Training matters – I doubt anyone reading this would disagree with that statement. The City & Guilds Group’s new honour to recognise outstanding training and skills development programmes, the Princess Royal Training Awards (PRTA) is showcasing winners this month that show how UK organisations are truly harnessing the power of training – and what the secret is to success.

We all have stories to tell about a bad training experience, whether it’s being trapped in a room with bad coffee and a hard-to-read PowerPoint presentation, a well-meaning but unengaging presenter, or learning about something that simply wasn’t relevant to your job. Such sessions are demoralising – but more importantly, they rarely lead to the right results. Once the day is over, things tend to return to the way they were, rendering the whole process pointless.

But, research by CIPD has shown that a strong induction and training offer can be a far more effective tool for maintaining a productive and engaging workforce than performance related pay.

So what else do we know? Our Skills Confidence research found a real mix in how people like to learn. It found that people prefer to learn on the job (68%), some from colleagues (42%) and others favour online (28%). In addition to this, businesses have to take into consideration different age groups – soon there will be five generations in the workplace – as well as people at very different stages of their careers, all with varying needs and aspirations. With so many things to think about, if a business gets it right, it must be commended.

And that’s why, as much as training matters, so does the right kind of training – because at the end of the day, we’re all different.

How can we ensure the positive changes promoted through training are sustainably embedded in an organisation? When considering the range of businesses that have achieved the PRTA, we can see that the best models involve training that is anything but off the rack.

Princess Royal Training Awards recipients this year include companies of all sizes, from Mercedes-Benz to Starbucks to The Donkey Sanctuary. Each business displayed excellence, but their approach to training varied radically.

Looking at the entries, it’s clear that successful training involves looking at your organisation and tailoring your approach accordingly. That means thinking about where your skills gaps are, how your employees like to learn, what engages them…the list goes on. Because while there is no one size fits all model for training, we did notice a common thread among our Award recipients; each one assessed the needs of the business, where their employees needed help, and tracked their employees’ development. As training improved performance, managers found that employees made more valuable contributions and there was an increase in morale.

We are living in an ever-changing political and economic environment, and with Britain still struggling to solve the quandary of low productivity levels, training matters for every business. The International Labour Organisation once stated that ‘skills are a foundation of decent work.’ Investment in learning and development is crucial in order to equip employees with the skills they need to track their development and ultimately boost their productivity.

Our research found that 84% of UK respondents believe there is a strong link between skills development and business growth – so clearly, training means more for your organisation than just keeping individual employees content. Ultimately, it impacts the bottom line, because boosting skills, morale and motivation is good for productivity. Higher retention rates also means less money spent on recruitment, and staff who are better placed to further develop their expertise within your company.

The breadth of organisations who have received an Award also shows that the need for training varies across industries. Take one of our award recipients; BAE Systems the global technology and manufacturing company. After identifying a skills gap facing the industry, it invested in its apprenticeship programme. As a result, its yearly intake of apprentices tripled and retention rates across all sites are now over 90%. On the other hand, the University of York had an agenda for growth and needed a workforce that could meet this, so it invested in the ‘Leadership in Action’ programme which brought together support staff, academic leaders and managers to improve its leadership capacity.

Of course, there’s more to their success than training – but it’s a core part of a business thriving. By taking a considered approach to learning and development, each of the companies who achieved the Princess Royal Training Awards standard understood that good training meant a better bottom line and a better working environment.

Excellence doesn’t happen by accident. But taking a tailored approach to training and ensuring every employee gets something out of it that they can use and help their organisations to grow is a worthy investment.

For more information about the Princess Royal Training Awards and to register your interest for 2017, please visit https://www.princessroyaltrainingawards.com/register