CORPORATE TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT FOR SMES - PART TWO
– Ark Kasa Global Insights

Corporate training and development is an essential component in all organizations, large medium and small. Regardless of the staff strength of an organization, there is the need to have well-trained employees who are competent in executing their job requirements. Training generally is the process that enables people to acquire new knowledge and unlearn old, learn new skills and perform behaviours in a new way.

Globalization and technologically-driven innovations compel workers be adaptable and well equipped in order to remain relevant in their organizations. Hence the need for corporate training. Staff who have been trained in professional and technical fields need periodic trainings to keep up with new trends and best practices.

Having understood the essence of corporate training and training types from the first of this two part article, we continue by exploring the challenges SMEs face when it comes to corporate training and proffered solutions to these challenges.

CHALLENGES

The challenges facing SMEs are numerous and often lead to high failure rates in the delivery products and services. One proven way of addressing these setbacks is by offering tailored corporate training to SMEs.

Statistics however reveal that employees of SMEs are often disadvantaged when it comes to training as compared to their counterparts in larger, well-established companies. SME jeopardies in training can be highlighted in terms of their scale and institutional capacity, and the economic nature of training.

Some challenges SMEs encounter that hinder corporate training include the staff size which is usually small leading to a high training cost per worker compared with larger institutions. Tailored training for specific roles is sometimes problematic due to the fact that some SME workers carry out multiple roles and serve in diverse functions within the organization.

These financial, human, knowledge and institutional constraints affect training programmes in SMEs which can have a resultant effect on company growth and productivity.

THE WAY FORWARD

In spite of the above, the effect of not training supersedes that of training primarily because it helps organizations respond to the dynamic market conditions and changing consumer demands.   Despite the setbacks organizing corporate training by SMEs present, these can be surmounted via the following ways. Financial cost of training can be curbed by

• Identifying which employees really need training and focus the training on the immediate needs of these employees,
• Putting training online so employees can view it on their own time and as they need it.
• Informing employees about university or corporate courses and other training that is available on the Internet for free.
• Reusing training materials when it is not a violation of copyright.
• Providing the training in-house rather than contract with outside trainers.

ARK KASA… THINK DIFFERENT!!!

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