Why Should You Invest in Respectful Workplace Training

There are many incentives for organizations to conduct respectful workplace training and an equal number of reasons why they don’t.
I wanted to provide some thoughts for you that examine both sets of rationale within the same list.
The suggestions I want to share with you can be used to justify any organizational training, not just the focus of our work here, which is: the development of Respectful Workplace practices and cultures.

Number 1: To Ensure Understanding

Until you actually sit down with employees in a training environment and allow the flow of ideas, dialogue and perspectives to occur, there’s no way of knowing whether they have understood any of the information in the way you intended it to be understood. They may have heard, but did they understand? The face-to-face training environment allows you to check their understanding and find out!

Number 2: Team Environments are Better

Learning is one of those activities which I believe occurs best in a group setting. We are social creatures and even though some of us opt for e-learning environments out of convenience, there is a body of research which points to the dynamic of a physical training environment being more effective for information retention. Team learning will help achieve this.

Number 3: Employees are Part of a System

Many employees participating in training sessions are initially asking themselves “What’s In This For Me?” There is a need for each person in the room to understand how the information that is being shared fits into their world, and how it is relevant to them. Often, information that is shared within the training session does not stand alone, but is part of a system within the workplace. Training  employees on one part of the system without using it as an opportunity to share how that one part works in conjunction with the rest, is an opportunity lost, and one that may result in the training being less than effective as a result.

Number 4: Mutual View

There is also a need to connect the learning to value for the individual learner, as well as the organization. A desire to meet the needs of a mutual viewpoint will encourage the use of the training opportunity to highlight strategic plans and goals, while acknowledging the fact that every employee has their own personal reasons for working in any particular workplace. Building and maintaining that ‘shared vision’ is crucial to a productive workplace culture, one that supports a respectful environment.

Number 5: Good or Great?

People want to be good at their job. Time and time again when organizational surveys are conducted regarding employee satisfaction and engagement issues, the desire for more training often heads the wish list. Posting the Respectful Workplace policy onto the employee bulletin board in the lunchroom and slipping it into their orientation package and expecting that to satisfy the employee who wants to be great, is not going to cut it. Interactive and participatory training is the answer any day of the week for those organizations that care about the people who work there.