4 Training Considerations When Scaling Your Business

Are you ready to scale your business sustainably to reach new customers and thrive long-term? If so, investing in employee training should be a top priority. 

Employees trained with the up-to-date skills and knowledge they need to be successful will provide your business with the skilled support it needs to expand its operations. Plus, according to employee training research, companies are 17% more productive when employees receive ideal training.

From implementing learning programs at your business to investing in voluntary professional development opportunities, here are four training considerations to make before scaling your business up. 

1. Align training practices with long-term goals.

Scaling your business requires setting long-term goals and structuring your team to support those goals. Where do you hope to be in five or ten years, and how can employees support your ambitions with expanded skill sets?

For example, your long-term goals may include: 

• Financial goals: After several years in operation, you may be ready to elevate your business to a higher revenue bracket. Training employees in sales tactics and client management can support financial growth goals, helping you grow revenue year over year. 
• Product/service expansion: For instance, perhaps your web design business is ready to expand into new service areas, such as branding, digital marketing, and SEO optimization, to serve its clients' needs better. Employees may need to learn about these topics from scratch or refresh previous lessons to align with the business’s new direction. 
• Community brand awareness: For example, let’s say you run a dog daycare business, and you’re looking to expand your marketing efforts in your local area. Gingr’s dog business marketing guide recommends refining your business’s unique value proposition and designing high-quality multichannel marketing content to promote your distinct characteristics. So, if you’re the only dog spa in town that offers physical therapy and massages for senior pups, spread awareness of this unique service. 
• Team growth goals: To support your business growth, you may need to hire new team members. Consider whether you’ll need to train current employees to manage these new hires. 

Thinking strategically about how employees will fit into your future business structure will allow you to direct their training and development toward skills that support your goals. 

2. Leverage existing internal resources.

What training platforms and subject matter experts do you already have within your organization? Looking to your internal resources first for training opportunities allows you to: 

• Create tailored training materials that fit your business’s needs. By growing your internal tech stack and developing a custom training program, you can be sure the learning material you offer employees aligns with your training goals. This specificity ensures you won’t be paying for training resources you don’t need. 
• Save money that would otherwise be spent on investing in external training. Explore your existing learning management system, video training courses, and staff-created training materials to avoid paying for third-party training services. Ensure you’re making the most of each training solution you already have access to. For example, connect with your business software provider to see if they have additional training resources to help employees use the tool more easily. 
• Build up your internal training resources to show employees that you are invested in their careers. This will show them your dedication to their professional growth and success, boosting their job satisfaction and retention. 

Investing in your internal training infrastructure will give you the strong foundation you need to keep employees informed and up to date on best practices as you level up your business. 

3. Cross-train employees.

Cross-training employees offers greater flexibility to your business, ensuring you aren’t overly dependent on a handful of employees to complete critical tasks. Employees also receive a more well-rounded view of how the company operates. The full team will run more smoothly when they can visualize how their role interacts with others. 

Provide the resources and opportunities to upskill current members so they can become more effective in their current roles. For example, a dog boarding business can help its receptionist get certified to manage the business’s dog daycare software and groom dogs to provide extra support on busy days. This additional training can help the business work through the inevitable growing pains of scaling up. 

If you eventually need to bring on new team members to reach your growth goals, make sure your hiring process emphasizes any specific needs you have for multi-skilled employees. 

4. Promote continuous learning.

94% of employees indicated they would stay at a company longer if it invested in their ongoing career development, demonstrating the importance of offering continuous learning to your staff. 

As Double the Donation’s employee engagement guide explains, “Providing regular training opportunities allows employees to continuously grow in their roles and industry knowledge.” 

Facilitate ongoing learning at your business by taking the following steps: 

• Hold workshops to cover new skills, industry breakthroughs, emerging technologies, etc. 
• Facilitate quarterly or weekly meetings where employees raise questions, cover changes in the industry, and discuss current best practices. 
• Subscribe to an online learning/upskilling platform that employees can access whenever they want to participate in extra training. 
• Incentivize learning by offering gift cards, certificates/credentials, and small prizes. 
• Develop a mentorship program for newer employees to learn from more experienced ones. 

During these ongoing learning opportunities, remind employees how their training impacts long-term business goals to keep them motivated. For example, if one of your goals is to scale up revenue, provide ongoing updates about progress toward yearly revenue goals and shout out employees who go above and beyond to support these efforts. 

Scaling up your business can be exciting yet challenging. By empowering your team with the right tools and teaching optimal skills, you can provide employees with a transformative experience and achieve your objectives without breaking the bank.

About the Author

Gingr’s story began in a bustling dog daycare and boarding business. Amid sticky notes, paper calendars and whiteboards, the general manager partnered with a talented software developer who frequently brought his dogs, including his beloved Ginger, to the daycare. Together, they envisioned a better way to manage pet-care businesses. Learn more at: https://www.gingrapp.com/