2- Poor training increases attrition. What are the reasons? When we pump people into the sales, service or production environments for our company without the adaquate information and training to do the job required of them it leaves or work-force ill-prepared to accomplish what we expect of them. What happens next? The crazy cycle!

You as the owner / manager become frustrated that you are paying someone to do a job that you have to step in and complete because they aren't doing it. They are not doing it because your company has not done an adequate job of equipping them to do what they are asked and so they reach for help. You feel used. They feel abused. This process repeats itelf over and over until the frusration boils over and the employee is fired or quits. Yuck!

The above example is what we want to avoid. We need to hire more people to ramp up production. But quite honestly, we have been a bit nervous about doing so. The last thing we want to do is reproduce the experience described above and of my friend! Losing a good employee to bad training and putting them back in the work force is the fastest way I know of to produce negative press for your company! So what can one do to fix this mess?

3- Great training takes time and money (or a third option I'll share in a moment). We have needed to bring in more talent for several months but the biggest barriers we face are where do we get the money and time to train people adequately?

Someone has to do the training. If its me or one of my team that means sales are going to suffer. Less dollars is a bad thing. I can't afford to do that. If someone from the production team does it, production suffers. Less fulfillment equals dissatisfied customers and a long aging report. We can't have that either. Both options require someone from the team to take time away from what they are doing to push the company forward which costs the company in too great of a way for it to be feasable. I can't seem to find a funding source that wants to throw money at small businesses for trainging or anything else really (Even though you and I helped finance $700 billion that is supposed to put capital in the hands of the small businesses of America which are at the heart of the economic engine of our economy. Our politicians are the greatest sales professionals in the country. I digress.) So are there any other options? YES!

Work smarter. Our country is a'changin. People digest information in radically different ways then they did even a decade ago. While lining people up in rows and handing them a huge three ring binder may have been effective in some decade I can't remember, it really isn't the best way to disseminate information to the culture we live in today.

We at Thrive have decided after much debate to create a muli-media approach to initial training. Rather than taking someone from the company away from their valuable positions in the company we will use technologies that we are experts in to create an e-learning environment where candidates for employment can pick the medium that they like best to learn the information they need to do the job. Like to read? Download a pdf (virtual three ring binder). Like to watch "how-to" videos? Watch video modules and learn the information in easy 10 minute segments. Like something bit more interactive? Watch a power point show with audio embedded. Pick your poison. Its good for the trainee and good for the employer! Now a employee can view information valuable to their job as often as they like and when they are ready take on online survey to verify they have retained the information! Thrive gets the results emailed to us and if they pass we schedule hands on training-- the last 30% that can't be done any way else. Since I haven't invested a large chunk of time downloading information in a classroom, I am excited and energized to really dedicate myself fully to mentoring my employee so that they understand how to apply the information they have learned making them successful and me successful. Its going to be nice to be off the crazy cycle.

This is an efficient model that's upfront cost will pay back in two to three training classes and will give me back the time I need to run my business! Hallelujah-- a system that works in todays changing business environment.