It’s Time to Invest in Your Employee Development

When the Covid-19 pandemic broke out, businesses faced problems and emergencies, so career development was no longer a priority – it is understandable that companies Companies must urgently adapt to the new requirements of the post-pandemic world.

As leaders deal with navigating the ongoing concern of global health – making work policies and managing employee benefits – they must also think about the needs of their employees, especially when it related to career development.

Even before the pandemic hit, supporting your employees on their career path was an important lever for managers. Gallup found that the relationship between employees and their managers is closely related to their ability to engage and retain, and employees’ feelings about their ability to learn and grow are also strongly correlated. is a great motivator for employee engagement. Furthermore, in a tight job market, retaining your employees and making sure they’re taken care of is critical to helping you achieve your team’s business goals and metrics.

Many employees are reflecting on their work and work environment, and evaluating their careers. Odds are that at least some of your employees are in the 40% who want to change jobs this year. As a manager, you can’t control what your employees do, but if you want to stay engaged and retain them, the best thing you can do is boost their career growth.

The role of the manager in career development

A manager’s goal should be to get their team to achieve business results with the people they have. Career development is a strategic weapon that can align people’s strengths, goals, and work aspirations with what needs to be done. Career development is also what your employees want and expect. According to the Jobvite National Survey of Jobseekers in 2019, 61% of workers say career development opportunities are more important than compensation (57%) and healthcare/retirement benefits (58%) . Lack of career growth is one of the most common reasons people leave their jobs.

Unfortunately, this factor is often overlooked because managers and employees are too busy or don’t take the time to define their goals and expectations. When I work with coaching managers, they struggle with career growth. Some common misconceptions are:

• It is the employee’s responsibility to define their career. Yes, but as a manager, your job is to guide your employees to make that career plan a reality.
• They may leave the organization. Another argument is that helping your employees manage their careers can send them elsewhere. While this is true, the reality is that they will still go. Engaging in career development allows you to have a collaborative relationship around this, rather than just a “me and them” relationship.
• You may not be giving them what they want. Your job is to be a guide and support and be honest even when you can’t.

In my experience, the most impactful development doesn’t happen through formal programs, but through intentional actions and moments throughout an employee’s work life that are personalized. their experience. Managers play an important role in making this work. This seems impossible and nearly half of all managers admit to having a hard time with career development for their employees, but here are five ways managers can help. for employees through career development:

• Be clear about your role and expectations. Make it clear to your employees that you’re invested in helping them succeed and that you’re committed to guiding and enabling them on their growth journey, but also that they must be the final decision maker. what they want. Russ Larrway, a longtime manager, says you should be a “lighthouse” for your employees. You should guide them by asking insightful questions about their aspirations and future, focusing on the important things they say, and repeating back to them what you’re hearing to help them process what they’re saying. To share. Finally, you should help them define a goal and how to achieve it.
• Create separate performance assessments. A common mistake managers and employees make is that they include their own career development stories in their performance reviews or tie it to regular performance reviews commissioned by human resources (HR) department. There are two reasons for the separation. First, performance reviews are about looking back, while career conversations are about looking to the future. Second, you shouldn’t mix the two together. Make it clear to them that the career development conversation is about their future, not the past.
• Share your own experience. As a manager, you can also think about your own career growth and have conversations with your own manager. One thing you can do to inspire is to share your thoughts on your own career growth. Be it sharing your training types or communicating your experiences, the type of people you are connecting with with mentors who are helping you. Show them through your own experience you can model the behavior you hope to motivate, and give them context and insight into building a career development plan. their own.
• Link their career growth to existing goals. Employees appreciate the connection between what they do and the overall goals of the company and the team. Employees want to know that their work makes a difference. Show them how their own career growth and how the skills and experience they are gaining will contribute to the team’s progress and goals. Perhaps it’s how upskilling can help them tackle new projects or by expanding their network they can build stronger relationships that will help them do their jobs better. .

In short, one resource that we cannot get back is time. By investing time in their employees’ career growth, managers can demonstrate that they are willing to invest the rarest resources they have. Talented employees are one of the most essential elements that businesses need to operate effectively. One positive change you can make is to actively engage employees in their career development – that could be what keeps them coming.