4 ways to show employees you’re invested in their growth & development
As the cost of the Great Resignation and job-hopping continues to grow, executives are scratching their heads wondering How do we keep our people? The answer is as simple as it is complex: invest in their growth and development.
The simplicity of investing in growth and development comes from the obvious thought - well of course people are going to stay if they’re getting promoted. The complexity is derived from the fact that, yes, while people may be more likely to stay at an organization if they get promoted, not everyone can get promoted. So outside of pay raises and promotions, what can organizations do to show employees that they’re invested in growth and development?
1. Provide Opportunities for Training
As a baseline, employees should be provided with formal opportunities to learn new skills and acquire knowledge at least once a year. These training opportunities can include attending conferences, participating in workshops and seminars, and online courses. If budgeting is an obstacle, there are millions of free technical and non-technical training materials online that employees should be encouraged to participate in to grow their knowledge, skills, and abilities.
2. Create Internal Programs for Coaching and Mentoring
While coaching is traditionally contracted from external partners, there are plenty of ways to build coaching and mentoring opportunities within the organization. Training your managers with a leader as coach mindset can scale the value of coaching throughout the organization. When leaders ask the right questions, it can help employees develop their skills, overcome challenges, and improve their job performance. Outside of managers, senior employees should act as mentors providing guidance, feedback, and advice, helping more junior employees navigate their careers and achieve their goals.
3. Cultivate a Culture of Learning
Cultivating a culture of learning involves promoting a growth mindset and encouraging continuous learning and improvement. It’s important that employees feel like they are encouraged to innovate, experiment, and learn from their mistakes. Building effective recognition and rewards systems for employees, providing ongoing feedback, and promoting knowledge-sharing and collaboration across the organization should be a top priority for employee retention and business growth.
4. Provide Unique Opportunities for Career Growth
Outside of developing skills, employees want to feel that they are growing with the organization and have opportunities for career advancement. Organizations can provide opportunities for career growth through more than just promotions. Lateral moves, and job rotations are a great way to help employees acquire new skills and knowledge and develop a better understanding of the organization. The key is to ask employees what parts of the organization interest them and help develop them towards new and unique opportunities to grow their career.
When organizations lean into growth and development, employees lean into organizations. Prioritizing training, coaching and mentoring, learning cultures, and career growth are just a few of many ways you can show your employees that you’re invested in their growth and development.
Catherine is an Industrial and Organizational psychologist with a background in human resources, sales, marketing, and organization development.
While receiving her Master’s degree in Industrial and Organizational Psychology. Catherine began her career as a top sales executive at a national marketing firm. She used her success as an individual contributor to transition into management and training roles where she discovered her passion for people. She then made the move to a leadership coaching start-up where she developed a sales and marketing strategy from the ground up. In addition to Core Engagement Group, Catherine works as an Organization Effectiveness consultant across a Fortune 100 company fostering employee engagement, orchestrating org design projects, and managing Talent and Succession Planning processes for 4,000+ leaders.
