In any size business, your employees are your greatest asset. Obtaining a strong team and training them for the job is no easy task—and it doesn’t end there. Beyond the scope of their job requirements, there is more you can do to encourage personal and professional growth amongst your team.
Creating opportunities for both personal and professional development is key to increasing employee retention, as it helps your workers feel appreciated and cared for. Going the extra mile to support your employees both personally and professionally will be invaluable to them and will surely pay off in the long run.
There are a multitude of ways to promote growth in your employees. Follow these simple steps if you want to promote a more productive workforce:
Communication Skills
At work and elsewhere, having strong communication skills is essential. Teaching your employees how to strategically communicate in the business space, whether it be with clients, coworkers, or management will not only allow them to be more efficient at work but in their own personal lives as well.
Begin by teaching your employees how you expect communication to take place. Would you prefer that employees send you a digital message before walking over to your office? Or alternatively, if you are working remotely, what channels do you expect them to use when communicating to you and the team? Do you expect that employees will approach you with any work-related issues they are facing immediately? What is the chain of command that your workers should consult before they go to their boss with an issue or question? These are all things that you should be prepared to teach your new employees before they begin work.
Aside from teaching your new hires the proper way to resolve an issue through communication, you’ll want to consider how you will teach your staff the way you expect them to communicate with one another and your clients.
You can accomplish this by demonstrating proper client communication via email or phone call. Have your employees sit in on client conversations to better understand how you communicate with them.
If a staff member is unsure of how to respond to a customer request, work with them one on one to work out the issue. Additionally, be open to your workers if they are experiencing a communication issue with a coworker. As a leader and/or employer, it is your job to ensure that issues between coworkers are resolved efficiently and properly.
When you lead by example, you are helping your employees learn how you expect communication to take place. Teaching methods for clear and strategic communication will not only benefit the success of your business, but it will improve the overall personal communication skills of your employees. An employee with strong communication skills will be a valuable asset to your company.
Money Management
In their personal and professional lives, employees will need to learn how to manage their money. With your employment likely being their greatest source of income, it would not be out of place to help your workers learn how to manage this income. Not only will they feel supported by their employer, but learning more about money management will help alleviate some of the stress they feel about finances in their personal lives as well.
Finding ways to help your employee eliminate stressful situations in their personal lives will allow them to be more present and productive when they are at work.
You can begin teaching money management to your employees during onboarding. When explaining benefits and payment schedules to your newest workers, it would be a good idea to bring up banking options as well.
For those workers who may need access to their paycheck prior to your business’ pay schedule, let them know about reliable banking options they can use to manage their finances simply.
Certain providers allow individuals to automatically save, have their paycheck deposited early into their account and even avoid hidden costs. Early access to money may make it easier to make ends meet and reduce financial stress within their personal lives.
Additionally, you can provide information about some of the benefits that come with the position, such as a health savings account or 401(k) plans and matching. Laying out the basics of the benefits you offer your employees will help take off some of the pressure they may feel about learning and understanding these offerings on their own.
Knowing the plans and programs available to them will help workers utilize their resources, which in turn boosts work performance.
Time Management
In order to create a highly skilled workforce, time management is one of the most important lessons you can teach your employees. When onboarding new hires, teach them how to structure their day. This will allow them to accomplish and learn more during the workday.
As a leader or business manager, you should show your new staff members how to prioritize essential tasks. Helping them know what is most important to accomplish each day will help them better structure their time and ensure they are contributing to the overall success of the business.
Time management can be a difficult skill to master. Some employees may be better at it than others, but you’ll want to be sure that you positively reinforce what is most important to get done each day. It may be beneficial for those employees who are struggling to block out time for certain tasks. Not only will they be able to better allocate their time, but they will be able to establish a strong workday routine.
When employees are highly skilled in time management, they will be more likely to produce greater results, avoid procrastination, and meet deadlines. Mastering these simple skills will help keep your business charging forward toward success. Not only this, but your employees will be able to transfer these skills to their personal lives as well.
Knowing how to structure their time before and after work will ensure that employees are getting to work on time, are prepared for the day ahead, and can more easily relax after the workday is over. Not to mention, time management is a skill that can be applied to any job that an employee may take on in the future with your company.
Typically those who exhibit the strongest time management skills will be able to take on more responsibility and therefore advance in the company.
Active Listening
Helping your newest team members build their listening skills will have a wealth of benefits for the entire company. Successful active listening requires full focus on the speaker, as well as verbal and non-verbal cues that you are listening such as head-nodding and asking questions. Teaching and encouraging these behaviors from all of your employees will help improve communication.
Active listening promotes an environment where questions are welcomed and communication is clear. All employees, new or old, can benefit from active listening training.
This training can be as simple as having a conversation during onboarding where each new hire tells a little bit about themselves. After each individual speaks, you could call on a different person to either give feedback or ask a question about what their peer just explained. Then, go around the room until each employee has had a chance to listen and speak.
You’ll want to encourage your employees to behave this way throughout their workdays, allowing them to feel comfortable communicating with their coworkers. Establishing a level of comfort to ask questions and speak freely for new employees will help them more quickly adapt to their new role.
5. Leadership Opportunities
Finally, another unique offering that you can provide to your entire workforce is opportunities for leadership. Allowing your team members to take on additional responsibilities to prove themselves as a valuable worker not only benefits the overall success of the business, but it aids in building employee confidence.
When you instill a sense of confidence in your employees, they are less likely to hesitate when handling a difficult situation at work, and they are more likely to go above and beyond their basic expectations.
As their boss, you should promote a growth mindset in the workplace. This means that rather than only praising your workers for major accomplishments, you praise them for working hard every day and putting effort into the work they do.
When you reinforce the work it takes to get to the end result, your staff will feel more motivated to do their best work all the time. Eventually, those employees who take on this growth mindset will become natural leaders among their peers.
Conclusion
When hiring a new employee for your business, be prepared to train them beyond the essential job functions. A new employee is a new opportunity for business growth and success, which you are responsible for fostering. As a business leader, you should be working with your staff to teach and encourage the development of soft skills.
Teaching these skills doesn’t have to be complicated. It can be as simple as a few conversations and practical examples in the workplace to get your employee on track. These areas of learning are meant to be practiced on a regular, long-term basis. Take every opportunity you can to teach your employees new skills throughout their time with your company.
