Training is an ongoing, routine part of business. It's not something done once when a new hire is brought on. It's a process of employee development that will help in the creation of a world-class organization.

Here's an example. Let's say you are enrolled in our Mastery Impact! coaching program. You're being exposed to a whole new way of thinking about your business. You're excited and full of ideas. You have new techniques and tools that you're ready to implement. But when you present those ideas to your staff, they look at you and say, "E-Myth who? What on earth are you talking about, boss?"

If you expect your employees to be on board with your vision; to get excited about new direction, concepts or practices, you must introduce them to these ideas through regular training sessions. Whether you bring in outside trainers, do in-house sessions, or a combination of both like we offer with E-Myth's Virtual Training Seminars, we can not stress enough the importance of continual training. It will keep your staff learning, growing and inspired.

Finding the Time and Resources for Training

At its heart, this can be broken down into two separate issues: time management and resource allocation.

Time Management

Time is an irreplaceable resource. Effective use of your time, more than any other habit, will increase your productivity and your effectiveness as a leader.

There are only 24 hours in a day. This is a universal truth. Yet some people accomplish a great deal more in that day than others. Although most people rarely think of it this way, "time" is simply another word for "life." When you think of it this way, isn't it easy to see why good time management is so critical?

You wouldn't let your employees, clients, vendors, and friends shorten the days of your life, would you? So why do you let them steal your time? Time is your single most precious resource, and it's one that only you can protect. The good news, however, is that learning to manage your time is like any other skill. All it takes is a little practice and a willingness to develop some new habits.

The first step is to understand how much of your time is spent on productive activities that directly contribute to the results you want, and how much of your time is spent unproductively. Start by tracking your time. How do you spend each minute of your day? How long do you spend writing emails, making telephone calls, doing the technical work, and so on? Sometimes, just being aware of how you're spending your time can help you become more efficient in the way you use your time.

You may find that you have to step up your time management skills. You can start this process by tracking and analyzing the way you spend your time - objectively looking at your habits and deliberately choosing more productive habits. By doing this, you can create an ideal daily routine. The ideal daily routine is a daily objective - the way you want your day to unfold. It's a guideline, not an inflexible template.

We hear all the time from business owners who track their time and establish an ideal daily schedule, only to find themselves pulled off their schedule and unable to complete all five of their most important "to do" items. When this happens, begin by acknowledging how many of your five most important "to do" items you actually did accomplish. If you did get some of them done, pat yourself on the back!

Then take a closer look at your ideal daily routine. Did you remember to schedule any buffer time in your day to deal with the unexpected emergencies that are always cropping up, no matter what you do? If it happens every day, first give yourself the time to deal with those issues by putting it on your schedule. Second, give yourself the time to find out why those things came up in the first place. Pay attention to what got in your way. Is there a pattern there? What could you do next time so that disruption won't happen again? Establish a system to deal with those issues.

Developing these skills takes time... and you know just how precious time is. So, as silly as it sounds, what you have to do is schedule time to develop these time management skills. If you don't schedule it, you probably won't get to it. It will get put on a back burner. Eventually, you'll look back and wonder why you never did it. Get in the habit of scheduling time to schedule time.

Once you've gotten good at your time management, you can schedule time to tackle your training systems.

Need help with time management? A good place to start is our online introductory program, E-Myth Essentials™, we offer templates, educational material and a live workshop on Effective Time Management.

So now let's look at finding the resources you need for training.

Resource Allocation

The second issue, resource allocation, is a bit trickier. First identify the necessary resources to provide the training. Do you need a conference room for your training? How many supplies will you need? How many people are involved? What is their time worth? How will this training contribute to the overall goals of the company? Will you conduct the training yourself, or have an outside resource provide the training?

In order to determine what resources you want to devote to training, you will have to determine how much this training is worth to the company. Pay attention to your return on investment. How many sales will you have to make, just to pay for the cost of the training? How many more sales will you have to make to cover the time and materials to conduct the training? What benefit will this training have on your bottom line? How will this training contribute to your overall goals and objectives for the company as a whole? Is it, in a nutshell, worth it?

Armed with this information, you can make an informed decision about the resources you want to devote to your training programs. It's a lot to consider, but the additional time spent thinking and planning will pay off big time. Keep asking questions, analyze the possible results, and carefully evaluate the risks versus the rewards. These are the entrepreneurial traits that move you forward!

Share Your Story

Post a comment below and share your story with us.