The fifth cooperative principle of Education, training and information encourages Cooperative societies to hold education days to train members, stakeholders and the public on the operations of the cooperatives so they can contribute to the development of their co-operatives and ensure they are run professionally.
These trainings bring us to the biggest question of: are the staff in charge of the daily operations of the Saccos trained adequately?
Staff Training is an important strategy for any Sacco that wants to achieve its set goal. There might be a possibility that the staff hired in our Saccos have studied totally different professional courses and have no idea what a Sacco is hence the training is necessary.
There are different departments in our Saccos and each staff needs to understand their duties thoroughly through guidance from professionals who understands the Sacco set up.
The basic reason why every Sacco should train their staff is to improve knowledge and the knowhow. Offering this knowledge is important because it enables them to do their jobs effectively and have equal access to the information they need to do their jobs.
Training the staff can help build their confidence in their abilities and increase job satisfaction. It will motivate them to put greater efforts in their performance since they will offer quality and improved customer service. The staff will be able to set goals and achieve them without any supervision.
Frequent trainings improve the staffs’ abilities of problem solving and reasoning.
Once a Sacco commit to training its staff, the retention level will be high. Retaining staff improves customer relationships. Members will feel secure to stick in a Sacco that retains their staff. Staff retention reduces operational costs like recruitment and training costs.
When a Sacco invests in staff training, it has a defined work culture that builds better work environment and members’ relationships. Members of staff who serve long happen to be the best advocates of the Sacco.
A culture of excellence is created in a Sacco where staff and leaders are trained regularly. Increased productivity can translate to higher wages for the staff themselves, high returns on deposits and high dividends.
Facilitating training to Sacco staff boosts their morale towards work. Positive morale can lead to improved teamwork, greater commitment to their duties as well as a sense of belongingness to the Sacco. They will feel part and parcel of the Sacco’s core values, objectives and own the Sacco mission.
Every staff wants to feel they are productive, they want to know that they are doing a good job and that they have added value to the Sacco.
Process consistency help the Sacco react positively to changes in the competitive cooperative movement.
When the staff knows what they are meant to do, they learn to become responsible in their scope of work and accountable for the outcome of what they do.
When a Sacco trains its staff, it will engage in internal promotions that is less expensive. This means that the Sacco grows as it develops individuals, which is a great contribution to the community at large.
Our Saccos should invest in training their staff and sit back to see the magic it can have in their overall performance. As the saying goes ‘The only thing worse than training employees and losing them is to not train them and keep them.’
