Why training is necessary in the workplace

What is the future of training and development?  My biggest predictions for the future of training and development is that more organizations are going to start making it routine for their employees.  In the past organizations have avoided the concept because they didn’t feel it was needed or a worthwhile investment.  Training, none the less employee development was a word you might have heard around the office on a regular basis.  Lately it has become a regular practice among organizations and they are starting to realize the benefits it brings to them.  Why I think it is going to only become bigger in the future, is because people are going to start to understand the different components that should be involved in a training.  Once they understand what truly is involved in a good training program, they will have a better understanding of its benefits.  Organizations are also going to have a better idea of when training is even necessary.  I think right now since training is such the thing to do, most organization are just having it to say their involved in training their employees.  Although most of the time these training programs are not developed correctly or even needed.  If businesses are going to want to retain their employees, then their idea and involvement with development will have to become a priority. 

I think the way our job duties our changing these days, they just require training to be a necessity.  These days our least skilled jobs require the employee to have some degree of knowledge that wasn’t expected of lower level positions a few years ago.  Technology is becoming a huge factor in every possible position, requiring employee to gain a sense of how to use it.  This is where the need for training comes into play for the organization.  To further develop their employees, they are going to have to accommodate the use of technology with the required training.        

Should we ever start to differentiate between management positions and leadership positions?  Should organizations start positing positions with the title Leader instead of Manager?  There is a huge difference between what a manager does and what a leader does.  So why do we typically include their duties in one position?  I know we would like for someone who has the power to supervise employees to be capable of taking on leadership traits and these traits are looked for in a managerial candidate, but not all managers make good leaders.  Personally, it is hard to have someone in authority over you who you can respect as a leader.  It makes it that much harder to take direction from them.  A leader is someone who has the capability to motivate me, encourage my efforts, and show a strong sense of support for my involvement with the organization.         

I have had several supervisors in the past that weren’t capable of producing managerial and leadership qualities.  At my previous job, my last supervisor viewed his position as manager as a way to realize all of his ideas and not feel obligated to take into consideration the opinions of others.  He saw himself in a position to control people, instead of taking opportunities to develop his employees.  As a result he had little respect from his assistant managers and very little good reception to his implemented ideas. 

Diversity is apparent in a majority of organizations today.  The employment of the organization is either very diverse or the organization contracts out work to headquarters in foreign countries.  At some point in your career you are going to have to face diverse situations.  It is becoming more and more important for us to be accepting of these notions of diversity.  Whether it is having to attend a diversity training or being sent to work in foreign divisions.  I think in today’s world, in order to be successful or place yourself in a position to advance you have to show acceptance of diversity. 

The other day I found myself angry with someone I haven’t even met before.  I was talking with some coworkers who have been in my department longer than I have about flex time the other day and how I wished it was an option.  They made me aware of how it use to be option several years ago, but certain employees were taking advantage of the luxury.  Therefore, leading the department to stop allowing employees to utilize flex time.  The lives of people today are much more complicated than what an 8-5 job allows.  We are a becoming a society of people who find themselves doing a million things at once, in what seems to be a shorter amount of time. All the stresses I incur throughout the week would be solved with just an extra hour here in the daytime or an afternoon off once a week.  Two things which would be plausible with a flex time schedule.