Developing Employees: Methods, Benefits and Tips

An employee should feel empowered to seek out development opportunities independently, but it’s important to continually invest in improving them professionally. This long-term investment in your workforce, which is your company’s most valuable asset, will contribute to a happier, well-rounded and more engaged team. 

The below methods are among the many available that you can use to strengthen employee skills, improve employee efficiency and encourage your staff to stay with your company… 

Frequently communicating with your workforce helps ensure that your employees feel supported as they explore opportunities to improve themselves. It offers the chance to check their progress, celebrating what they’ve achieved and finding ways to strengthen areas in which they may need extra support. From an employee’s perspective, this communication signals that you’re dedicated to helping them achieve their goals, leading to greater job satisfaction. 

Constructive feedback helps employees focus on weak areas within their skillset or conduct. It also gives your workers a chance to share their thoughts on the action plans that were developed for their professional improvement and to have them adjusted to suit them better. 

Feedback loops also allow you the opportunity to improve your own processes while your employees benefit from what’s already available. Schedule a one-on-one meeting with each employee to hear from them precisely what worked and what they’d change for the future. Use this information to improve your development programmes company-wide.

Rigid organisational structures can mean that employees are presented with fewer opportunities for dynamic growth. In fact, interdepartmental communication is important to developing interests that an employee has, as well as creating important connections that can improve your organisation from top to bottom. 

Bridging the gaps between departments encourages a more fluid approach to learning that can develop employees in more beneficial ways. For example, a sales employee can find they connect more with how the HR department is run and pivot their career goals in that direction. 

Create the expectation that your employees should actively work to improve themselves regularly, whether through continuing education, learning opportunities, workshops, conferences and other tools of the trade. 

While you don’t need to provide a precise list they must choose from, leaving employees to their own devices can cause them to lose their motivation for their professional development entirely as they sort through all the options.

To give your employees the best chance to grow, inform them about the development resources and tools available to them. Giving your workforce an expansive list lets them pick out the development opportunity that’s most likely to help them achieve their goals. 

You can also provide resources on how they can identify development opportunities themselves.

One-on-one meetings with your employees can help you learn more about their goals and learning styles, which will help you create more effective development plans. 

These meetings help you tailor programmes to their professional requirements and needs, as not every employee will benefit from the same development opportunities. 

Additionally, it gives each employee more of a hand in deciding how they’ll reach their career goals. 

You can motivate your employees to continue improving by showing them that you’re also learning new things. If you’ve taken a professional development course yourself, tell others about your experience! 

Modelling the behaviour you want to see in your workers shows them that self-improvement is part of the culture and not just something they’re ordered or expected to do. 

Help your employees improve themselves by connecting them with senior members of your company or relevant professional groups. 

This support network of people, who’ve achieved similar career goals that the employee strives for, can offer actionable advice and other valuable resources. 

Use performance metrics to visualise where an employee’s skills are and set a clear benchmark for where they need to be. 

The benchmark can be set higher and higher as they continue to improve until they’ve achieved their career goals. 

Put Employee Performance In Focus

Top talent demands development. Make it a point of focus with Personio’s Performance Management software. Schedule automated cycles, document feedback, and more. Find the whole story by clicking below.

Drive Performance With Personio

You can do several other things to make the development of staff faster and more effective. These tips include:

• Use Simulations: Build scenarios for employees that help them learn the desired skill through live simulations. Attending these simulations can be a valuable part of an employee’s action plan, and they can apply what they learn right away.

• Let Them Perform Higher Level Tasks: If an employee is aiming for a leadership position, delegate some less critical tasks to them, so they can gain experience. This gives them invaluable hands-on experience that prepares them for success later on.

• Have Clear Career Progression Guidelines: Career progression needs to be possible within your organisation to motivate employees to continue improving. Qualification for the following positions in the hierarchy needs to be clear and accessible, so your workforce knows it’s possible. 

• Start Training Early: You should start preparing your employees for future success on their first day. Start off with a robust onboarding programme that informs them of development opportunities. Emphasise while training that professional development is core to your values as a company and a part of what they can expect while working for your organisation.

Helping your staff develop new skills and continue improving themselves not only benefits them, but it benefits the company as a whole. Listed below are some advantages you can expect from quality professional development. 

Employees feel greater workplace satisfaction when their organisation supports them. Helping them develop professionally demonstrates great consideration for their future in a way that encourages workers to connect to the company. 

Investing in an employee’s professional development is a small cost compared to training their replacements. In fact, it costs employers over £30,000 to replace an employee. 

Workers will seek out employment that supports their career goals if you don’t offer those same resources, and especially if your competitors offer those resources to their employees. Creating professional development opportunities in-house helps ensure these employees stay on long term. 

With employee development programmes, you have the opportunity to pick and train workers with leadership potential. While hiring leaders from outside the organisation is an option, promoting someone from within – and all the knowledge and experience they bring with them – can often prove more effective. 

It also signals to other employees that there’s an opportunity for them to move up within the organisation.

Advertising your employee development programme can draw in higher-quality candidates who are seeking an organisation that will support them. Hiring talented job seekers means less time and resources are spent showing them how to perform their jobs. Additionally, star candidates are more motivated to go above and beyond in their responsibilities because they arrive motivated to do their best. 

An employee development programme motivates employees to capitalise on their strengths and mitigate their weaknesses with further training. They’ll learn new skills and knowledge over time, making them better workers overall. 

Additionally, with a mentorship programme, your employee’s knowledge can be passed down to new hires, decreasing the time and resources it takes to train them. 

Developing employees means helping them fill skill gaps that might prevent them from accomplishing their career goals. This can be done through training opportunities, continuing education, trade shows, workshops, mentorship programmes and other means.

Supporting employees increases their engagement with the organisation and, in turn, improves their productivity. Additionally, it helps ensure that they remain at your company long-term, as they see a clear track for advancement.

You can use multiple methods to help your employees improve, such asg:

• Setting clear expectations of improvement early on

• Communicating with them frequently to check progress on their goals and helping adjust them if there’s a problem

• Offering positive feedback where possible to keep employees motivated

• Striving to improve your own skills to encourage employees to do the same

• Creating individual development plans for each employee

A development goal is a skill an employee would like to learn in the short term that pushes them closer to achieving their long-term career goal.

Developing your workforce is a long and intensive process but one that provides valuable rewards. Personio helps make your employees’ development a little easier with training features that give them direct access to relevant training courses. Book your free demo to find out how else Personio can help your organisation.