A manager wears many hats within an organization. Managers are charged with ensuring that work gets done and certain goals are met. Toward this end, they are assigned employees who will get the work done.
Managers must manage the workloads of their employees, escalating issues that require help from higher up and facilitating employees’ ability to get their day-to-day jobs done. The manager’s role also involves an employee development element, which includes, among other things, providing feedback and conducting regular reviews.
But what about training?
Who Is Responsible for Training?
To what extent should an employee’s manager be engaged in training that employee? According to Nikos Andriotis, “many companies hire professional trainers to tackle employee learning and development, despite training being a core management responsibility.” But although hiring external trainers is common, it’s not necessarily the best approach.
Andriotis offers several reasons in support of managers’ being more closely involved in employee training. Let’s look at three in particular.
Deeper Insight into Employees
Managers are uniquely positioned to have an in-depth knowledge of their employees’ strengths and weaknesses. An outside trainer or even a trainer employed full-time by the company won’t have as deep an understanding of the training needs of an employee.
Create Opportunities for On-the-Job Practice
“New skills and knowledge gained during training simply won’t stick if learners don’t get a chance to apply them in the workplace,” says Andriotis. “In other words, companies run the risk of wasting a significant portion of their training investment if employees aren’t given the opportunity to practice.”
Set Training and Performance Goals
Managers know what skills are missing in their groups. Therefore, they are in a perfect position to set the training and performance goals for their group.
For example, an outside trainer might be prepared to teach a general collection of skills related to a specific industry, whereas the manager might know that skills A, B, and C are truly needed and can be in the best position to evaluate progress.
Managers have many hats to wear, and sometimes adding training into the mix can seem like piling on too much additional responsibility. However, the fact that managers and their groups are the intended beneficiaries of employee training is a strong reason to involve managers in those efforts.