When many business leaders and managers think about employee development, they are often thinking about employee skills. While this is certainly one aspect of it, it is not the whole story. Employee development is also about improving employee morale, strengthening teams, encouraging employees to perform their best, and above all, building a stronger and better business with employees as the foundation. So, how can business leaders and managers foster employee development?

Encourage Private Training Using In-house Speakers

While providing additional training to employees is a great way to foster their development, bringing in an in-house speaker works a lot better than bringing in someone from outside the organisation. First, this type of training and learning happens in a much more intimate and friendly environment. This makes it easier for employees to ask questions and gain the knowledge they need.

Second, having an in-house speaker as the trainer cuts costs and wastes a lot less time than taking employees on a vacation or to a conference.

Lastly, the training session(s) can be tailored to fit the needs and challenges that exist in the organization. A private setting like this allows the speaker to customise their presentation to your specific business, industry, target area, and employees.

Get Employees Involved In Goal Setting

Instead of the management setting granular development goals for employees, management should work with employees in this area. They can do this by sharing overall goals and letting employees fill in the gaps, occasionally providing guidance where they see employees straying. They can then encourage employees to think about how to approach different types of projects, areas they need to improve on, how their development can improve their careers and the organization, and more. Using a worksheet can help make things more structured and help make employee development and success easier.

Encourage Regular One-On-One Meetings

Fostering a culture of regular communication between managers and other employees is a great way for all parties to exchange information and assess where things are, where they should be, and how they are going. These conversations can also be used to identify any employee needs, assess their performance, and discuss any training needs an employee may have. Managers can also know whether employee needs are being met and what they can do to provide personal and professional development opportunities.

To ensure productive and meaningful discussions, business leaders and managers should structure their interactions so they can address everything, ensuring the process is less time-consuming and productive. Performance appraisal software allows business leaders and managers to do all the above easily. StaffCircle offers meaningful monthly and quarterly reviews, 360 feedback and appraisals, and the ability for managers to identify top talent and nurture it. Business leaders and managers alike can try StaffCircle for free to see how it can help with their employee development endeavours.

Providing Skill Development Opportunities

Business leaders should take the time to assess their employees’ strengths and weaknesses. By doing so, they can help employees identify areas where they have knowledge gaps. These are the areas managers and employees should focus on. Once they have all this down, they can arrange for training on the specific skills their employees might not have or are struggling with. Providing such training can help employees become more productive, efficient, and proficient. This can go a long way to helping them see how further development would benefit them. 

Recognizing Employee Efforts

Tangible rewards are great for showing appreciation for employees who take the initiative to develop professionally. However, there are also intrinsic rewards that work well. One of these is appreciation and recognition for taking the initiative. By recognising and sharing an employee’s efforts, managers and business leaders can show appreciation for these efforts while encouraging other employees to take similar steps themselves.

To ensure full recognition, employers can ask employees to share their experiences with their colleagues or to even publish posts about their learning journey. Both of these not only help individual development, but they also encourage other staff to take initiative to develop new skills and fosters a culture of employee development. 

Encourage Joining Professional Organizations

Employee development should not be limited to classes, courses, and internal training. There is a lot that employees can learn by joining professional organisations in their industry. These organisations give employees opportunities to meet and develop professional relationships with people in their profession. Additionally, many organisations give their members lots of learning opportunities so they can get to or stay at the top of their professional fields.

Employee development can benefit both the business and its employees. Businesses should have structures and measures in place to ensure employees can improve both professionally and personally. Fortunately, there are numerous ways that businesses can encourage and even participate in employee development.