It is no longer news that the Delta state government has commenced the training of the next batch of its civil servants who are due for elevation to the prestigious directorate cadre of their careers. The reports indicate that this year’s program is the 21st of its kind in the state’s efforts aimed at ensuring efficient performances at that level of service delivery to the society.
The program is not only commendable but also worthy of emulation by the federal government and other states that are peradventure not yet in the habit of offering such level of human capital development for their work force. There cannot be a better way of improving workers’ output than training and retraining expositions. This is because new ways of doing things evolve at quick intervals in today’s mostly technology-driven economies of the world.
Peter Drucker who is widely regarded as the father of modern management once said that; “Knowledge has to be improved, challenged, and increased constantly, or it vanishes”. As if in agreement with Drucker, a former US president Abraham Lincoln held the view that if he was given six hours to cut down a tree, he would use four hours to sharpen his axe before going into action.
But unfortunately, we have a country where most people end their education after graduation from universities or polytechnics. Apart from a few private companies that provide regular trainings for their employees, many public offices seldom send employees for on-the-job trainings that ensure proper leadership up-bringing.
The importance of training and re-training of staff in any organization cannot be overemphasized. They help to keep trainees abreast with specific organizational goals and aspirations.
Since training at centres of learning such as universities are mostly theoretical in nature, appropriate staff training and development can be deployed to close the knowledge gap between fresh graduates and their counterparts in the field of professional practice, starting with induction courses for newly recruited employees in organisations.
Whether in public or private sector, the employer brand is strengthened by training. When employees have access to learning, they become more competent and better able to achieve results to reach organizational goals. This improves industry standing of the employer which enhances its brand. And this can form basis for potential employees being favourably disposed to seeking employments in such environments that offer further trainings for staff.
Today, knowledge can be relevant in one moment and outdated in the next. Therefore, access to industry-based training has remained a key factor in knowledge improvement and efficient performances amongst workers.
Furthermore, when organizations invest time and money into professional development,there must be significant returns on their investment on manpower.
Workers’ training is one of the motivating instincts that help to ensure low labour turnover in organisations. When workers are regularly nominated for training, they tend to be more confident in their acceptability in their work places and would be more ready to bring out the best in them for the greater good of their set-up.
Training naturally reduces the costs associated with errors in work places. And this in turn can bring about higher levels of performance and profit generation or increased service delivery from government to the people.
When people work in organizations that offer them access to learning, they are more likely to be motivated and engaged. This motivation and engagement lead to innovation, creativity, and an increased willingness to take ownership. Relevant, effective, and accessible training dismantles information barriers. The more the numbers of people that have access to knowledge, the fewer teams or individuals are left in the dark. Democratizing knowledge also increases transparency and prevents anyone from being left behind in responsibilities’ engagements.
There cannot be gainsaying, the fact that any organization that prioritizes training of its workforce will be better positioned and ahead of competitors in terms of innovations. And this is particularly necessary at very top management levels such as the directorate cadres in government offices. At this level of supervisory roles, complex communications assignments such as memo or report writing requiring clarity of purpose becomes mandatory for the employee. This is because information – a key component of management leadership must be of impeccable clarity.
Meanwhile, for trainings to yield the desired results, they must be accompanied by incentives such as off-site allowance, transport allowances, hotel accommodations and feeding. In this regard, it should be placed on records that the current batch of the weekend-based trainees in Delta state is the first set to be paid transport allowances for the duration of the training amongst other incentives. It underscores the high premium placed on workers’ skill development and welfare by the Oborevwori-led government.
However, training of workers must not be restricted to the highly placed individuals alone. It should be expanded to capture others who may not necessarily be due for promotion, especially lower ranks. Those with reasonable traits of leadership can be sent to advanced centres of studies with a view to helping them makeup for opportunities they lacked as youths.
