Training vs. development: What’s the difference?

What are the differences between training and development?

Multiple key differences draw the line between training and development. Understanding them can clear up the confusion and help everyone decide the appropriate approach for your organization.

1. Goal

• Training: Enhances job performance and equips new hires with the skills needed to effectively fulfill their responsibilities. 
• Development: Builds essential skills for existing employees if they wish to take on more complex roles in the future.

2. Timeline

• Training: Short-term, primarily focused on practicality
• Development: Long-term and continuous, with a strong emphasis on future opportunities and career development training

3. Skills

• Training: Hard skills that are basic requirements for the role
• Development: Hard skills and soft skills that can elevate their current job performance and prepare them for career progression.

Training vs. development examples

With a brief idea of the key differences between training and development, here’s a few examples of employee training and development programs. 

Examples of employee training programs

• Onboarding: New hires learn about company policies and the expectations of their role. This includes the essential skills and information for them to meet their new job requirements. 
• Technical skills training: Focuses on tool or software usage so your new hires can work more efficiently. Employees who quickly pick up on these can also make fewer mistakes and produce better results. 
• Compliance training: New employees are introduced to the rules and policies they must follow at work. These policies make sure each team member upholds the company’s values and makes compliance a critical part of each worker’s responsibilities.
• Shadowing: New hires shadow experienced teammates to familiarize themselves with the current workflow. They’ll experience daily operations with less risk and more support, making them more confident to step into the role outside of training.

Examples of employee development programs

• Mentorship program: Employees with a clearer vision of their career paths will get paired up with an experienced mentor. These mentors can share their knowledge and teach them skills they can use throughout their careers. 
• Leadership program: This often consists of workshops that aim to build different soft skills for future roles. Some examples include workshops for leadership, communication, and management skills.
• Job rotation: Employee gets to experience working under different departments or roles in a given timeline. It’s often given to managers in training to show how the organization works, allowing them to manage teams more effectively.
• Continued education: Less of a program and more of a practice, here employees are encouraged to take leadership and management courses, attend seminars, or acquire certifications to add to their profile. 

These examples display significant elements that reinforce the differences between training and development. But if you’re still having problems drawing the line, just ask yourself: Do I want this program to build skills for my team’s current roles or sharpen other skills for their future opportunities?

Impact of training and development on companies

Staff training and development are created with employees in mind. However, the benefits of these programs go two ways. Below are some benefits your company can enjoy if you focus on your team’s training and development. 

• Higher profit margins: Employees with proper training can complete tasks more efficiently with fewer errors. This leads to quality work that keeps your customers happy and increases profits. 
• Positive growth in employee retention: Onboarding training can take the pressure off new hires who are getting integrated into the company. When onboarding is clear and organized, it provides the assistance they need to confidently fulfill their role, encouraging them to stay longer in the company.
• Stronger talent attraction: New talents are now looking for companies that can support their professional growth. Training and development programs can give your company a competitive edge in the job market.

Give your employees the support they need to perform well and grow professionally

One of the workplace development strategies many companies have used is delivering upskilling courses to their employees online. It’s a convenient approach for your team to learn new skills. Plus, it offers efficient ways to track their progress and performance. 

SC Training is an operations platform with LMS features to make upskilling more effective for your team. It gives both program creators and learners a large pool of handy tools to elevate the training and development experience. 

• Create with AI: Create your training and development programs in seconds. Upload important documents and watch SC Training generate a course for you. 
• Reporting and Analytics: Track of your team’s performance in one place. Get updates in realtime and stay updated on their progress. 
• Microlearning: Deliver your training and development content in bite-sized lessons that can keep your team engaged. This can help them stay focused and make the course more effective.
• Gamification: Say no to boring training. Integrate gamified elements into your course content so your team can learn new skills all while having fun.