Invest in Your Employees with Proper Training – LaSonya Berry

On this episode of The Atlanta Small Business Show, LaSonya Berry, CEO of McPherson Berry and Associates joins ASBN’s Bridget Fitzpatrick to share the importance of training in your small business and how proper training empowers your employees and the culture in your workplace.

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT: 

BRIDGET: Hello everyone, and welcome into the Atlanta Small Business Show, I’m Bridget Fitzpatrick. We are very excited to welcome back to the show LaSonya Berry, CEO of McPherson, Berry and Associates. LaSonya, thank you so much for joining us today.

LASONYA: Thank you for having me, Bridget.

BRIDGET: Now you offer in person training at McPherson, Berry and Associates. Can you talk to us a little bit about what kind of training you provide?

LASONYA: Yes, and we provide training in two different modes, both on site in what you call facilitator led, and we do a lot in virtual training, which we call our e-courses, or we do webinars or e-courses. And so that they are instructor led, live, and all the participants are wherever they are in the world and the country.

BRIDGET: That is great. Now, what are some of the biggest mistakes you see business owners making when it comes to training?

LASONYA: That’s just a key thing. They’re not even offering the training. And so I tell them all the time, if you want people to be productive in your organization, you can’t just assume they come with all the skills. They come with a certain amount of skills, but it’s your job as well to cultivate them. And to invest in them and you can do that through training and development.

LASONYA: Helping them to really understand the culture that you want to have in your business, and what you can do to help get you, them as an individual and the organization where you want it to be.

BRIDGET: Absolutely. Now a lot of small businesses struggle with employee engagement. What advice do you have for them to keep that employee engagement up?

LASONYA: One of we talked about already. You’re gonna have to invest in them. People are gonna invest in you when you invest in them. The other thing I would say, especially with business owners, is making sure that you provide them the proper culture to empower them. People want the autonomy to kind of make some choices to help drive the business along. You can’t make all the choices as a business owner. Because you can’t be there all the time.

LASONYA: So if you’ve hired the right person, you invested in them, then empower them to make the decision that you need them to make, and then allow them to do it. And give them the feedback and direction that they need to stay on course.

BRIDGET: Very good. So what advice do you have for hiring, retaining, and keeping those good people?

LASONYA: First thing I would say, is make sure the description that you have for the job is accurate. What we find is that you go in, sometimes they go in, they cut and paste, and provide a description that may not be a actual fit for their organization and what they’re trying to achieve. And so you’ve hired somebody on the premise of one thing, and then when they get there, they’ll be doing something totally different. That’s total disengagement, and you’re already setting yourself up for failure.

LASONYA: So make sure you provide the right description, so that you get the right person interested, and then make sure your onboarding process is very detailed and structured. So that they have a good working order of what to expect, and know that you’re there for them and you’re not gonna just leave them once you hire them.

BRIDGET: Absolutely. Well great advice once again. Thank you so much for joining us and we look forward to having you back again soon.

LASONYA: Okay, thank you.

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