The Value of Simplicity in Employee Training

I wanted to write about something we all can appreciate – the art of simplicity. Innovation doesn’t necessarily need to be complicated. Sometimes, by simplifying the different work processes you can easily come up with new ideas and out-of-the-box solutions to your business problems. That’s why, when it comes to innovation, the best thing a business leader can do is to keep things simple. A recent study from 2012 pointed that, most of the time, complexity is the one responsible for killing innovation at the workplace. When asking respondents to rank 21 of the regular workplace tasks by their simplicity, promoting an “innovative concept” only ranked on the 18th position. In order to boost performance, representatives of large companies need, in parallel with employees, to adopt a creative thinking and find a bridge between communication and strategy implementation, all while keeping things simple. Employees need to “dream with a purpose”. Because they are grounded with daily responsibilities, they can often forget how to think on the long-term. Therefore, they must learn different ways of improving their skills in the future and take action accordingly. They also need to ask questions and provide feedback on their daily activity. You need to identify business problems and through their questions, you can analyze the desires of each team members and take action accordingly. Employees are forced to practice their skills in solving problems in creative and different ways. First, they need to identify what needs to be straightened out, find the problem, then discuss, propose solutions, manufacture their battle plan and try to implement it. There’s always a need for more bailouts. I’ll add here that in addition to simplicity is the importance of relevance in employee training, a topic I wrote about in depth recently. A great tool, to cite one example, is WalkMe.  WalkMe enables learning officers to make sure to connect learning to daily tasks, at the moment of need.  Simplicty and relevancy (and applicability) are closely related to one another. Another challenge for employees is to keep up with are changes. Stability helps.  Therefore, a complicated work environment will not only lead to a decrease in terms of performance, but it will also lower down their creativity levels. That’s why it’s important for business managers to implement simplicity in employees’ everyday tasks. Also, employees must demonstrate that they are resistant. In other words, it is necessary for them to be courageous and tenacious in the face of obstacles. People who are fearless will have an advantage in companies. They can learn to overcome obstacles even by repeating them that “nothing is impossible when you really want it.” Of course, simplicity is a key element in this regard. Currently, the business world is unpredictable. To have a chance of survival, companies today need to show that they know how to cultivate trust and new skills on their employees. To avoid bankruptcy, the employees are forced to adopt a different kind of thinking, be open to change and new ideas that will allow teams and businesses to face a new era full of ups and downs. So, what can business leaders do to keep things simple at the workplace? First of all, they need to communicate employees the values able to unite them. This will help in guiding employees’ behavior towards performance and help them better understand their role inside the company. Just as vital is to constantly find simple ways to engage and encourage employees in their everyday workplace activities, especially on ones that can result in creative ideas. For a business’s profitability, one has to empower employees to investigate new approaches, share ideas, experiment with different means, and even fail if that helps them learn from mistakes. By creating a culture of openness you’ll actually lead the path to innovation. Another thing to be taken into account is the coordination of internal and external resources in such was as to speed up projects’ execution. Put it otherwise, good ideas need to be implemented fast in order to keep employees happy and efficient at their workplace. Nothing kills employees’ desire for creativity than discovering that you fail to implement their ideas. After all, if good concepts are wasted, than what’s the point of creating them? The study also discovered that the company’s mission is clear to most employees, being actually regarded as one of the work’s simplest aspects. However, despite this clarity, many employees deem the opportunities for career growth as highly complicated to understand and reach. So, even if workers understand what the company’s role is, they simply fail to understand how they can advance on the corporate ladder. They also seem to be having difficulties in coping with other workplace-related skills, such as achieved a balance between work and balance or asking for a payment rise. In order for employees to be driven in the right direction, they must have a sense of pride which comes along with the business’s success. Given this aspect, senior leaders need to facilitate the communication with the employees, listen to their queries, and make them feel appreciated in the company. Read more on benefits of employee training.