May 16, 2012
Posted by
Matt Gardner
Non-profit organizations may be non-profit in their ideals, but they still have to function as organizations. That means percolating a substantial amount of time and energy into professionally developed training programs that are intended and designed with the purpose of improving the quality of employee education and abilities.
Quality is valued. This should be stressed in any training program, and none know this better than professional training providers. Often, people go into working for a non-profit organization because they believe in the core values and want to aid in making the difference that the organization has set out to make. They are inspired, or at least they were inspired when they first began.
Perhaps they don’t quite comprehend how their training and unique skill set fit into the overall organization, or perhaps they feel undervalued. These are two all too common, yet easily solved problems that many organizations face, but are not always aware of.
Assuring an employee that the work that they do is appreciated, and explaining to them how it contributes to the bigger picture and what difference they specifically are making is crucial to having an energized and motivated staff that is only too happy to come to work. If you want your employees to put in the hundred per cent then you need to put your hundred per cent in them.
This is where professional training programs become useful tools. If developed right, by a qualified team, they are designed to improve employee motivation and quality in a way that generates heightened productivity in the workplace. A well designed training program can teach volumes to any employee and improve their ability to meet the quality of work that the organization is striving to present. Improving employee ability is a tool well worth investing in – an organization is, after all, only as good as the workforce it employs.
The state mandates certain training programs, and these should be viewed as an opportunity rather than an intrusive mandate. A professionally developed training program is an opportunity for an organization to grow and better itself in cohesion. It will ensure that the organization develops as a coherent whole, and not in tangents that splinter the core.
When you pay for training, you get what you pay for. This translates later down the line with you employees. Training an employee is an investment in the future productivity of your organization. It will continue to affect the organization long after the training team has departed.
If you consider that an employee who has been trained badly will pass on this faulty training to everyone they meet and talk to within your organization, you can see how that amounts to a fairly serious problem – much worse than the initial cost of hiring a professional training team. It makes sense to invest at the beginning, and the domino effect will only mean that you continue to reap the rewards later on.
Non-profit organizations are deeply affected by the people they hire, and like all people they are endowed with those qualities that come with being human. Humans react like sponges to information, the good as much as the bad, and they pass on that information. Invest in good information and good training so that your organization’s ideals continue to prosper and benefit your purpose.