Published on 19/10/2017 by Any Business.Com.Au

Skilling up to stay competitive

Developing your skills and the skills of your employees can help to keep your business competitive.

Investing in skills and training can increase productivity and innovation, help you attract and retain high quality employees and improve customer satisfaction.

Take the time to work out what skills will help your business grow and what support is available for your business.

Assess the skills in your business

A good first step is to assess the skills in your business so you can create a training plan.

A skills assessment of you and your employees can help you work out:

• the existing skills and abilities in your business

• areas where existing skills and knowledge could be improved

• areas where you or your employees would like to gain new skills.

Talk to your employees about the sorts of skills they think might help them do their job more effectively.

Work out the skills your business needs

So you've worked out the existing skills in your business and what your employees are interested in. Your next step is to identify the skills your business needs.

It's a good idea to refer to your business plan when you do this, because you should think about your future needs as well.

You might also want new skills to improve existing processes. For example, if you manage your stock manually, but would like to make the process more efficient, you could think about training an employee (or yourself) in online stock management systems.

The gap between existing skills and the skills your business needs should be where you focus your energies.

Create your business training plan

Creating a training plan for your business can help you achieve your business goals. You'll need to think about:

• what your priorities are

• how your skills gaps can be best filled

• how much money and time you can invest in skilling up your business

• what type of training your employees are interested in

• what type of training is available in your area.

You should explore your training options when working out your training plan to make sure you've considered everything on offer, including formal training, apprenticeships and traineeships, workplace mentoring, government courses, and free online learning.

You may find that some gaps are best filled by hiring consultants or by employing new staff.

Create individual training plans with your employees

Once you have your business training plan, create an individual training plan with each of your employees to let them know you value their skills development.

Once you have a plan in place for each employee, you can regularly review how their skills have improved and if there are further opportunities for development.

AnyBusiness.com.au

Curtis is a leading expert in the business-for-sale industry, serving as a senior content creator at anybusiness.com.au.

With a career spanning over fifteen years, Curtis has accumulated extensive knowledge in the domain of business sales, acquisitions, and valuations. His deep understanding of market dynamics and his ability to translate complex industry jargon into accessible insights make him a trusted resource for entrepreneurs and business owners looking to buy or sell businesses.

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