CASE 2 - Learning and development

In today´s working environment, employees have to learn and digest new skills all the time to keep up with the developing world and even demanding circumstances. Therefore it is very important for companies to build a training tools and principles for their staff to keep their competitive edge in the market.

Restaurant chains Nando´s and McDonalds have come up with their own ways to train their employees and keep them motivated. These companies clearly realize how important it is to have effective training strategies. Training the staff does not only improve their own motivation and performance, but it enhances the working culture and togetherness along with other benefits such as lowering the employee turnover and create more revenue.

Nando´s has four different staff training programmes which all have won National Training Awards. Pollitt (2013) emphasis the fact that Nando´s have been able to keep its ´family´ feel over the years despite the rapid growth of the business. Nando´s has different training programmes for managers and new employees. For managers, Nando´s arrange for example workshops and coaching sessions. For new employees they have created ten days long on-site training which focuses on Nando´s values, food hygiene, health and safety issues, using equipment and team building. (Pollitt 2013.) 

Since Nando´s started their training programmes, revenue has grown from £20 million to £90 million, 90 percent of employees states they enjoy their work and targets have been exceeded with average mystery-shopper and operational checks. (Pollitt 2013.)

McDonalds has utilised technology in training staff. Milne (2016) states in Diginomica´s article that McDonals has used gamification since 2011 first to train new employees to use tills when over 50 000 people used it resulting to reduce costs worth half a million £ when they haven´t had to use work force to train employees. 

McDonalds training game to use tills

I think Nando´s is a good example how corporate training is done successfully. They have clear training systems and Pollitt (2013) tells that management training has has a designated goals for training such as increasing self-awareness and learning to tolerance difference in other people. 

In my own career I have seen different ways to train employees, or what happens when training does not happen at all. I have noticed that having clear common rules and principles for training is crucial in larger companies. If there are not common rules for training or daily procedures, the staff and also customers will suffer. I have experienced situations where different managers have different rules for common practicalities inside the company and that makes employees feel like they are unequal compared to other employees. I have also worked in companies where the training has been neglected. As a salesperson this affected my confidence (because of lack of information and encouragement) in approaching the customers which then impacts the businesses profitability.

Today McDonalds uses gamification to train its managers through a virtual 3D replica of new restaurants. This training method´s goal is to challenge managers to think differently in demanding situations which require fast decsion making. In the game one can see immediate results of his/hers decisions and this way improve his/hers thinking. (Milne 2016.)

Using gamification has its benefits and disadvatages. Playing games for learning can also lead to a misuse when games are played just for fun and not for work purposes any longer. After misuse happened, Mark Reilly, UK head of corporate training in McDonalds tells that he has been inspired by author Dan Pink to improve McDonalds training methods. Dan Pink who introduced three main things that motivate employees to learn; autonomy as liking the feel of control, mastery as wanting to get better at things and purpose, feel of doing something that matters. (Milne 2016.)

How a successful training programme is built then? Gomez-Mejía, Balkin and Cardy (2016) different stages of a well structured training programme and its different dimensions. Training process consists of three parts; need assessment, delevopment and conduct of training and evaluations part. Each part has important things to consider when designing training. It also highlighted how important it is to see the relation between the training and work. Training should also be in line with the company´s organizational goals. (Gomez-Mejía, Balkin and Cardy 2016, 265-269.)

In the need assessment phase questions that help to determine if the training is relevant are for instance; is training a solution to the problem?, Are the aims of the training clear and understandable?, Is training a good investment? (estimating what is the return of investment in training) and will the training work for the purposes expected? (Gomez-Mejía, Balkin and Cardy 2016, 267.)

Military simulation training

Development and conduct of training responses to question; what an employee will know, do and not do after training is finished? There are different approaches to implement training. Training can be done on-the-job or off-the-job meaning while working or outside the workplace. A few ways to present training material can be slides and videos, simulations and for example commonly used in military purposes, virtual reality tools. (Gomez-Mejía, Balkin and Cardy 2016, 272-275.) 
Then the type of the training is decided, is it for example commonly used skills training where new skills are acquired, retraining where already learned skills are improved or maybe crisis training when employees prepare for possible crisis situations (Gomez-Mejía, Balkin and Cardy 2016, 276-279.) 

Evaluation part is important because then the outcome of the training is measured. Success can be measured in monetary or non-monetary ways. When evaluating how successful the training was, it is good to go back and review the aims of training. If the training was measured to be successful, it increases motivation to continue training staff.

In my mind corporate training could be improved in many workplaces. For instance engaging employees in different stages of the process and coming up with more creative learning methods can be beneficial. Inbound marketing manager Simek (2018) states that about 23% of employees quit their job due to poor training and development opportunities. This shows how important it is to put effort into training, no matter if we are talking about new employees or older ones. Simek (2018) also roots for using gamification in training when the game could provide a reward when certain tasks are completed in time motivating to continue training. 

Simek also gives an example on Finnish company Supercell which is highly profitable. Supercell encourages all employees to take part in the whole process when for example building a new mobile game and they appreciate and use feedback given by the employees to develop their practises. Supercells´ CEO Ilkka Paananen believes that the game developers in the company should be the superstars, not the leaders. (Simek 2018.) 

I also believe that the employees are the superstars who can change the company, their profitability and other factors of success if employees feel appreciated, equal and heard.

References:

´Super-sized gamification for training-McDonald´s is lovin´ it´: https://diginomica.com/2016/06/08/super-sized-gamification-for-training-mcdonalds-is-lovin-it/

´Nando´s tastes success through training: Expanding restaurant firm retains a family feel´ : https://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/full/10.1108/09670730610656879

Gómez-Mejía L., Balkin D., Cardy R. 2016. Managing Human Resources. Pearson Education Limited. Harlow.

https://blog.userlane.com/5-innovative-employee-training-techniques-to-consider/

Nando´s restaurant picture https://www.west-quay.co.uk/dining/food-drink/nandos-south 

McDonalds game pircture http://www.elearningsuperstars.com/project/till-training-game/ 

Military training picture https://www.monch.com/mpg/news/simulation/370-i-itsec-2016-meggitt-training-systems-est-ii-and-fats-100e.html

Ilkka Paananen picture https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2016/06/13/supercell-boss-vows-clash-of-clans-maker-will-never-consider-ipo/