Our Executive Consultant and Employee Experience subject matter expert, Mike Hill, just returned from trekking Mount Kilimanjaro. While away, Mike realized there are similarities between what a hiker experiences while attempting Kilimanjaro and what employees experience in their day-to-day work. Mike will share his thoughts in the coming editions of our First Friday newsletter.

For both the hiker and the employee, “training” is mandatory to reach their goal. In the case of someone attempting Mount Kilimanjaro, the training program starts months before the hike. With our employees, it’s ongoing training to get them to perform at the desired level and that training may need to be daily, weekly, or at least monthly, on an ongoing basis.

Here’s the training program that most of the hikers on my trek tried to adhere to. We all started January 1^stfor our mid-July hike. The goal was to train four days a week. Our activities consisted of hiking, any kind of cardio activity, weightlifting, and the correct combination of sleep and food. Since Indianapolis is so flat (elevation 830’) you really must seek out parks and different areas to give your legs the uphill and downhill work out. In my case, many days I would hike over to the local high school and then “hike” the stadium steps. (the photo shows what I call Mount Arlington).

Cardio work included bike riding, jogging and swimming on those days when you weren’t hiking. Weight training and yoga both were important for building up our sturdy balance base. When you are hiking for 6-8 hours a day, even a 15-20 pound pack on your back can throw you off balance.

When exercising four days a week, it was very important to get the correct amount of sleep and nutrition to keep yourself both mentally and physical ready for the trek.

 Similarly, employee training needs to be ongoing. The business world is constantly changing so you and your employees must be up-to-speed on several topics.

Isn’t it interesting that some professions (accountants, physicians, lawyers) need to have yearly continuing education credits to keep their license, but other professional positions do not?

So, what do your employees need to perform at a higher level? The areas of training that employees need generally are different from organization to organization. Some areas might be: Goal Setting, Active Listening, Time Management, Leadership, Sales, Customer Service, just to mention a few. Really good training programs focus on what the organization needs from its employees, and what the employees need to meet the organization’s goals.

If you need help in asking/surveying your employees to determine what type of, and how often they need training, we can help. Addressing your employees training needs makes them more productive, making your organization more successful.

Contact us to learn more!