If you believe that the greatest asset of any organisation is the people in it, the key question must be, “What are you doing to enhance the greatest asset of your organisation? What are you investing to maximise its development and/or potential?”

In most businesses that I come across, there is no budget for development of people. It just doesn’t exist as a line item.

This contradicts the entire view that people are the greatest asset of a business.

I think every business should take a step back and consider what they are doing, what they should be doing and what they are prepared to invest to achieve it.

Developing your staff and training them well is fundamental to developing your business and guaranteeing that it will run smoothly in your absence.

There are costs involved with growing your staff: the initial financial cost, time away from work and in the case of personal development, the learning curve can become quite time consuming.

But training is what will improve efficiency and provide a long-term gain to the business.

Training is a mutual benefit for both business and the individuals involved.

Skill progression can help staff learn more efficient ways of doing their job and even develop as a person.

For an employee, having an interest taken in you means you are more inclined to give back to the organisation.

by James Caan