Mentoring Employees is a Key to Surviving a Recession

Posted on February 23, 2009
Filed Under Talent-Management |

The U.S corporate training market shrunk from $58.5bn in 2007 to $56.2bn last year, the greatest decline in more than 10 years, recent research from California consultancy firm Bersin & Associates recently found. This doesn’t come as a surprise - we have been covering this issue for several months on this blog. But these trends do reinforce another point we have been making: the best way to survive a recession is to focus on your existing employees, invest in their development and train them to sustain the business both in good times and in tough economic times.

A recent post from management-issues.com gave a great perspective on this issue:

“In the current climate it was almost bound to happen. Hard-pressed employers are taking an axe to their corporate training budgets, with spending declining at its fastest rate for a decade. But, while this means there will be less formal training and development of workers being carried out, it can also be seen as a valuable opportunity for managers to get more hands-on in the mentoring and coaching of their staff.

“Research by California consultancy Bersin & Associates has found that over the past year U.S firms have been forced to cut back sharply on their spending on training spending. But this is not so say that training has disappeared completely. In its place there is now more coaching, informal and collaborative learning and increased reliance on using external trainers rather than maintaining expensive in-house training departments.”

Read the full article: “Mentoring your way out of a recession.” As I have said before, the most effective managers are those who understand that there is a difference between management and leadership. They are the ones who are strong leaders and who can bring about change by infecting their employees with a vision for success. What better time than now to focus that extra attention on your top talent? Share your experience and expertise with them, and mentor them into positions of strength so that they can tap into their own creativity and innovation to help sustain your business through the recession.

Once your employees grab hold of your vision, they will fight for it just as hard as they would for their own dreams. In an uncertain economy like the one we are dealing with now, the last thing you want to create is an environment that makes your employees feel expendible and unimportant. This economy creates great opportunity for innovative entrepreneurs and small businesses to thrive. Strong leaders who take the time to invest in their employees will come out on top once the dust settles. If you need to learn more about mentorship or talent development, contact me.

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