Should you invest in employee training and career development while we are still waiting for the economy to turn around? Despite economic uncertainty, business savvy Practice Owners know that learning matters and is the key to survival, recovery and future growth. What are the factors that influence a Practice’s need for providing training/career development?
- Work environment and workflow changes.
- The need for different types of jobs.
- Advancements in technology.
- Limited opportunity for advancement without certain skills.
- Organizational philosophy and culture.
Aligning training and career development plans with the strategic goals of the organization is a win-win for all concerned. A career development path provides employees with an ongoing mechanism to enhance their skills and knowledge, which leads to mastering their jobs and enhancing professional development. Creating a career development path increases employee engagement (a critical driver of business success) and has a direct impact on the entire Practice by improving morale, job/career satisfaction, motivation, retention, productivity, and responsiveness in meeting the Practice’s short term, as well as, long term business objectives. All of these factors have a positive impact on the Practice’s bottom line.
Do you know what really motivates today’s employees? The top three internal motivators that provide deep personal satisfaction are as follows:
- Autonomy – the amount of control and discretion in how the work is performed (focus is on the outcomes/results, not the process; decision making)
- Mastery – to become more efficient and effective at performing a task (the opportunity to learn; teach and educate)
- Purpose – the desire to support something larger than ourselves (achieving personal goals, your ‘passion’ in life)
How would you rate job satisfaction at your Practice? Do your employees experience enjoyment as a result of performing the work itself? Would the following top drivers for job satisfaction be available within your organization?
- Opportunities to apply one’s talents?
- Opportunities to succeed?
- Opportunities to learn?
An additional benefit of investing in training and career development reinforces to your employees that the Practice is concerned with their well-being by providing an avenue to reach individual, personal career goals while growing the Practice.
You may have been thinking about this value proposition of investing in training/career development for your employees and your Practice and wondering what major elements need to be addressed. When framing the dimensions of creating training and career development plans, you should follow these guidelines:
- Review the Practice’s functional organization chart in support of your mission statement and goals.
- Analyze the needs of the Practice – do you have the right skill sets in the right positions to advance and sustain your business?
- Do your employees have the requirements to meet the challenges or are there gaps in their skill levels to perform current or future positions?
- Are you developing high potential (‘A’ players) employees for your bench strength succession planning?
- Determine the employee development budget.
- Plan a realistic budget in which you use internal resources, such as cross-training or web based training (lower costs, convenience).
- Evaluate the need for specialized training and its impact on the bottom line.
- Don’t forget competency training that does not necessarily involve technical skills.
- Create a career development plan for the employee with information obtained in active, participatory discussions with the employee in line with the needs of the Practice.
- Prepare large but attainable goals with established timeframes to meet the goals.
- Establish the resources that will be needed in order to reach the goals.
- Consider impact on staffing so that employees have the opportunity to receive the training/education (don’t plan empty actions).
- Link the goals to the employee’s performance appraisal (essential component of performance reviews is employee development).
- Consistently encourage employees to achieve and demonstrate established goals (give him/her the opportunity to use the new skill set).
- Determine the types of tools/resources that could be used for development purposes (be creative).
- On the job training.
- Certification training.
- E-learning/online training, webcasts.
- CE, Seminars.
- Cross-training, lunch & learns, knowledge sharing.
- Mentoring.
- Job rotation.
- Internships, externships.
- Monitor the employee’s performance in order to evaluate and provide feedback on knowledge gain and skill mastery.
- Supervisors/Managers are accountable for planning/supporting the employee’s need for time off and the use of other avenues to assist the employee in achieving individual goals as well as the Practice’s goals.
Training and career development are strategic drivers for your Practices’ growth. Think about it as a positive, joint venture. The Practice reaps the benefit of an enhanced expertise that was not in place before and which allows the operations to function more efficiently. At the same time, the employee has satisfied an internal motivator.
