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4 Tips to implement L&D program in a startup

Looking for ways to attract and engage your startup employees? As a matter of fact, employees are the backbone of every organization. The more they will stay motivated and concerned, the more productivity they will bring for the business entity. So, the real question is, ‘how will you retain your employees?’ 

Well, a recent study done by PwC, released that by offering adequate L&D (Learning and development) opportunities they can motivate their employees. The study has also shown that with the help of “training and development,” companies have benefited their employers. 

With this mantra, several organizations all over the world are growing massively. In fact, all the big and small organization are shifting their L&D perspective from “nice to have” to “need to have.” 

However, some people think that meeting deadlines and another round to attract clients towards the business is essential rather than motivating employees. So, thy just put off their investment with a clear and immediate ROI. But this is not the right strategy to incorporate your business activities. 

Instead of that, you should invest in L&D programs. This will help to reduce the employee churn, and aid to prepare those employees to move into leadership roles quickly. 

Think about a situation; you have reached a situation where there’s a sudden pressure to scale up your business. What will you do? Obviously, you will ask your employees to do extra work. But will they do it? NO!

Irrespective of your industry type or the demographic of your team members, an engaged employee is a critical component of any business. This can be achieved when your startup embraces L&D programs to make it happen.

4 Tips to implement L&D program in a startup

Here are four ideas to establish an L&D program at your business in order to grow your team and adapt faster:

  • Define your learning objectives

The first and foremost idea before you start investing in the learning and development programs for your business is to clarify the learning objectives of your business. Think about the outcomes you want to accomplish while launching these programs. After all, you have steered a leadership program and want to maximize your interest. You need to ask yourself-

  • Whether you want to reduce the employee churn or not? 
  • What will be your learning objectives for team members?
  • Which programs do you want to launch for your business?
  • Are you thinking about increasing project turnaround? 
  • Do you want to minimize client turnover?

Therefore, align all the goals with the skills your team will need to develop to meet them. You will get the answers you were looking for. 

  • Rotational Programs

What about rotational programs? It’s a common misconception that only in the large companies, the rotational programs work. But this is not true! These programs can be just as effective as in smaller organizations or startups with the same positive impacts on the employees. 

As per the research done by the NACE’s recruiting benchmarks survey, companies that offered rotational programs to their employees had shown a great level of employee retention rate those that didn’t. These programs help the employees to have a broader understanding of how team members should behave in a team. In fact, it also provides insight into how the different units depend on and interact with each other. 

Moreover, these programs also help employees to get rare-in-depth exposure to new types of skills, activities, and jobs. And how the different departments should be aligned to gain more knowledge. What’s more, with these programs, you can motivate your coworkers to interact with each other to gain more knowledge and expose you to new skills. But if you are thinking about the duration of these programs, you can put a cap on the amount of time employees can spend doing rotational activities (i.e., 10% of the workweek).

  • Action Learning Projects

Another connected tip to implement L&D programs in a startup is to start incorporating action projects in the company. Well, it is a program that is assigned to the cross-functional team members to solve a business-wide issue. If you want to keep your employees quite creative, then these projects should be your best choice. 

An ALP is an easy way to provide your employees with a chance to flex creative skills, and critical-thinking muscles. Those skills which they might not be developing on a day-to-day basis in their official roles. But this program is typically made of some components which you need to gather to execute a successful project in the company.

A good ALP typically consists of three main components:

  • A real-life, and often complex, business problem
  • A cross-functional team with a desire to learn and develop new skills
  • An actionable outcome

Do you want to gain these benefits from your business? Then you need to add three main components in this project to gain maximum benefits-

The benefits of this program include- 

  • Increasing customer retention, 
  • Redesigning quarterly firm-wide strategy meetings, and;
  • Transforming the candidate interview experience.
  • Solving some of those ever-present problems.

The companies that promote collaborative working are 5x as likely to be high performing. The more you will create a positive environment for your employees, the more creative thinking they will have to achieve the maximum objectives of your business.

Tip- Before incorporating this project in your company, you need to let your employees know that these projects are meant to be a highly self-regulated process. In order to achieve the maximum benefits out of these programs, they will evaluate the actionable outcomes.

  • Stretch Projects

And last but not least, the tip to implement the L&D project is to start working on stretch projects. Well, these projects are defined as an assignment that is given to the employee’s comfort zone or immediate skill sets. That’s why, this project is known as stretch projects because, that in turn, “stretches” them developmentally. 

These projects are not only an opportunity for the employees to challenge themselves but also to help them become more expertise in new skills and objectives. In fact, it is an excellent way for employers to check out who is in the organization that has leadership potential. The outcomes can be quite impactful to the businesses and are typically cost-neutral.

Moreover, with these stretch projects, you can also leverage the talent you already have in bigger and better ways than you currently have. For instance,- You have an employee who is well-versed with managing the northeast territory of your business for the last seven years. But now, you have to grow your business in southeast ones? What will you do? At the same time, you got an idea that a person has a desire to work over there and has a will to expand your business roots. So, obviously, you will give a chance to that person. 

This presents an opportunity for a stretch project, giving them a chance to tackle the buildout of a new region, while also retaining the talent. And sometimes, you will also feel delighted to know that how many successful ideas are coming at your table to serve as ideal stretch projects which will benefit both the employee and the company.

Final Thoughts!

By now, you would have a better idea about the top four tips to establish L&D programs in a startup to engage and retain more employees. Nowadays, L&D programs have become one of the most important components for the employees. Therefore, it is essential that all the companies, irrespective of size, find a way to incorporate L&D activities.

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