| December 2012 | Past Issues | Advertise |
Internal Experts Grow Employee Knowledge and Improve Retention
BBN has the unique fortune of retaining many of its long-time employees since the beginning of their careers. It’s attracting and keeping young talent that is the real challenge. According to several online sources, the average American will work for five to six companies in their lifetime. One of the ways BBN enhances employee satisfaction and keeps its talent on board is through career-enhancing learning opportunities. The BBN training department places a high priority on ensuring that our employees receive the tools and ongoing training and education opportunities needed to perform at the highest level. Our training staff has found that providing our young employees with the professional development they require to remain competitive through their fellow veteran BBN employees is very effective. Our long-term staff members are highly motivated trainers and instructors and are invested in helping their younger, less experienced colleagues grow and flourish. These "BBN Insiders" know the project work, customer challenges, and are usually leading experts in their fields. Building a continuing education program driven by internal talent is something all organizations should strive for – especially mid-sized to smaller companies with a limited education and ongoing training budgets. In addition to the cost savings, there are several benefits to using internal instructors:
To create and maintain a successful internal continuing education program, organizations need to develop a learning environment that supports the employee instructors and students. This means committing company resources – people, time and money. A program works best when learning and development are paired with the subject matter experts in the organization. In addition, the effort to maintain and support the program should be driven by the employees, with the aid of the training department. The training department’s main focus should be responding to business needs and providing expertise on adult learning methods. Internal education programs can be tied directly to a customer need or current project to ensure the training is as cost-effective and beneficial as possible for both the individual and company. For example, when further learning is needed to meet the customer expectation, employees and the learning and development department can pair up to create learning solutions for employees on the team. The curriculum or training module is developed once the employees with specific knowledge and direction identify the customer requirement. Once created, these internal learning resources can be maintained and updated on the company’s network or intranet site that also includes, assignments, resources and blogs that allow employees to connect, share, find support and continue to learn on their own time and at their convenience. While building such an internal resource takes time, it ultimately will become an invaluable, readily available tool that saves time and money. We have found that this type of application creates a learning environment that truly fosters adult learning methods and supports an active, progressive and impactful learning solution. In our organization, employees, with the support of the training department, have taken ownership of learning. Our program features a balance of face-to-face and virtual online sessions. Our employees are more adept at immediately and appropriately reacting to the growing needs of their customers while fueling the growth of our organization because BBN training is designed around customer needs. And, it also has improved younger employee retention by providing them with an increased skill set, a greater connection to the company, the ability to make real impacts on our business, and the tools needed to address even the most complex customer requirements and demands. When asked about their experience with our internal training program, one young BBN scientist stated, "The training and mentoring I've received from internal BBN instructors has been immediately beneficial to my current efforts." He added, "Being intimately familiar with BBN's customers, culture and needs has allowed the instructors to tailor the content to maximize its relevance to my situation. Whether discussing a computer science R&D project or delving into the details of business development regarding a specific funding organization, BBN internal instruction has proven unquestionably valuable." |
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