and discrimination in the workplace. 

The EEO course will help individuals avoid inappropriate behaviours in the workplace, that put themselves, their colleagues, customers, and the organisation at risk. This compliance course will educate staff on what are equal employment opportunity requirements in the workplace, how to report and respond to inappropriate behaviour, and the legal responsibility of managers. 

It is a highly engaging course that gives learners the opportunity to consider examples of what are and what are not appropriate workplace behaviours, with scenarios and animated videos plus the use of case studies. 

GVM is an award-winning company with a rich history and experience. With 20 years of expertise in the areas of instructional design, content development and learning management systems, their aim is to help their clients to measure the return on their training investment and to achieve maximum learning efficiency and effectiveness. Global Vision Media has a suite of Australian compliance courses which are particularly aimed at local councils. All courses are short, clear and concise and very easy for all employees to complete.

Ethical Leadership - Becoming a Courageous Leader

This course covers ethical leadership in the workplace, geared specifically for business leaders who want to build solid organisations that uphold strong ethical and moral values. 

Most people agree that good ethics is good for business yet we still have ethical violations showcased in daily headlines. The problem is moral leadership. The courageous leader needs to have the ability to face difficulty, uncertainty, or pain without being overcome by fear or intimidated by consequences. Being courageous requires that you discern and assess what needs to be done and have the fortitude to be able to deal with the consequences based on the foundation of those values. 

This course is divided into 5 parts, each section engaging the learner with videos, handouts and a quiz to conclude. 

After completing this course you will learn how to become a courageous leader and know how courageous leaders make decisions.

Global Ethics Solutions can help you create a safe atmosphere that is key to improving the integrity of a company. Through knowledge and accountability, your business' day-to-day operations will experience a significant decrease in unethical conduct. With 90+ resources Global Ethics Solutions provides customised ethics and compliance training programs to teach employees important skills, principles, and policies to make the right ethical choices. A company or organisation is only as "ethical" as the people in it. The key to a strong, thriving organisation is to encourage and build up the character of all individuals with positive tools and training that foster an ethical culture in the workplace.

 If you want to enrol in these courses, simply:

From the Search Results Page -> use the provider filter to find Global Ethics Solutions or Global Vision Media Learning courses.

Find courses from Go1's Premium training partners that will help your management capabilities grow. 

This partnership will see Go1's customer base now able to access Direction Associates hospitality training. 

Introducing Direction Associates - an online UK-based hospitality training provider developed by in-house hospitality professionals to ‘Best Practice’ standards. Their content explores courses for bartending, housekeeping, compliance for hospitality staff with CPD certification and more!

Don't let their location fool you, their content is relevant for international markets too! The great thing about Direction Associates is that the hospitality best practice standards they use are benchmarked internationally, which means that their learning content can be used in the Middle East, Far East, USA and Australia (with more to come)! Go1 recommends the content for customers in the UK looking for hospitality training.

Why use Direction Associates hospitality training for your eLearning?

Authored by industry experts with over 35 years of operational and training experience in hotels, they have a  clear understanding of the needs of hotel businesses and their staff which is core to all Direction Associates training. Throughout the courses, the principles of hospitality professional best practice are adhered to ensure the skills and knowledge the learner develops will stand them in good stead, no matter where in the industry their career path lies.

Direction Associate's training is highly visual and interactive, enabling the learner to get the best out of their training journey. All modules provide an end quiz, to best measure the knowledge retention for each learner. 

Direction Training Associates content areas:

Via Go1 Premium you can find 49 hospitality learning resources from Direction Associates. 

A large portion of the Direction Associates library is Food Services training, including 'Working with allergens' and 'Professional food and drinks service.' The library also has a variety of service skills content such as carrying / clearing plates, folding napkins, serving wines and more.  

Operational staff in hotels can develop their knowledge and skills and increase awareness of legal implications of disability discrimination. This module will contribute to the guided learning hours for those staff completing a hospitality apprenticeship.

Suited to operational front of house staff in hotels and restaurants who need to develop their knowledge and skills in key aspects of foodservice. This module is a separate module from the Food Service course and can be used according to training needs. Modules are ideal for new staff entering the industry to support job training in house or can be used by individuals wishing to gain some knowledge of food service in order to apply for a job.

Food & Drink Safety Awareness is designed for all operational staff in hotels, restaurants and bars to ensure they are aware of all food and drink safety procedures. Individuals may like to develop their own knowledge and confidence or use the module certificates at interviews. The Food and Drink Safety Aware programme will contribute to the guided learning hours for those staff completing a hospitality apprenticeship.

Go1 recommends the content for customers in the UK looking for hospitality training. 

Go1 is very excited to be working closely with Direction Associates and building a great relationship. 

Take the next step and enrol in Direction Associates training on Go1 today or contact Go1 if you have any questions. Access Direction Associates hospitality content via a Go1 Premium subscription.

Introducing Direction Associates – providers of highly engaging, interactive hospitality content   

Go1 is excited to announce our new partnership with JobReady, a leading provider of people management systems for education and employment, to deliver a new generation of learning and support for its Australian education sector clients.

Beginning in 2019, JobReady will use Go1 to deliver integrated online training for new and existing clients of student management system JR Plus. JR Plus is currently used by leading brands in the higher education, international education, enterprise training, and RTO markets.

Through Go1, JobReady will ensure users can access a full online library of in-depth training and resources on JR Plus, allowing them to take better advantage of the system’s full suite of evolving features, while also helping them to deliver on their primary education mission.

“JR Plus is a complete student management system for education that continues to evolve to ensure our clients stay in front of the pace of change,” JobReady commercial director James Hourn said.

“After 20 years helping our clients adapt and grow, we’re taking this exciting step forward to allow them to take advantage of online product training delivered when and how they want it.”

Mr Hourn said Go1’s advanced online delivery model will mean clients will receive unrivaled learning and support throughout the customer journey, whether they are currently implementing JR Plus, or are looking to realise more business value from the system as a long-term JR Plus user.

“By giving clients the learning vehicle they need to unlock JR Plus, we are supporting them in running a better business and helping them provide the best possible education for their students as well.”

Go1 CEO and co-founder Andrew Barnes said the partnership with JobReady was a natural fit for both companies who both strongly believe in the power of education to advance Australia’s future.

“Go1 has a track record of partnering with innovative providers like JobReady to deliver education and training that makes the possibilities of online delivery real for their users,” Mr Barnes said.

“By helping facilitate the growth and utilisation of JR Plus across Australia’s globally renowned education sector, we believe we are doing what we’ve always set out to do at Go1 – allowing people to achieve their career dreams and live more fulfilled working lives now and into the future.”

JobReady is the leading provider of people management software for education and employment. Bringing together student management systems, apprenticeships systems, vocational education and training systems, employment services systems and behavioural science, we represent a powerful software continuum for managing the complex human journey through study, work and career transitions. Trusted for over 20 years, JobReady works with education and employment clients to co-create intelligent technology that helps them oversee, control and drive the business outcomes they need to succeed. In doing so, we ensure more people are fulfilled through meaningful work.

Go1 makes it easy for businesses to train their staff, with the world’s largest compliance, professional development and general training marketplace. By providing a single platform that extends from first aid training through to degree bearing courses, Go1 makes it easy to find and compare the best training options available. The marketplace features over 500,000 courses and other learning items created by local and international experts. Customers include SEEK.com.au, Oxford University, State and Local Governments and St John Ambulance.

Since launching in 2015, Go1 has grown to be a world leader in online learning and education. Local and overseas investors include Y Combinator, SEEK, M12, Tank Stream Ventures, Black Sheep Capital, and Our Innovation Fund.

JobReady to provide new generation learning with Go1

The hospitality industry is fast-paced, creative and unpredictable. In such an energetic environment, ensuring staff members are up to date with the latest training and compliance can be a challenge.

With the anti-social hours most employees work, and the physical nature of the job, finding the time for training can be difficult. The team is exhausted at the end of a busy shift, and when the customers are in, the focus is on their experience. 

Essential areas of training for hospitality staff

Hospitality environments are often stressful and fast-paced. Kitchens are places where a lot of accidents can happen, so safety of staff and customers should always be paramount. Training in this area will supply learners with the knowledge and skills required to apply solid WHS practices.

Being up to date with guidelines on workplace bullying is crucial for those in hospitality management. The high-pressured service industry often creates a climate of perfectionism, and in such conditions, it can be easy for staff members to take out their stress on each other. Training will encourage staff to reflect on how they should act in certain situations and what to do about bullying incidents.

Linked to training on workplace bullying, harrassment and discrimination can easily arise when a workplace cutlure becomes unfriendly.  In times of stress, it can be difficult to remain civil and treat other employees and customers with the respect they deserve. However, customers will notice if staff members or other customers are being treated poorly. 

Knowledge in this area is a basic prerequisite for any establishment preparing food for customers. Making mistakes can result in businesses paying the ultimate price and being shut down. Training your team with real-life scenarios will educate them on the importance of food safety, and the consequences of their actions if mistakes are made.  

The hospitality industry can be physically draining.  The heat of the kitchen, constantly being on your feet and lifting stock can be extremely taxing on the body. Those responsible for staff welfare need to be sure that the team understands how to stay safe. They need healthy bodies to do the work to the best of their ability! Training will provide learners with the skills they need to look after themselves in the workplace. 

Tips for hospitality staff to make the most of online learning: 

As the person responsible for ensuring your staff is compliant, it can be difficult to know whether the information from an online course has been taken on board. It can also be tempting to tick the box once the course has been completed, but your staff needs to apply what they’ve learnt to a practical context. 

If you are the manager or owner, you will already have a lot on your plate to keep your business running.  It might be helpful to designate a trusted employee to oversee and implement training. Then, you can be sure your staff members are not only well-trained, but also have a senior member of staff to ask for help should they need it.

However you decide to ensure your team is up to date with the latest training, here are our tips to be sure your staff members make the most of their online learning experience:

When setting staff the task of completing online training, it can sometimes be difficult for them to see the bigger picture or understand why it is important.  They have physical and often challenging work days, so they need to understand why they are making the extra effort.  

Many who work in the hospitality industry are driven by the desire to serve customers to the best possible standard.  If you can use this purpose to frame regular training updates, it will help staff to become invested and want to ensure they complete the training to the best of their ability. Ultimately, if your staff is not compliant in these areas, the customers will pick up on this and think twice about coming back to your establishment.

 It is important that every member of staff is well-versed in the online training.  This includes those in management, or even investors. Anybody who has regular contact with the business should understand the rules and live by them.  A whole-team approach is key.  

Show staff examples of best practice: Whether you as the manager are responsible for training, or you have allocated this job to another member of staff, modelling best practice is the best way to ensure team members take their learning on board and begin to apply it in the workplace.  If those in leadership are not showing staff how things should be done, the online training will lack purpose.

Although it can be difficult to find the time to do so, taking the time to consolidate learning from online courses in a practical environment can be invaluable to staff members.  Every staff member needs learning put into the context of their daily work.  This could be as simple as demonstrating steps throughout the day to ensure the safe handling of food, followed by reviewing the steps with staff members. 

To make the learning process easier, Go1 has partnered with Allara Learning to help you keep your staff up to date. Whether you run a bustling cafe or sophisticated fine-dining restaurant, well-trained staff members are guaranteed to improve customer satisfaction. Allara Learning’s Hospitality Compliance Training Package is specifically designed for the Australian market, and is essential for reminding staff of their legal obligations.  The package can also be used to on-board new team members, and focuses on five key training areas. All are equally important for ensuring your establishment is up to scratch and meets the basic requirements. 

Easy steps to make sure your hospitality business is compliant 

Growth is a wonderful double-edged management ninja sword. Because growth is good for both your employees and it’s good for you, the boss. But did you know that one of the unwritten responsibilities of a boss is that you have to ensure that your employees have the skills they need to do their job and are always working to improve? This is why employee development is one of the essential manager skills. But the problem is that school doesn’t teach you the skills you need to be Super Boss. And employee development gets left to HR. This article will show you why & how to use employee development as a management tool to increase results and retention. It contains information from the program on the Go1 Academy: How to Develop Your Employees

PS: Are you responsible for Learning & Development in your organisation? Help to build a culture of learning in your organisation by sharing this article with your managers.

Using online learning to achieve your development goals: Getting Going with Go1,

Do your employees have the skills and abilities you want? Take the online Development assessment to find out more (must be logged into your Go1 portal),

Be careful of one-size fits all management advice. Do what is right for you by finding out your Boss Superpower,

Why employee development is essential for employees:

Your employees are complicated animals. You can’t just give them a paycheck and a ping-pong table and expect them to be happy, productive employees. Creating a workplace where people want to work and are good at their jobs means fulfilling your employees need for growth.

Your employees have a desire to learn and grow

Your employees are motivated by doing things they are good at and

Developing skills helps your employees become self-actualised

To put this another way, your top performers will get bored and leave if they are stagnant. Less experienced managers try to motivate employees with pay and bonuses. But successful managers know that quality employees choose growth over short term pay.

Why employee development is essential for managers:

I remember a time when you weren’t a proper business if you didn’t have a fax machine. But business is competitive with unrelenting progress. If you think your employees have all the skills they need, then you may as well be waiting by your fax machine for an update. And if you think employee development is a job for Human Resources alone and not managers, then you will soon watch your competitors overtake you. It’s your jab as a boss job to deliver, maintain and grow results. And one of the best ways you can do this is to develop the skills & capabilities of your employees. Because:

Increasing skills delivers results with increased speed and quality,

Increasing capabilities supports delegation so you can manage your own workload,

A constantly changing competitive & technological environment means your employees need to constantly develop their skills and

Learning promotes innovation & problem solving

Less experienced managers view skills development as a “nice to have”. They leave skills development to Human Resources for “when they have the time”. Successful bosses partner with Human Resources to take an active role in developing their employees’ skills. This is because they know that developing skills delivers results. Effective managers know that employee development is an effective tool to motivate and retain top talent.

I get it, employee development sounds time-consuming, where can managers find the time to develop employees? This is really the wrong question, because the true problem is that no-one ever taught you how to develop employees or any of the other essential manager skills. Because employee development can be as simple as a ten-minute conversation about the future. And you don’t even have to book extra meeting time because the best place to do this in your in your regular one on one meeting with your employee. (Not having one on one meetings with your employees – well of course you won’t have time to develop your employees!)

3 Actions you can take to develop your employees:

Because I believe in actionable advice, here are easy 3 actions you can take to kick start your employee development right away:

Have a ten-minute development conversation with each of your employees. Tell them what skills you want them to develop. Collaborate to produce a training contract 

Delegate a growth assignment to your employees. This is something that will support their next career step or is a challenge that gives them a chance to use their skills. Helpful resource: The Ultimate Guide to Delegation

Pick a skill you want your employees to learn/improve and use the Go1 feature to assign a Go1 training course to them. Tip: Don’t forget the human touch, follow up the course assignment with a conversation explaining why, what your expectations are and what’s in it for them. 

Top tip: Looking for a good place to start? Choose something short/fun/informative/helpful. Here are some relevant Go1 courses to assign: 

a. Have better meetings with your employees by assigning One on One Meetings with your Boss

b. Improve your employees focus, stress management and more by assigning Desk Meditations

Super ninja manager skills are where you use momentum to go with the flow, instead of fighting against the tide. When it comes to skills development, it sometimes feels like you are pushing uphill to develop your employees’ skills. The smarter way is to help your employees to develop themselves by assigning Self Leadership: Developing Yourself.

I just want to leave you with this final thought: Have you ever had a mentor (a boss, teacher, coach, etc.) that invested in you?

Someone that guided you through your career path,

Someone who knew what you were capable of and supported you to achieve your potential, and

Someone who pushed you to be better when you needed a little extra encouragement.

What difference did this make to your performance? How meaningful is this person to you? When you are a boss, you have an opportunity to make a difference to your employee’s lives. And this isn’t just because it gives you a warm fuzzy feeling but also because it makes fantastic business sense. This is the difference you can make when you invest in developing your employees. 

Note: employee development and online learning by Go1

I don’t work for Go1, I work with Go1 to help businesses deliver results via improved soft skills. Go1 is a fantastic resource where you and your employees can access training for almost any development need. But giving your employees access to an online library and expecting them to develop themselves into happy, productive employees is not realistic (Hot tip: How’s your own online development going?). To make the best use of online development tools such as Go1, don’t forget the human touch. Such as: Encouraging and supporting employees through their development. Helping them to choose the right development for them and their career. 

The concept is to leave the time-consuming training to the subject matter experts on Go1 and you do the less time-consuming parts of coaching your employees through their development. 

Keith Tatley is a Chartered Accountant and Yoga Teacher. He helps people to have successful and happy careers by showing them the soft skills that people need to be effective in the workplace. 

Headline skills that people need for better relationships between employees and their bosses include: 

How to have One on One Meetings with your Boss

Keith operates the brands www.ManagerFoundation.com, Karm.Academy and WWW.BOSS.CAMP . Contact him at Keitht@ManagerFoundation.com for consulting on how to create better work environments. 

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