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The labor market will be tight through the end of the decade, making employee recruiting and retention difficult. Boosting the output of employees is the best strategy for coping with the difficult labor environment. The three strategies for productivity improvement are better tools, better training and better management. This article focuses on how training can help employees produce more.

Training can be a drag on productivity. Most corporate employees have sat through dull, boring training sessions that did not help their work abilities but did subtract from productive time. Value comes from the right training for the right employees at the right time.

Selecting the most useful training is like upgrading tools to boost employee productivity: Workers’ thoughts about their needs should be combined with expert opinion. An added twist to training is that it can help employees in their current roles as well as prepare them for future roles.

The process will vary depending on whether a particular task is performed by just one worker or by many. A business might have hundreds of customer service representatives but just one treasury manager. For the large occupation, a sample of conversations can identify training needs that employees perceive. For the lone job, an individual conversation must be held.

When beginning the conversation, the manager’s tone should stress the company’s desire to help the employee rather than dissatisfaction with current performance. Some employees will be able to say exactly what additional training would help them perform their job better. In many or most cases, though, the employee won’t be able to describe the training needed. The supervisor should discuss the particular tasks that seem to take a lot of time, either time to do the job or time to get it done right.

This is where expertise in training resources comes into play. The manager—or another person familiar with training options—should identify the particular training that would help the employee.

For groups, it will certainly be the case that not everyone needs the same training. For a new software system, maybe everyone needs to start with the same training program. But some will catch on quickly, while others will need longer training. Individualizing training plans to specific employees’ needs and abilities will upgrade productivity without wasting excessive time. Coming back to that customer service example, some employees might benefit from better product knowledge, while others would gain from improved listening practices. One-size-fits-all usually fits very poorly.

The second goal of training should be preparing employees for future positions. A winning approach is to look at front-line workers doing a good job and inviting them to managerial training. All too often employees are promoted when a vacancy occurs, and the employee has to come up to speed on new responsibilities without really understanding how to lead people. In other instances, though, just-in-time training will work.

The training strategy should also consider hard-to-fill positions. For example, if a construction company has trouble finding good welders, it might consider inviting a bright, hard-working unskilled worker to train for that position. The company might offer to cover the cost of the training if the worker does it on his or her own time. Or the company might pick up both tuition and time spent training.

Cross-functional training usually does not improve productivity in the near term, but it can help to prevent disasters. No employee is immune to disease and injury. Every manager’s responsibility includes planning for sudden, unexpected absences of key employees. Additional training may be necessary before there’s a problem.

Many types of training might help productivity. Some would be quite specific, like training on best use of a tool or software. Other would be more general, such as communication, teamwork or problem-solving.

Coaching is a form of training that can benefit both parties. For instance, an experienced worker could coach another employee. Coaching is usually an occasional activity rather than full time. It could be scheduled, such as an hour a week, or impromptu as needed. Coaches often benefit from the experience. They must think through how they perform a function or handle problems. Some things they have been doing instinctively may improve when the coaches are compelled to explain step-by-step.

In a tight labor market, improving worker productivity through training can boost company competitiveness. But the training must be focused on specific employee challenges rather than generalized feel-good programs.

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