>> Lack of Training

No matter who we are or what line of work we have chosen, we have all - at one time or another - worked in a situation where there was a lack of training. We've also worked with people who have experienced a lack of training, and have been served by individuals in other businesses who have obviously had a lack of training. Individuals who have had a lack of training appear in all levels of a business, from salespeople who don't' know the products, to ineffective leaders and managers. Businesses often have important reasons for not providing enough training - or any at all. Most frequently, it is because of the expense of training that they try to make it as minimal as possible.

However, these businesses may not realize that they are actually costing themselves a great deal more in the training that they are not providing than they'd be spending to make certain that the employee knows how to do his or her job to the best of his or her ability. With the growing competition among businesses in every industry, a lack of training in the employees can make the difference between maintaining success, and ultimate failure.

Furthermore, without providing proper training among workers at the lower levels of the company, it is becoming increasingly challenging to find competent people to promote or hire for positions higher up in the corporate hierarchy. And the problem is only getting worse. There is a growing gap between the actual skill levels that an employee has, and the skills that are actually required in order to properly and effectively perform the job for which s/he has been hired.

Though people are constantly and actively training in order to prepare themselves for a new or improved job, a great deal of this training involves general industry knowledge and skills, and nothing that is actually specific to an individual position within a business. This means that a great deal of the training that is being done falls short of what is required to perform the necessary duties of the job, as the lessons learned have been inappropriate, geared to the wrong area, or simply does not involve enough practice. The next problem with the lack of training in businesses is related to the speed at which they want the individual training to occur for any given position.

Since workers in training are frequently paid, but are not contributing directly to the bottom line this process is considered to be quite costly to companies, and they therefore try to rush the training to such a degree that the employee is not able to do their job effectively by the end of the process. This translates into decreased productivity, increased errors, and low employee morale. With such a cost to providing a lack of training, it is therefore well worth a company's while to put a substantial effort into training employees so that they are competent and confident in their jobs. It not only makes them happier, but it translates into dramatic improvements at the bottom line.