Employees that develop their skills, improve in their roles, and get better at what they do are happy employees.
As such, it’s crucial for any organisation to provide their staff with ways to develop, both in their professional field and as people in general.
By allowing your team to grow, you’re not only helping them become better at what they do but also providing them with invaluable skills that benefit them as well as your business.
What can organisations do to encourage employee self-development? Here are just a few of the ways you can ensure your staff are getting the opportunity for growth wherever possible:
KPIs are the cornerstone for many modern businesses. While they are essential to reporting, these same numbers can be just as much a measure for growth – or opportunity for development – if utilised correctly.
For employees that thrive off facts, figures and conventional rewards, working on milestones and KPIs are the ideal way to encourage self-development.
One-to-ones can be utilised to make plans, allow employees to lay out how they want to grow within the business, and define a path of how they can get there.
If you’re looking for a measurable way to encourage self-development, milestones and KPIs are a great place to start.
Without ways to grow being open to them, many employees won’t feel encouraged to undergo self-development.
One of the ways employers can help to promote growth is by providing clear pathways to that growth.
This could be in the form of access to specific training, guidelines on what professional development tools staff can use, or providing opportunities that help with development.
With these processes in place, it’s far easier for employees to work on self-development, because they have the tools available for success.
While professional development is an excellent measure of how well someone is doing in the workplace, your employees are far more than just a part of your business.
Various facets and elements can affect their performance and growth, from their mental and physical health to stressors outside of their working life.
Providing access to a wellbeing platform like Keep Fit Eat Fit, with its complete suite of 7 modules within one programme, provides employees with the encouragement needed to grow outside of their working selves. This will feed back into them over time and help to create a much happier, healthier and fulfilled employee.
Most organisations have both busy and slow times, but when it comes to self-development, you need to provide the room for people to grow.
You may offer lots of tools and tricks, but without the time and resources required to develop, your staff won’t be able to – or inclined to – take advantage of what you have to offer.
For self-development to be successful, there needs to be space for your staff to actually put the work in to improve.
From specific work KPIs to their mental, physical and financial health, encouraging employees to invest time into their self-development will benefit your business in the long-term.
It may take additional work and prompting up-front, but once you’re into the flow of growth, you’ll soon be seeing the results in your staff, from their capabilities to their attitude, to their productivity.
And when it comes to building your employer brand and getting loyalty from your workforce, these kinds of initiatives will pay dividends for long-term staff retention and overall satisfaction.
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