A known fact is that giving employees access to quality training on learning and development is critical to assisting a company in establishing and maintaining a competitive stature in today's market. Bersin by Deloitte states that organizations that prioritize employee skill development have 37% more productive workers and are 32% more likely to lead the market. 

However, according to the 2018 Learning Strategy Survey from Brandon Hall Group, firms that match training with their business objectives will at least see a 40% boost in their key business indicators. 78% of firms believe that training should be linked to corporate goals. 

Steps to align training with business objectives

1. Clarify where you see your business in the future: The first step in this strategy is to focus on the vision, mission, and objectives that will make the future of your company attractive. Do you intend to cut your manufacturing time in half? Or double the number of your clients? Make sure to define all of your business objectives in a clear, SMART manner. Simple SMART goals are those that are specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and time-bound.

2. Address the skill gap: Perform a training need analysis (TNA), i.e identify if the training they received so far, has developed the knowledge, skill, and abilities your organization requires or not. If not, then target your training programs in that direction. 

3. Strategically plan training sessions: Setting training and development goals to close the gaps observed during the skill gap analysis is the main focus of this step. Here, the emphasis should be on creating training goals that will assist staff in obtaining the accurate KSAs required to achieve the company's goals. 

Therefore, your training objectives should be to upskill people and utilize the right tools to prevent operational risks. Suppose you are planning to promote the EHS performance of your business. You must choose a tool like Velocity EHS that has been specifically designed for this training. It will ensure you are one step closer to achieving your training objectives. 

1. Provide the training your employees need: It is not only good training that matters. It has to be relevant to the needs of the trainee, and target audience, accessible, and convenient, and only then the training you provide will be worth it. You might think about eLearning depending on which you are training and what knowledge and skills you need them to acquire.

2. Walk them through the process: You may already be aware of how training will assist staff in achieving organizational objectives. Employees must comprehend how completing training contributes to the company's achievement of its learning and development goals and how this advances the company toward its longer-term strategy. Every new talent they acquire enhances their work performance and advances the organization's objective. Employees will be more dedicated to training if they understand why it is necessary. Therefore, try to walk them through all the course material in detail, and also do not forget to explain every step they will be coming across as the training proceeds.

3. Encourage constant skill development: Your staff members will be eager to put their newly acquired information and skills to the test once the training is over. Employees will, however, revert to their previous behaviors if their coworkers and managers do not support them as they try to apply their skills. 

Therefore, foster an environment at work that encourages lifelong learning if you want your training to have a lasting influence on accomplishing learning and development objectives. Employees should be actively encouraged to sharpen their abilities in the workplace right from the start.

1. Track the progress: A multitude of factors, including training completion rates, learner feedback, and performance in training, go into determining the return on training investment. However, monitoring an employee's training progress is a major part of actual training.

Conclusion: 

A company's employees have a direct impact on the attainment of strategic business objectives. Increased sales, enhanced brand recognition, effective production, and competitive advantage depend on employees' knowledge, abilities, and drive to develop. That is why training is crucial, as is its integration with strategic corporate goals. Employees can see the strategic vision and mission operationalized by cascading them down to training and development objectives. And as employees are better able to comprehend how they individually contribute to the achievements of business objectives when training programs are established, try communicating with your trainees to provide them with a satisfactory training process.