When we stop learning, we start to stand still. It’s true in both our personal lives and careers. But we can avoid inactivity and keep our momentum with training.

What better place to experience training than in your own workplace? I’m not talking about eLearning, which you can do anywhere. I’m talking about good old-fashioned in-house training surrounded by your co-workers with an instructor at the front of the class.

A few years ago in a previous job, I was signed up to take a sales training course. We had an instructor come into our place of work and train us in our break room.

Because this room wasn’t very big, we couldn’t avoid talking in front of another person. And we were required to make a presentation. But I was intimidated by this.

Although I didn’t like the idea, I now found myself forced to talk in front of my co-workers. So I did my exercise, and everything went great.

From that experience, I learned that if I had taken this course in an eLearning format, I may have not moved a step closer to squashing the fear of talking in front of crowds — big and small, — and I also wouldn’t have shared the personal interactions with my co-workers that I did that day.

Don’t get me wrong, eLearning has its place, and is a growing trend, but instructor-led training is still relevant too.

Along with me learning how to speak in public, there are several other kinds of benefits to in-house training for employees and businesses. Let’s take a look at the business benefits first.

A business can save money by training in-house. There are no travel costs, no classroom rental fees, or other related expenses. The time savings are great too. You can schedule training to provide the smallest amount of disruption to the workday and there’s no travel time to be accounted for.

With in-house training you can focus on areas that are specific to your business or industry rather than taking a generic course at an outside location. Employees can really sink their teeth into discussions that are directly related to them and their work situations.

Mary-Jane Kingsland, a business mentor and coach, makes this point in an article on The Guardian’s website.

“Any training has to be targeted and right for the staff – not general,” Kingsland says. “I would suggest that before any training is decided upon every effort is made to understand the needs of the staff and what the organization is trying to achieve.”

Employees stand to benefit as well. Like it was for me, it can be a great team-building exercise to have everyone together working on a common goal. It’s good for morale to see that the company is invested in its employees and their continued growth.

So don’t just stand there – get training!