Investing in employee development programmes (EDPs) has become more important than ever before due to the rapidly increasing challenges that your workforce might face over time. To stay ahead of your rivals it is imperative that your workforce remains up-to-date with current technology and skills. This will only happen when you wisely invest in EDPs to keep your company at the forefront. A productive workforce backed with a robust development programme is going to generate profitable outcomes. However, despite these benefits, senior executives and HR managers still seem to be struggling with improving and enhancing their workforce’s effectiveness.
To supercharge your EDPs you need to consider the following challenges:
Encourage Communication
Communication is vital to help people share feelings, opinions and ideas with others. It plays an even more important role in the development of employees. How do you feel if you are unable to express your feelings or share information – neglected, highly demotivated and frustrated? That’s why HR managers and senior executives should encourage communication across their workforce. It allows employees to grow professionally and no amount of development programmes can help if you simply impose things on them. Give them a chance to be heard.
Empower Managers To Coach Their Employees
Traditionally, managers would pass on their skills, insight and knowledge to employees through coaching and mentoring. But over time, our business world has become increasingly more competitive, complex and global which has eroded the role of managers. Managers are now often overburdened with challenges and responsibilities which discourage them from mentoring or coaching their employees.
Combat the Short Shelf Life of Development Needs
Formerly, a set of skills learned once was more than enough to last you several years. However, due to technology advancements, skills and knowledge can become obsolete within months. To stay ahead of your competitors you need to be aware of the latest programmes, courses and skills to keep employees up to date and at their best whilst ensuring you avoid information overload.
Offer Flexible Learning Options
Employees are bombarded every day with excessive workloads so trying to engage them in more learning and development activities can be overwhelming. Try to be flexible where learning options are concerned – introduce blended and online mobile solutions that can be accessed by your employees at a time and place convenient to them.
Build Trust Amongst Your Employees
It is estimated that nearly one-third of employees don’t trust their boss. This goes to show that the effectiveness of EDPs will depend on first establishing a strong, trustworthy bond with your staff. It is highly recommended to share your ongoing learning journeys with your employees as they look up to you to set an example. If you wish your employees to actively learn from development programmes they will benefit from hearing your own personal learning journeys.
By appreciating the changing environment and emerging trends in your development programmes you’ll be in the best position to determine the interventions that engage, create innovation and drive results.