Effective people development is the cornerstone of any organization’s mission and purpose — indeed, it’s essential for fostering a resilient and innovative workforce that can drive organizational competitiveness.
This guide will help you consider how to promote and drive people development intervention in your workplace.
We’ll discuss what people development encompasses and why it’s important, as well as share 10 strategies on how to develop employees, plus useful examples to consider when crafting a people development plan for your organization.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
What is people development?
People development is the ongoing effort of increasing the knowledge, skills and experience of employees to help them achieve personal and professional goals. Used by organizations as a way of identifying and cultivating talent, people development goes beyond a mere one-off training program and includes mentoring, coaching, career planning and leadership development.
When executed effectively, the outputs are increased productivity and the retention of a high-performing workforce. To this end, people management is a strategic process that helps organizations attract and cultivate people to grow their abilities.
At its basic level, developing employees is all about enabling people by giving them the opportunity to learn and grow. This can be done through the formal education system, on-the-job training, workshops or even self-directed learning. Organizations that embrace people development can drive engagement through this culture of learning that enables employees to feel appreciated and, in turn, encourages them to contribute to the company’s success.
When considering how to develop an employee, it’s important to recognize each individual’s learning style and to create a bespoke development plan to help them reach their true potential as well as the organization’s targets. This entails setting goals, training stages and objectives, giving positive and constructive feedback, and creating career paths. This process is often facilitated by leaders who help employees to achieve their best through mentoring and guidance.
In today’s business world, employee development is crucial for retaining your best employees, encouraging creativity and remaining competitive. According to research, employees who have opportunities for development are more likely to be engaged in their work, remain agile and be ready to face new challenges.
Therefore, people development should not just be viewed as a way to improve work outcomes but as a critical part of the creation of a strong, future-oriented and dynamic workforce. Companies that focus on staff growth are more likely to have a loyal and talented team that will contribute to the company’s long-term success.
The importance of developing employees
People development is win–win: it’s as beneficial for organizations as it is for employees. In this section, we’ll discover why it’s a great thing to embrace and focus on.
- Competitive advantage: A company with a developed workforce can improve its market standing and compete for talent more effectively too.
- Higher employee engagement: Development opportunities increase employees’ passion, job satisfaction and loyalty to the organization.
- Improved customer satisfaction: It’s easier to provide superior service to customers when employees have better skills and knowledge.
- Increased productivity: Upskilled workers are more productive and thus increase the performance of the business.
- Innovation and adaptability: Well-educated and experienced employees are more innovative and flexible in today’s dynamic business environment.
- Leadership development: Training the next generation of leaders ensures organizational stability and effective succession planning.
- Talent retention: Organizations that offer learning opportunities will find it easier to retain their employees, thus avoiding the costs of employee turnover.
10 people development strategies
There are many ways to focus on people development, all taking into account the different ways that employees like to learn and their individual learning goals. Here are top ideas you can focus on to enable staff development in your organization, and some examples of each.
1. Career pathing and succession planning
Career pathing involves mapping out potential career trajectories for an organization’s employees.
Succession planning is connected to this, as it involves ensuring businesses have employees to take on roles as and when they become available, without losing too much time recruiting outside the business. These processes provide employees with career direction and can, therefore, improve retention, motivation and job satisfaction.
Some examples of career pathing and succession planning could be a tech company creating a roadmap for junior developers, outlining skills and experience needed to progress to senior roles. Similarly, a hotel chain might outline the steps that a receptionist needs to take to become a general manager, highlighting training milestones along the way.
2. Coaching and feedback culture
A culture of coaching and ongoing feedback is central to offering an environment of continuous improvement through helping employees to develop their skills in a supportive environment.
Regular feedback allows for employees to clearly understand their strengths and areas of growth, making them more effective in their roles. Coaching is an important part of this process; unlike traditional performance reviews, it focuses on gradual guidance and steering, and personal as well as professional development.
In a sales-driven organization, managers might conduct role-playing exercises to offer employees feedback on their technique. Coaching conversations can be used to help marketing employees refine their output, as well as develop a unique and effective presentation style.
In all organizations, 360-degree feedback can be used to help employees benefit from feedback from a wide range of stakeholders such as peers, managers and matrix associates.
3. Continuous learning and upskilling
Continuous learning is when employees engage in the process of enhancing their skills and knowledge both at the workplace and outside it through formal and informal training and education.
Organizations can drive this by providing employees with certifications, training courses and learning platform access. Not only does this improve the capabilities of the employees but it also assists in making the business ready for future challenges.
For example, an organization could be offering data analytics courses to marketing teams to support them in making decisions based on data. A logistics company, meanwhile, can enhance the skills of its workforce by training them on supply chain management with the help of AI.
A growing workforce trend today is organizations becoming keener to work with online education platforms like Coursera and Udemy to enable their employees to enroll in courses that are relevant to their fields of work.
4. Cross-training employees
Cross training is the practice of training employees to perform tasks that sit outside of their primary job roles. Not only is this a powerful development tool, but it also increases organizational agility, enhances collaboration and prepares employees for promotions. It’s especially useful for helping the organization flex in times of absence or holiday, or when there is excessive workload in a certain area.
Some examples of cross-training include customer service roles, where employees who look after phone inquiries might also be trained on online chat support so they can switch roles when needed. In manufacturing, machine operators might be cross-trained on different machines and techniques, giving them a wider array of skills as well as the ability to work over various processes.
5. Employee recognition and reward programs
A critical part of people development is recognizing and rewarding employees for their achievements and contributions. A culture of appreciation and an ‘attitude of gratitude’ boosts morale, motivation and engagement.
Recognition can come in many forms, such as monetary bonuses, public praise, as well as non-financial rewards like additional leave, training opportunities and other types of employee benefits.
Some examples of recognizing people at work could be implementing an ‘Employee of the Month’ program, and incentivizing top performers with gift cards, bonuses or extra days of leave. Larger companies as well as startups might also offer equity shares to reward employees, or subsidies for professional certification and training.
6. Employee wellness and work–life balance programs
People development isn’t just about learning professional skills and applying them in the workplace. It’s also concerned with driving physical and mental wellbeing, and creating healthy work habits.
Wellness programs that promote this healthy work–life balance will help employees stay productive, engaged, safe and satisfied. These programs can include flexible working arrangements, mental health support and fitness initiatives.
Some examples of how wellness is embraced in organizations include wellness or ‘multifaith spaces’ for employees to wind down and decompress, and offering an associate restaurant that focuses on health and varied meals, such as Google’s Food Program. Some companies, meanwhile, implement ‘meeting free’ days and encourage frequent breaks to reduce the risk of burnout.
7. Experiential learning
Experiential learning refers to the creation of hands-on experiences that help employees develop skills in a real-world setting.
Job rotation programs can allow employees to be seconded to different departments, expanding their knowledge, network and expertise. These special projects (sometimes referred to as taskforces) enable employees to take on new challenges, helping them grow beyond their current roles and readying them for promotions.
Some examples of experiential learning could be a clinical professional spending some time working in operations to gain a broader understanding of how final decisions relate to business processes. A medical professional, on the other hand, might be seconded to a different area of medicine to broaden their understanding of clinical practices.
8. Leadership development programs
Leadership development programs are designed to develop the leadership skills of emerging management talent in an organization. These initiatives are aimed at training leadership principles, strategic thinking and decision-making skills to employees who have been identified as having leadership potential.
Organizations that invest in leadership development must also invest in talent identification and succession planning to have a good number of people who are well-placed to take up leadership positions in the organization at the right time.
A practical example of this strategy is a structured leadership academy within an organization where high-potential employees attend workshops and work on complex case studies.
Companies such as General Electric and IBM have established leadership training programs that aim to ready high-potential employees for executive positions. Leadership development in smaller businesses, meanwhile, is often programmed through cross-functional projects where employees are exposed to different areas of the company.
9. Mentorship programs
Mentorship programs match employees with senior professionals who can advise, counsel and support them personally and professionally. This strategy helps employees gain insights from experienced mentors, which in turn helps them learn faster and advance their careers. Mentorship can be formal (with set meetings and objectives) or informal (where employees seek counsel from their managers whenever they need it).
For example, a financial services company can launch a mentorship program where junior analysts are paired up with senior executives who teach them about market strategies and investment decisions. In a retail environment, store managers may mentor assistant managers to help them move up the leadership ladder.
Many tech companies, including Google and Microsoft, support mentorship to assist employees with their career development and creative thinking.
10. On-the-job training
On-the-job training is a learning process where the employee learns the skills related to their job from the actual tasks themselves, with the help of a coach or a colleague. This way, employees can gain practical experience while applying the theory they have learned along the way.
As opposed to conventional classroom training, on-the-job training is tailored to the individual needs of an organization so that the employees can acquire the skills that are essential to their positions.
For example, in a hospital, trainee nurses could watch and copy the work of experienced nurses to learn how to take care of patients. In a corporate environment, meanwhile, new salespeople may get the opportunity to accompany seasoned colleagues to meet clients and learn how to negotiate and communicate. Also, in the tech sector, software engineers can be given simple tasks that will help them improve their coding skills while working on actual deliverables.
Skill development examples
People development might come in all kinds of shape and sizes, but it often focuses on a select group of transferable skills that are critical for all employees to develop over time. Here is a list of the most important skills — and how they can be developed:
- Adaptability: Employees must be able to adapt to new environments resiliently. This can be achieved through cross training, scenario-based learning, taskforce assignments, as well as simulations.
- Communication: This skill helps employees interact with stakeholders in terms of written, verbal and online techniques. It can be enhanced through public speaking workshops, feedback training and written communication
- Conflict resolution: Handling workplace disagreements constructively ensures a positive work environment. Conflict management can be developed through negotiation training, mediation skills, as well as understanding emotional intelligence concepts.
- Critical thinking: Critical thinking skills can be developed through logic puzzles, case study discussions and brainstorming sessions to work through challenges.
- Empathy: As a vital part of collaborating with and leading others, empathy training can involve role-playing exercises, active listening workshops, and exposure to diverse teams and perspectives.
- Leadership: Leadership training can involve mentoring opportunities, decision making exercises and real-world problem-solving projects.
- Time management: This skill helps employees stay productive and can be developed through digital planning tools, prioritization techniques and workload management strategies.
Key takeaways
People development is a critical part of the employee lifecycle. It offers a huge number benefits for both the organization itself and its people. Here are some key points to consider:
- People development is focused on the acquisition and fine-tuning of both personal and professional development skills.
- Establishing a people development plan should be focused on long-term organizational strategy, not short-term performance goals.
- People development intervention should be designed with the individual learner in mind, as everyone has different learning styles.
- Many areas of people development are transferable across different industries and areas of competence.
- Some areas of people development are focused on how to encourage development interventions, such as encouraging recognition and promoting wellness.
By ensuring people development is one of your priorities, you’ll ensure your organization benefits from well-developed and engaged people operating at their full potential. Indeed, people development is an important source of competitive advantage, so keep it front and center of your HR strategy.
How do you develop your employees? Let us know in the comments section below.
This article is a complete update of an earlier version published in 2018.