Today’s employees need to feel engaged in their work. When engagement stops, employees hit a plateau and start looking for other opportunities. Therefore, employers should pursue a proactive approach to encourage employee growth. There are many ways to encourage growth including:
- Offer Employee Growth Plans: Growth plans provide a tangible overview of what can be done to help each employee reach their full potential. These plans can be laid out and reviewed annually to check off milestones and add new targets. You work with each employee to find their goals and support them in achieving them. You too can share where you see them going based on their strengths.
These plans should not necessarily focus on your organization, which can blind employees from seeing the benefits of the plan. Instead, discuss their career goals in general and help them see that your efforts will assist them in meeting their goals from a whole-life perspective.
- Schedule Growth Time: It is not enough to have a plan. You also have to ensure the plan is followed. The best way to do this is to ensure growth holds a place in an employee’s schedule. Whether it is a physical date and time each week or a percentage of their time being allotted to training, time specifically dedicated to growth will improve engagement while helping to groom employees for future roles.
- Discover Learning Opportunities: Allow employees to seek out learning opportunities that work with their growth plan. Review a variety of engaging learning experiences to expose them to different ways of thinking and important industry trends. Technology, onsite training, destination learning, and conferences or seminars all enhance valuable skills that can be applied to their careers.
- Avoid Cookie Cutter Planning: Using an individual approach will allow staff to see their importance to the company. A one-size-fits-all approach can never be as effective as addressing the individual’s needs and interests. This style also assists in reducing skills gaps when an individual has particular skills they need to improve. It keeps the person relevant in their role while improving productivity for the company.
Offering a growth-focused culture develops strong ties between the company and employees. You can increase retention while enhancing development to avoid skills gaps.
