Today’s startup is beset with challenges not considered by entrepreneurs of the past. It requires different goals, ideals, and especially training if it is going to be a success in the present day and beyond. You can’t just repeat what worked for the family business back in the day. Thanks to recent world events, a lot of businesses that attempted to continue doing business as usual are no longer around to serve even as a cautionary tale. They had no contingency for what they faced, and could not pivot fast enough.
Maintaining and modernizing your workforce requires transformational training. It starts with upskilling your employees and getting them ready to deal with new challenges that didn’t exist when they were at university. Back when you gave everyone their initial training, the world was a different place. Unless you are updating that training with new, more relevant skills, you are not taking those changes seriously. You cannot just assume that your employees have changed with the times. What you should assume is that the only thing they know with regard to their job is what you have trained them to know. Now it is time to empower them with new skills in the following areas.
Active Shooter Training
No one wants to think about the possibility of facing an active shooter situation in the workplace. But it is naive to think it can’t happen. It happens at schools, malls, and churches. Empower your team to save lives with active shooter training. The first line of protection is always the people hired for the purposes of maintaining security. But all too often, a shooter does not do their grim work where the guards happen to be standing. They do it in the office where maximum damage can be inflicted.
This type of training doesn’t mean that everyone in the office should be packing every time they take a coffee break. But everyone needs to know best practices of what to do in that situation, where to go, and who to call if the opportunity presents itself. Should you fight, try to disarm, talk, run, hide? What if you are legally carrying but are not a part of a security team? The reason so many of these situations go so horribly wrong is that they have no official guidance from the company. Denial is not a substitute for training. We train for deadly storms and fires in high-rise buildings. Active-shooter training needs to be added to the training roster.
CPR and Other Emergency Health Situations
Everyone in your company from the CEO to the custodial staff needs to be CPR certified. This is both doable and important. Every day, someone has a health emergency at work. People are at the typical office for more than a third of their weekday lives. Knowing what to do in the moment of greatest need will most definitely make the difference between life and death.
It is not just about CPR. What do you do if someone’s peanut-based snack causes someone else’s anaphylactic shock? Do you know what an EpiPen is and how to use it? What do you do if someone starts coughing, sneezing, and has symptoms of a fever? Should you assume that it is COVID and evacuate the building? Does everyone have access to the infrared thermometer? In these uncertain times, a strange and persistent cough could be the harbinger of major disruption in the office. Everyone needs to know what to do when they and others feel mildly sick at work.
Sensitivity Training
There is nothing new about sensitivity training. But there is a new refocusing on the subject. 2020 unleashed more than the pandemic. It was the year of social upheaval. We have not fully recovered. Things a person could once say innocently can be the catalyst for legal action that could crush your business. Carelessness around race, gender, sexuality, and religion is almost as much of a threat to your business as an active shooter. Neither are good. But both can be controlled with the proper training.
The times, they really are a’changin. Be sure that your employee training is keeping up with the times by adding active shooter training, CPR and emergency health training, and even more sensitivity training.
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