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GROWTH

How to care for the development of employees so that it brings real benefits to the company? Discover 6 trends.

Nurturing employee development is a standard that should be firmly embedded in the culture of every company: from a microenterprise to a multinational corporation. After all, most people, regardless of age, have a need to develop their skills and competencies. The issue may be approached from various angles, but the objective is usually similar and can be pursued with the aid of the company’s internal processes (such as annual performance evaluation or compilation of development plans).

Dagmara Seliga

Starting point – assessment of existing competencies

A good start is to perform an in-depth assessment of the employee’s current competencies to see which of them are sufficiently well-developed and help in managing daily tasks, and which need reinforcement. This is a way to create a growth plan specifically linked to the person’s unique duties and responsibilities. In addition, it lays down specific actions that are oriented towards achieving satisfaction and a sense of agency and efficiency. 

Increasingly, employees are taking these matters into their own hands. It’s no longer the task of the HR department to map a path for growth. Instead, employees tend to set their own goals, often based on guidance from their leaders. However, human resources continue to play an important role in the process, offering advice on which development support tools are worth exploring.

Development tailored to individual needs and preferences

Naturally, when planning competency growth, it’s recommended to consider individual factors, preferences and needs, such as the learning style, available time, character traits or the specific area of competency to be developed. The traditional approach to employee development was based on soft and hard competencies. Nowadays, a more common distinction is between human skills (those required for interacting with people) and technical skills (those required specifically for the job). More and more companies make efforts to ensure that all employees develop their leadership skills from day one with the company, so that in the future they will have an opportunity to enter this path if they find it more attractive than the role of experts.

Trends in employee development

  1. Whole-team training courses are increasingly focused only on mandatory areas: procedures, processes or skills required of everyone, for example sales skills.
  2. There is a clear shift away from lecture-based forms of conveying knowledge. Basic knowledge can be gained by reading or listening to short webinars.
  3. The focus is on development through experience and quick practical application of acquired skills in the workplace. The more employees are able to actively test and try out new skills, the more likely they are to incorporate them into their day-to-day work.
  4. Flexible employee development formats are being sought to take into account available time and attention span of employees who, as a rule, suffer from sensory overload and reduced efficiency. In addition, various formats are combined to make them effective but at the same attractive to employees. Knowledge gaps are filled by taking short online courses, and skills can be practiced during business simulations. Reinforcement comes through regular action learning (development-oriented groups working on real-life challenges).
  5. More and more companies are embracing new technologies that were beyond the realm of possibility just a few years back, such as VR (virtual reality) or augmented reality (AR). Whatever works is good, especially in the area of gaining knowledge needed for the job. Of course, the best way is to learn quickly and without undue expenditures of money or time.
  6. Regular feedback becomes essential. Feedback is one of the simplest development tools out there. The feedback culture should involve not only the manager-employee relation, but also the employee-manager and employee-employee relationships.