Best Practices for Employee Development

Did you know that, according to research, organisations with a career development program demonstrate up to 250% higher productivity? If you decide to implement employee development programs into your organisation, you will arm the employee with lifelong skill sets, and demonstrate organisational trust and desire to nurture employee growth and retention. So, if you’re wondering what some of the best practices for employee development you can implement into your organisation, we have your answer.

Implement coaching practices

Coaching is one of the practices for employee development that every employee will appreciate. It is a practice where a more experienced or skilled individual – a coach – offers an employee advice and guidance to help him or her gain new skills. With proper coaching practices, employees will improve their performance and enhance the quality of their career. One of the best aspects of coaching is that it is personalized and customized to fit a specific employee’s needs. This said, employee monitoring can point out  the issues your employees may be struggling with, helping you to create personalized training to improve their professional skills and overall performance. It also comes with a specific business objective, and it is usually accomplished one-on-one over a period of time. Coaching will be successful only if it’s observed and approached like towards any other strategic goal. All the people involved will have to be fully committed to coaching. Every person, starting from the organization to the person being coached. Only if you follow the plan to obtain results, hire qualified coaches, and do a follow-up evaluation will you be able to execute successful coaching.

Consider mentoring

Mentoring includes less experienced employees learning from more experienced colleagues through formal or informal programs. Formal mentoring programs are likely to reduce turnover, enhance recruitment, and improve performance. To make sure your mentoring program is effective, match mentors and mentees based on skills and development needs. Outline and track goals throughout an entire program, and designate minimum time commitments. You should always be on top of things by monitoring the mentoring relationship. Hold both parties accountable, and don’t forget to link mentoring to business strategy and goals, or you can hire any online business coach to achieve your goals!” like in the photo.

Invest in training

When you decide that you want to invest in the development of your employees’ skills, you should offer them training. This type of practice includes developing employee skills through a combination of lectures, hands-on exercises, videos, podcasts, simulations, and assignments.  Training can be formal and informal, depending on the type of materials they learn from. To offer them the best possible learning materials, we suggest you look into Compliant Learning Resources learning materials and allow your employees to have the highest quality training they deserve. Every employee should be entitled to undergo training during their career so that they can enhance skills they deem necessary for the role they are performing. That will prepare them for future duties and allow them to move forward in their career. On the other hand, organisations must also actively support employee skills development for future roles. That way, employees will see that they’re a valuable asset to the organisation. Training is an ideal employee development method when it comes to addressing technical and communications, conflict resolution, and time management skills.

Invest in personal development

Aside from being your employees, those people are also unique individuals who exist outside the office. They go through a full spectrum of physical, intellectual, and emotional experiences when they’re not spending their time in the office. That’s why it’s imperative that you pay attention to their emotional balance too. When was the last time you asked any of your employees, “How do you feel about your work lately? Are you struggling with anything?” If you can’t remember, you haven’t been carrying much about your employees’ personal development. You need to meets their basic needs to be seen, heard, acknowledged, and validated, in order to allow them to grow completely as a person. Your employees’ intellectual growth must be important for you too. That’s why you should offer them books and seminars outside of work scope. On top of that, be sure you’re involved with their physical health too. Have you ever encouraged your people to step away from their desks after a long day at work and allowed them to practice more self-care? If you haven’t, now is the time to start doing it. That will show your employees that you depend on more than just the skills in their job description. You value them as people too.

Final thoughts

When employees realise that you appreciate them and that you want them to feel good in the workplace, they will be more productive allowing your organisation to thrive. That’s why you should make sure you’re always investing in their professional and personal development. Only after you’ve administered a holistic approach to employee development, will your employees be able to say they work in an environment that truly cares about their health and their professional and personal needs.