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As a business, it is only natural that you want to invest your resources in the development of your members of staff. After all, their success is your success and as they grow, so too does your business and its results.
Unfortunately, many businesses, big and small, neglect putting employee development ideas into practice which ultimately results in losing talented members of staff. Not only does this cost the company money as you search for a replacement, but there is a good chance that it is your competitors that will be the beneficiaries of this staff member's departure. Putting it simply, if you are not willing to invest in your employees’ growth and development, someone else will, which is why it is so important for the future of the business.
Your members of staff want to be the very best that they can be, both professionally and personally. As a team leader or manager, you have a key role to play in their development and, as such, should be willing to offer training where applicable. Although not every member of the team will be open to such opportunities, there will always be those who are keen to take up the offer of training where offered.
However, before you go around offering places on training courses funded by the company, you need to know that those places are not going to waste. That means ensuring that the courses you are paying for will benefit those going on them and, with that, the business. So, how do you go about picking which employee needs what kind of training?
The easiest way of doing this is, quite simply, to ask what training your employees feel they could benefit from. Are there any areas they feel they could develop? This conversation can take place as part of an employee appraisal. Alternatively, if employees are not forthcoming with training ideas, conduct a performance review and assess any areas where your team, not just the individual members of staff, are lacking and seek the relevant training. As a team leader, it is essential that your team, as a whole, has the relevant skills to achieve their common goal.
For your members of staff to develop and achieve as high a level of productivity as possible, the company’s culture must be a healthy one. When employees feel that they are working in a toxic atmosphere, their motivation drops, productivity dwindles and the only thing developing will be their eagerness to move on. High staff turnover is a warning sign of something being very wrong and this must be rectified as soon as possible.
Finding the root cause may not be easy as there can be numerous reasons behind any toxicity that your members of staff feel in the workplace. It could be down to a single member of staff, a disconnect with management or even feeling as though their workload and targets are unachievable. If this is the case in your business then you must act fast before it is too late. Identify the leaders within your team (this may not necessarily be those of whom have leadership positions) and talk to them.
Conduct an internal investigation and hold discussions with your members of staff. By working towards a better atmosphere and showing the company’s culture to be a positive one, staff a much more likely to want to remain and continue their professional development with the company.
Team building days, for many employees, are regarded as more of an inconvenience than an opportunity to learn and develop new skills. Here at Team Challenge Company, we believe that is because how their company has gone about setting up team building events could be better. Rather holding an event for the sake of ticking a box, look at the range of employee development ideas that can be utilised as a part of a team-building day.
Our team host events up and down the country, working with businesses who want to get the most out of their teams by encouraging them to step outside of their comfort zones and use skills they rarely exercise. By getting outside of the normal work environment, we find that any pre-existing barriers are broken down and, as the event continues (this could range anywhere from a few minutes to an entire day), employees learn not only what their colleagues are capable of, but themselves, too.
Businesses are lucky to have members of staff that are creative and specialise in coming up with solutions that make normal day-to-day work processes easier. In these instances, you should encourage these employees to hold workshops with their colleagues to not only share their ideas but also as a method of building their confidence.
When a member of the team has an idea and has put it into practice with good results, that idea needs to be shared, as it could change the way the business works for the better. Such a contribution should be recognised and, by doing so, develops confidence and a willingness to collaborate with the team.
Additionally, when a member of staff presents their ideas to the team, this is a good chance for them to take on feedback which they can go away with and improve on. Taking ownership and responsibility provides a fantastic opportunity to grow which, ultimately, can lead to that employee displaying that they are ready to take on other roles within the business.
Here at Team Challenge Company, we work with numerous businesses to help the growth and development of their employees. For more information on how incorporating our team building events into your employee development ideas can work to push your business to the next level, please get in touch with us by calling 03300 04 09 03 to send us a message via the contact page. We can’t wait to hear from you.
