The Finance and Banking sectors are very complex when it comes to training. From entry level employees, all the way to senior managers, training is vital to master the key processes of these fast paced, data driven sectors. Knowing how to implement an effective training plan is key to ensuring continued business growth and personal development. This article will cover 5 top training tips that all businesses in the financial and banking sector need to know.
1: Understand Strengths And Weaknesses
To understand who will benefit the most from financial training courses, a business must conduct an audit of their employees. This review should highlight the key strengths and weaknesses of each employee, to understand the areas they need to improve on. Providing that there are no major gaps in knowledge, this review can be informal. Ensuring that each employee understands that training is there to help them and the business grow, will increase compliance and limit resistance to training. Employees at all levels of the business should be reviewed. No matter their experience, there is always room to learn more.
2: Assess Business Capabilities
Financial and banking training can be a time consuming and expensive task. Therefore, before any decisions are made, a business must assess their capabilities. Resources including training budgets and availability of staff must be carefully considered to create an effective financial training plan. This will help identify which training methods are ideal for the situation and business goals. For example, a business with a large budget may look at hiring consultants, or sending employees on financial training courses. On the other hand, companies with smaller budgets could look at implementing mentoring or internal training processes. Logistics must also be considered. With training taking up a large amount of time, staff must be able to keep up their workloads while simultaneously focusing on their training. This will take a high level of organisation, but is worth it to implement a strong training plan.
3: Limit Resistance To Change
Resistance to change is an important part of any training plan in the financial or banking sector. Many employees, especially those at senior level, may be against further training. This can be for a number of reasons including ego, or wanting to focus on their work. It is therefore vital to limit resistance to change as much as possible. This can be managed through having those in leadership positions take the lead. With senior members of staff on board, the rest of the company will soon follow. Leading by example is extremely important to reduce resistance to change, as well as keeping up working relationships within the business. Companies can also push the benefits of training, including career advancement, technical knowledge and personal development.
4: Identify Key Added Value Opportunities
Understanding the cost/benefit ratio for financial training is very important when identifying the correct employees to take forward for training. One of the key factors to understand is that training has value beyond just increasing knowledge. By sending employees on financial training courses, the business is gaining value through increased work efficiency which will lead to better results and more revenue in the long run. However, this will only work if key employees are identified that will benefit the business the most. These are typically either lower level employees, who need the technical knowledge to improve their work processes, or those in leadership roles that need to be an authority figure on certain topics. Finding a mix of employees will ensure that the business is adding the most value possible.
5: Develop Internal Training Processes
Training and personal development should be a continuous process for any financial business. While a single training push will help the business grow, standard training processes need to be integrated into the foundations of the business. The HR department should be a key point of contact for all training needs. There should be standard training plans put in place for each department, especially for new employees that need to learn complex information as quickly as possible. While it will take time to implement these processes, it is worth it to ensure that training is an ongoing process for employees of all levels.
Overall, training in the financial and banking sector can be complex. Following these 5 top tips will ensure cost effective and valuable training for all employees for any financial business.
