Invest in Your Employees Personal & Professional Growth

When you have top-performing people on your team, you want to retain them. One of the best ways to do that is by investing in them. This means putting time, effort, and resources into their development, so they can attain new knowledge and skills and grow both personally and professionally. To help you get started, here are a few essential tips to keep in mind:

Create a plan of action.

You need to work with each employee to discuss their goals, interests going forward, and career trajectory. Everyone is going to have a different vision for their career, and you have to take this all into account when you’re developing a plan for them. So schedule some time to touch base and talk about the future, including both short- and long-term goals. 

Make sure they’re stretching.

It’s easy for an employee to remain in their comfort zone. After all, they know what to expect day after day. However, they won’t grow in their career if they don’t take a risk and stretch themselves. So make sure a small portion of their goals and future activities involves taking on an assignment that consists of some risks and challenges. It will be more rewarding, even if it doesn’t work out perfectly. 

Outline objectives for learning.

You might have an employee who wants to get promoted or another who wants to make a lateral move. Whatever the case, there are specific learning goals they’ll need to achieve. In other words, specific knowledge, skills, or abilities that will enable them to get to their end goal. It’s important to not only define these but also how they’ll make progress in working toward them. Make sure to include a timeline, too, so there’s an end date and check-in points to ensure they’re on track.

Offer a range of learning experiences.

Company training can often be perceived as boring. Instead, break the mold and bring in a dynamic speaker, host an engaging training or teambuilding activity, or use cutting-edge technology to teach your people a new skill. Whatever you do, take a new, fresh approach, so you’re mixing training and development up, keeping employees more interested in the process.

Create a mentoring program.

Another great way to benefit both junior- and senior-level people is to create a mentoring program. When you do, both can learn from each other, while the mentee also gains new insight, different skills, a source of valuable advice, and so much more. There’s also an opportunity for knowledge transfer, which can be especially important if you have an aging workforce. 

Need more help hiring people?

Gill Staffing is here for you. As one of Holland, MI’s leading staffing agencies, we have an expansive candidate network, with professionals ready to hit the ground running with you. Contact us today to learn more or get started