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What’s it: Behavioral training is training related to employee interpersonal skills such as communication skills, conflict management, empathy, and time management. The workplace doesn’t just require your employees to be skilled at technical tasks. But, it also requires them to be good at interacting with the people around them or show positive behavior. And, this training, for one, aims to improve their interpersonal skills. So, for example, they can communicate well and constructively with other people, both internally and externally.
Why is behavioral training important?
Technical and non-technical skills are equally important. For example, if your employees have strong technical skills, they can quickly get the job done without compromising quality. Meanwhile, their non-technical skills, such as communication, support a positive work culture and environment.
Effective communication and greater connectedness among teams can make important contributions to improving your company’s performance. That’s because social interactions and interpersonal relationships play an important role in creating synergy between them. If they synergize, your company can get greater benefits.
In addition, your company also needs good behavioral skills to maintain interpersonal relationships with external parties such as customers and suppliers. For example, customers may not only pay attention to the products you sell. Yet, they also consider how your employees approach and communicate with them, affecting their judgment. Therefore, when your employees are courteous, they could be happy and more willing to maintain a partnership with your company in the future.
Thus, the skills to behave effectively and constructively become an intangible asset to form core competencies, leading to competitive advantage. It is hard to imitate because it is inherent in individuals and organizations, shaping your company’s daily life culture. For example, your competitor hijacks your key employee. They may find it difficult to develop a similar work environment and culture because it is not inherent in one or two of your employees but across the entire organization.
Then, behavioral training also helps your company address skills gaps before they arise more serious problems. In addition, it equips them with non-technical skills, which are important in building confidence and being proactive. Thus, they become better individuals, not only for themselves but also for their work environment.
What are the types of behavioral training?
Behavioral training teaches non-technical and intangible skills, requiring consistency to be effective over time. It can take many types.
Dividing by purpose or training material is one way to classify behavioral training. For example, it teaches communication, creativity, honesty, time management, organizing, and conflict resolution skills. Meanwhile, the training method can be through instruction, practice, modeling, and feedback.
Communication. These skills are essential in interpersonal relationships with colleagues and external parties such as customers, suppliers, and regulators. It doesn’t just include face-to-face communication. But, it also includes non-verbal communication such as via email. And, in a broader sense, it’s not just for everyday chats or discussions, but also for negotiations and presentations.
Conflict management. Disagreements and office politics often lead to conflict. If left untreated, it creates a detrimental work environment. Your employees cannot collaborate because each is concerned with their own ego.
Conflict management training helps your company develop conflict resolution before it worsens. It’s learning how to approach others comfortably and compromise differences of opinion.
Empathy. It’s not just about showing compassion and sadness when your employees get into trouble. But, it involves a deeper feeling of understanding why they have the problem and how you can help them.
Such skills are important in leadership roles. Leaders who show affection and sincerity to their subordinates will strengthen their relationship. As a result, leaders find it easier to direct subordinates toward goals. On the other hand, subordinates are eager to do it because they feel the leader cares about them.
Time management. With good time management, your employees can be more productive. Often, they must prioritize and allocate time as best they can when faced with multiple roles and tasks. They have to manage their time and workflow to get it all done.
Conversely, your employees will find it difficult to complete their daily work without good time management. Their work and duties piled up. Finally, it increases stress and makes their productivity decrease.
What are the advantages of behavioral training?
Behavioral training helps your company to increase employee productivity, for example, through better communication, conflict resolution, and time management. In addition, good behavior plays a role in creating a better understanding of the team’s roles, responsibilities, and synergies.
Communication. Good and constructive communication leads to better relationships with colleagues and external stakeholders. It not only leads to a better understanding between them but also your company’s performance.
Conflict management. Conflict resolution is important to avoid or resolve friction and conflict before it gets worse. In addition, it creates a positive work environment where your employees can synergize.
Empathy. This creates a bond between your employees to work well together to achieve a common goal. Moreover, it encourages loyal employees, so your company is more flexible to empower them towards a shared goal.
Time management. Your employees can complete assignments and work on time without sacrificing quality, even when your company is busy.
Apart from encouraging more productive employees, behavioral training also brings external insights and perspectives to your company. Often, employees are too focused and serious on routines and don’t see the day-to-day problems they face from an outsider’s point of view. Therefore, this training can open their horizons by looking at problems within the company from an external point of view. And it can give rise to new approaches or ideas.
Effectiveness is another advantage. Your employees may seek references for solving everyday problems, perhaps by reading or watching videos. It is one-way.
On the other hand, through training, their references are more interactive where they can ask questions or discuss with the trainer or other participants. Hence, it can be more effective than self-study.
What are the disadvantages of behavioral training?
Behavioral training can be boring. In certain cases, the trainer may present material for a long hour, usually on relevant theory. They then encourage participants to practice over and over for the skills just discussed. This method can bore some participants, even before they practice.
Other disadvantages of behavioral training are:
Temporary effect. Your employees need consistency to benefit from the training. Without consistency, benefits may only have short-term effects. For example, time management requires your employees to be disciplined in applying the knowledge gained. Otherwise, they are likely to revert to old habits.
Irrelevant. Training often relies on models, which are simplified day-to-day situations. Thus, your employees may benefit and can apply the training outputs in one situation but not in another. In addition, if they are too strict in applying the training material, it limits their free-thinking and creativity when facing problems other than those being trained.
