Keeping employees up-to-date on our constantly expanding industry—providing them with the knowledge they need to successfully do their jobs both now and in the future—has never been an easy task. But now, with more intricate products, services and solutions to customer challenges than ever before, the task of training the industry's talent is even more complex. What's the best way to discover the competencies of your company's employees and, more importantly, their knowledge gaps?
In the past, the easiest route was often to have every employee at a specific career level complete the same training courses. That way, all trainees, having been taught the same knowledge, would be at the same skill level, right? Wrong. Like many of you know, that's rarely what happens. In actuality, this traditional method wastes both time and money.
When individuals already competent in a certain area are forced to undergo training they don't need, they run the risk of becoming disengaged and bored. This redundant training becomes a sunken opportunity cost, with time lost that could have been better spent developing new skills or delivering work results.
Even worse is when an employee doesn't have prior knowledge and takes a course on a new topic without first having the background knowledge to soak up all the information right away. Disparate learning styles are a reality—people simply learn at different speeds and in different ways—and it's difficult to know the right ones to apply when broad generalizations are made about employees at certain skill levels.
Luckily for everyone charged with training today's and tomorrow's insurance pros, there are currently much better ways to analyze individual employees' skill levels than there were even a few years ago. New, customizable knowledge assessment tools can quickly assess an employee's current knowledge about any given insurance sector, enabling organizations both big and small to improve their enterprise-wide performance with targeted educational solutions designed to save time and money.
Using these assessment tools, learning and development professionals can:
• Pinpoint, fill and reassess knowledge gaps
Much like a college exam (though there is no bell-curve grading here), knowledge assessment tools help show critical information that employees are missing but need in order to do their jobs better, while also providing learning and development professionals with suggested courses to take to fill those knowledge gaps. These tools can also be used to reassess insurance professionals to gauge their progress and see when they may be ready to take the next step.
• Match individuals' talents with their interests and potential mentors
By finding skill areas early with assessment tools, development teams can guide individuals on career paths that are best suited to their abilities and interests. These tools may also help employers match young professionals with potential mentors who act as career coaches, leading individuals through the more intricate, personal aspects of an insurance career.
• Give your teams the confidence to succeed
Most employees aren't aware of what they don't know but could benefit from knowing. And even when they are aware, it can be difficult to speak up. After all, it's common knowledge that most people don't like to admit what they don't know—even when opportunities to fill those gaps are available. Assessment tools take that onus off of employees, giving employers a direct line into employees' abilities and areas for improvement, as well as the skills they need to not only be better at their jobs and advance in their careers, but gain confidence in the process.
Learn more about boosting the productivity of your employees and other trending topics by joining The Institutes Community, a social platform that offers insurance and risk management professionals the opportunity to stay up to date on the latest industry topics.
Originally published on The Institutes Community Blog.
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