4 Inspiring Ways You Can Improve Your Employee Development Methods

Employee talent is an investment. You bet when you hire a person and then to garner returns, you keep investing in more. Formally and succinctly, this is called developing employee skills.

According to a report by Training Magazine, their top 125 list of companies spend about $4.5 B  in employees training and development. Read more how a management course for your employees will improve the overall process.

For an organization to keep growing and progressing, it’s important to keep growing its employee talent pool. Once work begins, it’s very easy to keep doing and not give time to bettering and adding new skills. It becomes the responsibility of the management then to protect employee’s time and create space for the acquisition of an advanced skill set.  Here’s how to do it:

Know them

It is important to not push everyone to perform the same training or take the same course. Each employee is an individual and unique personality. Their aspirations and interests will differ accordingly. Thus, it is important to get to know what they are and how they fit within the larger framework of the organization. 

It would be a good idea to carry out a quarterly/ half-yearly/ yearly analysis of the same. Ask the employees where they are at, what they feel excited about working on, what’s up to their alley and what isn’t. Then create opportunities for them to work or learn where they excel and where they want to grow. You’ll demonstrate a willingness to meet them where they are at which earns their trust and goodwill.

Stretch their comfort zone

In an organization, everyone has a job role they grow comfortable in. But comfort is the deterrent of growth. To become a well-rounded employee (and individual) who can gracefully handle unfamiliar situations requires one to be put in these unfamiliar situations.

So, switch around job functions. Give them new responsibilities. This will not only increase their knowledge but also awareness about the company as a whole. This unexpected shift also leads to a surge in energy and engagement when both of them have plateaued or are stagnating.

Network them

Introduce your outstanding employees to the best in the industry if you’ve got the contacts. This will get them a mentor/ coach who can introduce them to techniques, methods, and other professionals who bring out the best in your employees. It will also make them the unofficial ambassador for your business in that network.

Be the example

This is, by far, the best way to inspire employee development. Model what you want to see implemented. For some, preaching works. But most of them work better when they see you being the torchbearer.

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Moreover, when employees see you going up the ladder personally as well as professionally and see that it comes because you continue to grow, they will automatically start following your lead. It also showcases how everyone is expected to grow, no matter the rank. Amongst employees, it also builds credibility and trust in you since you are ‘walking the talk.’

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Developing your employees’ skills is not rocket science. It requires consistent engagement, dialogue, and priority status. Because it’s as simple as: if your employees aren’t growing, then the organization isn’t. They make up the organization after all. 

The above are the 3 simplest and most evergreen techniques for employee growth. Ready to put them in action?

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