Different businesses have sets of priorities when it comes to planning for continued growth and profitable success. But while most companies tend to focus on things such as providing excellent customer service or increasing their sales, other organizations give greater focus on their people.
Employees who are fulfilled, growing, and engaged at work can be a strong foundation for a company’s success. They can help your business achieve its short-term and long-term goals with great performance and loyalty. That’s why taking care of the people within your company should be your top priority. Discover here seven ways to encourage employee development.
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Check their performance
First and foremost, you need to clearly view your people’s performance to create the right employee development plans. Have one-on-one meetings regularly with your team, whether it’s about discussing a recent work error, achievement, or just a casual check-in.
Encouraging frequent and ongoing communication will open your eyes to the current challenges that your staff members are currently facing. At the same time, you and your managers can better understand what type of opportunities are the most beneficial for employee development.
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Start a feedback culture
Employee development won’t be possible without feedback. To provide them with accurate feedback, be sure to keep track of the performance of your workforce. This can eventually help you determine what certain topics or areas your employees are struggling with. And through that, you can provide the support that the learners need. Focus on the problems at hand and make sure to give supportive and positive feedback.
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Fast track leadership development
Offering opportunities for development is necessary to ensure your people will feel that there’s room to grow and advance in your company. Provide your employees with learning tracks to deepen their knowledge and skills. For instance, you can use quality leadership development programs to prepare your high-potential staff for executive positions whenever possible. These programs are effective for building bench strength that allows you to hire within for future leadership opportunities. In addition to that, you can also create your own peer mentoring program to build leadership skills for both your newbies and senior staff.
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Promote cross-departmental collaboration
Cross-department collaboration is deemed imperative for developing cohesive teams. Provide your people with the chance to learn more about the company and its other aspects. However, keep in mind the resistance is likely to occur in introducing cross-departmental training. To ensure that even those who aren’t natural collaborators will participate, put the right structures in place and focus on areas where they’ll see an upgrade for their current positions.
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Work on personal development
It’s still a fact that personal development is often forgotten in terms of employee development. While professional capacity is crucial, encouraging personal development can show that you genuinely care about your staff. Some important things to focus on include physical health, intellectual growth, and emotional balance.
You can set goals associated with both personal and professional development, have open discussions and talk about self-awareness, or organize challenges in teams for a more collaborative move. And of course, don’t forget to celebrate personal development wins in your company.
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Recognize their achievements
The next thing your company should focus on is recognizing your people’s accomplishments. This includes every aspect of your relationship and not just their work performance. Employees will have more motivation and energy to perform their tasks if they know that their company recognizes their achievements, from development and learning. A few simple things you can do to foster employee development are introducing high score systems, leaderboards, and different gamified elements.
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Create better coaches with managers
Finally, don’t forget that your managers play a huge role when it comes to fostering employee development, so it only makes sense to invest in their learning as well. Check-in with your direct reports. What motivates them to do their job? What tasks tend to drain them more? What are their unique strengths?
During your check-ins with your manager, be sure to find out how fulfilled they are or know what you can do to help them become better leaders. You can quickly create deeper connections with them by having regular, intentional conversations.
Fostering employee development requires a great investment of resources, money, and time. The good news is that companies that prioritize and value this are more likely to see greater business results. Help your people acquire and learn new skills and knowledge, and they can help you achieve your company goals without falter.
