06/ 05/ 2002
Here are some small business owners' ideas on continuous training opportunities for their employees and themselves:
Lee Norman, owner of Georgia Black Top Paving in Atlanta, is a big believer in training. Other than taking advantage of his local Small Business Development Center, Norman uses a lot of other resources and methods to train his staff of 23.
By taking an active role in helping his employees advance their skills, Norman sees very little turnover in his staff, a rarity among labor-intensive businesses. Here are some of his training ideas:
- Norman thinks it's important for employees to understand the entire company, not just their particular area. "I worked in two major corporations for several years, and it frustrated me that management didn't share the big picture with us," he says. "I always thought I could have done a better job if I would have been kept in the loop." To ward off this feeling among his staff, Norman holds monthly breakfast meetings where he teaches everything from how to read an income statement to first-aid training. "Most employees think that the owner keeps every dime of every sale," he says. "They never consider costs like electric bills, taxes and salaries. I break it down for them so that they can see exactly how our business works."
- Norman calls himself a "seminar junkie," and attends as many as he can. He says they are the best way to train himself. "I take a lot of things with me from the seminars I attend," says Norman. "Many times, I pass on what I learned to my staff." He also encourages his sales team and production supervisors to take the time to attend outside classes.
- Supervisors at Norman's paving company are responsible for training new employees on their team. "On-the-job training of new people is part of their job," Norman says, referring to his production managers. "I tell them you must train, train and re-train, until the person gets it. If the person you're training doesn't understand, it's your problem. You're not communicating effectively."
Verne Harnish, CEO of Gazelles Inc., a training company that focuses on small, fast-growth firms, stresses continuity and planning in training, rather than a scattershot approach of occasionally attending seminars. "There's got to be a rhyme and reason behind the training, so that it builds on itself," he says. "The challenge right now is that training tends to be unintegrated and unaligned in terms of terminology and technology. When not everyone goes through the same education together, it breaks up the team."
Now take the next step. For help in developing a training program for your employees, try these additional resources:
- The University of Georgia Small Business Development Center can be reached at (706) 542-8100
- The Small Business Administration offers on-line courses in e-commerce, raising capital, marketing and getting federal contracts. Find them online at http://www.sba.gov/classroom/courses.html.
- Tips for making the process of staff education more satisfying and successful can be found here on nfib.com. Read the articles "Continuing Education Online, Parts I and II." (See Related Content at right.)
Web extras are brought to you by MyBUSINESS magazine, the small business magazine for NFIB members.
This Web extra is a supplement to the article, "Back to School: Low-cost Ways Small Business Owners are Training Their Employees and Themselves," which appears in the September/October 2001 issue.
