Your team is the heart and soul of your company. It’s their creative minds and hard work that will take your business to new heights. Keeping this in mind, it’s advisable to support staff development as much as possible. To do this, it’s vital to create a positive company culture, which allows everyone to reach their true potential. Beyond this, there are several things you can do to support your employees.
Offer Free Training
The best way to support staff development is by offering free training opportunities. Your employees may already be interested in pursuing certain qualifications to help them advance within their careers. If so, put forward the funding (if this is something that you can afford to do). Companies on a tighter budget can take advantage of resources such as Khan Academy or ALLISON. Both of these offer free course content on a wide variety of subjects.
Learning Management System
Learning Management Systems can help HR to organize and manage learning and development for staff. A good system can offer both flexible courses, and extensive reporting to track progress. By using a learning management system, you can help to increase employee engagement and support the goals of your company. With these systems, you can create and design simple or complex courses for your staff.
Mentoring Schemes
It’s a wise move to create mentoring schemes within your organizations. Doing so can help staff to learn from one another and build a support network. When you hire new and less experienced staff, arrange for them to work with an experienced mentor. Design the scheme so that staff meet their mentor at least once a week, for a catch-up and review. Encourage them to create personal-development plans, and keep a record of what they learn. Career journals can be helpful to track progress, and brainstorm new ideas.
Regular Feedback
Feedback is highly important to support staff development, so ensure that you provide your staff with regular one-to-ones. Ask them if they require any further support within their role and what their goals are within the organization. Create roadmaps together to help them meet these aims. It’s useful to provide your employees with pointers on how they can improve their working practices, but it’s vital to be positive, tactful, and constructive.
Complementary Kindles
Knowledge is power, and reading widely about our work industries can help us to develop new ideas. Offer your staff complementary Amazon Kindles, and consider starting a book group, where employees can read and discuss appropriate titles. Learning doesn’t always have to arrive in the form of a course, resources like books, documentaries, and seminars are just as useful. Whether it's a TED TALK workshop or attending a conference together, facilitate learning opportunities to boost productivity.
When you are planning your next team retreat, consider choosing a trip with an educational theme. Overall, use every opportunity you can to help your staff to grow. Businesses that help their staff to develop will benefit from ongoing success.