Why is training so valuable? We learn all the time while we go about our daily work and for us in particular we are constantly working with clients who have different types of business and different needs. Our responsibility to our clients is to know, as far as we can, the HMRC rules which could affect each of our clients. From knowing what expenses can be claimed to whether employees are receiving a benefit from the expenses they claim. We need to understand VAT rules not only in relation to the UK but also overseas sales and purchases and the VAT implications of those.
As individuals no-one can know everything but as a team we can share our knowledge with each other giving us a much greater capacity to help our clients. Sharing knowledge and experiences is really important to us and once a year we spend a whole day together out of the office sharing knowledge and learning something new.
Our recent training day was an opportunity for everyone to research and present a topic which would be of interest and of value to the rest of the team. The topics opened up discussion in relation to good practice and in some cases some specific situations. This is so valuable because as the business owner it ensures I am aware of particular situations but it also enables me to discuss best practice with the team.
Our training day covered a multitude of topics from payroll to business entertaining, from customer service to VAT, from expenses and benefits to marketing. Every topic was valuable although interestingly the one presentation which wasn't enjoyed was a webinar. That feedback form was valuable in itself because I now know that my team respond better to training from each other than from a webinar.
And from the feedback form I found out what they enjoyed most about the day - being out of the office, spending time together and sharing information and experiences. It was a day for the team and for learning and so important.
For me it was valuable to be able to get the team's thoughts on the services we are offering to our clients and the development of those services. Everyone has different ideas and its good to be able to gather their ideas and work towards implementing some of them.
Last year we finished our training day with a social evening but this year we are having a separate social evening giving us another opportunity to spend time together outside of work. I highly recommend both a training day and a social event as it helps to build a great team.
