A big part of your job as a business owner is motivating your staff to do well and to do everything that they can to be successful in their careers. As you are a part of that career path now, you have the power to give them a helping hand. There are a huge number of things that you can do as a business leader to be successful in your industry, but the biggest impact that you can have will be on the employees that you hire. The problem is that your focus will always be on the bigger picture: sales, quality assurance, client meetings and finance. Employee development gets squashed at the bottom of the pile, and you end up with a workforce who believe that you don’t care about them.
We know, and you know, that just isn’t true. So, right this second you need to make it your business to put your employees on a priority list. You may be stretched for time, but you’re going to be even more stretched if you’re not careful, because you’ll have spent your time hiring a whole new batch of staff when your existing people have quit and gone to a place where they feel appreciated. So, how can you improve employee development in your company?
Professional Training. It’s an obvious one, but making the effort to start training your employees has to be done. Formal training is one thing, mandatory training is a must, but the training that your staff wants to do? That’s the bit to focus on. Training courses and manuals for other areas of the company is so important. Even the most experienced staff want to progress onto other things, which means that you need to consider how you can get involved and be a part of that.
Mentoring. Aside from formal training, you have enough knowledge to be on top of your game in business, which means that you could be mentoring those who work for you and passing down a little knowledge. Coaching people could seem intimidating, but it doesn’t have to be. Allow people to shadow you, sit in on meetings, etc – you won’t regret it.
Personal Development. Your staff have lives outside of the four walls of the office that they spend most of their week in. They are whole people that have different personalities from their work personalities, and if you want to see your staff evolve professionally, then you have to be supportive with their personal development. Pay attention to the way that they behave at work and align your support based on that. If you notice that they are struggling due to their home life, make adjustments accordingly.
Your staff are only ever going to be thankful for your additional attention to them when it comes to improving their prospects. The future can be bright and if you want to be remembered as the employer that contributed to that, it’s time to care about your staff.
