Hiring a brilliant new employee is definitely one of the high points of being a manager. You're excited about the talents they will bring to the table and how this will impact the company's success. Of course, the new employee rolls up their sleeves, jumps right in, and starts doing the work that dreams are made of. You are happy you made the right choice. You want to keep this person on board for the long haul, and you're more than happy for them to rise up the ranks when the time comes.
On the other hand, we have the rotten egg in the bunch. This is that hire you made but ended up regretting later. This employee is constantly complaining without offering solutions, can't handle the work, and brings the whole team down. Your first instinct will be to shove this bad hire out of the door fast. Hold off on that. We'll discuss another way to deal with this situation below.
Supporting your employees' career development is beneficial for the business's success, whether it is your star employees or those who need two helping hands. Providing relevant opportunities for your employees, good or bad, helps them grow personally and professionally.
According to this 2021 survey by ClearCompany, most employees value career development in a company aside from other motivational benefits like cash bonuses or flexible work hours. There is an increased risk of turnover if your team is not growing.
If you don't believe me, think back to that time in your career when you felt stagnated and frustrated because of it. I bet you felt like jumping ship, didn't you? Well, that's probably how your employees feel, especially if they asked for a promotion or a raise and you couldn't offer it.
Doing the same thing for a long time can get boring fast, especially for employees who want to tackle new experiences and challenges at work every day. However, I understand that even though promotion is the easiest way to support employees' career development, it may not be possible sometimes. Some reasons like wage and hiring freezes could also be beyond your managerial control.
You can easily throw your hands in the air and give up if the situation is out of your control, but the truth is, you can do a lot more than you think. Just because you can't promote your employees right now, doesn't mean you cannot support their development. Below are a few career development strategies you can implement for any of your employees to give them the level of growth they genuinely deserve. Some don't require a financial incentive or a promotion.
Think about lateral career moves
Employees typically grow in an upward trajectory within an organization, but that is not the only direction that can offer growth. Sometimes a change in one's role or responsibilities can be equally motivating and stimulating. If you suspect one of your employees feels bored or restless in their role, ask them about the parts of the business they find interesting. Check for any areas they are interested in and find opportunities for lateral career moves.
Monitor your team (if you haven't been already) and see if there's a way to mix and match everyone's responsibilities. If two employees have been doing one thing for a long time on the same team, switch things up for them. I'm sure they'll be ecstatic to step into each other's shoes for a change. They can also train each other, which will boost teamwork. A classic case of killing two birds with one stone (or maybe a happier analogy that works for you).
This approach can also work if the team is facing layoffs. You might be able to save a few jobs for those who can offer multiple value points for the company. Lateral growth moves can support employees' career development while providing new learning opportunities or challenges and keeping things interesting.
Flexible working conditions or vacation policies
Something as simple as introducing flexible working conditions in terms of working hours or remote working days can make a huge difference in employee morale. Life happens, and unexpected life commitments can interfere with one's work schedule. You must understand this and help maintain your team's work-life balance.
Additionally, I'm sure you have many hard workers on your team. They need vacations to recharge, refresh, and come back to work re-energized. Develop and communicate a clear vacation policy to your employees and encourage them to take some time off, especially when there's a low workload.
Concentrate on growing their skills
If you can't offer that exceptional employee a promotion right now, this shouldn't keep you up at night. You can focus on helping them improve their skills to promote their career development.
Look at each team member's skills and work with them on the skills they can improve. It will even be better if you can link it to an area of the business or future opportunity they are passionate about pursuing. When you focus on a specific area of your team member's work and work on improving it substantially, this can boost their motivation. It will give them a fresh perspective on a task they have been handling a bit too routinely and help them take a more creative approach.
Take advantage of your one-on-one sessions with your employees to work on employee development and skills growth. The first meeting could be for discussing their areas of interest and improvement. You can use follow-up sessions to check in and give feedback on their progress. This method ensures employees feel they are growing and developing in their roles. As they develop their existing skills and cultivate valuable new ones to advance their career, they will start to feel like they are doing meaningful work.
If you don't have the budget to train your employees, you can go about it creatively in the following ways:
-
Introduce them to a mentor in a similar career to provide them with excellent advice and guidance.
-
Link them up with peers in the company who are skilled in their areas of interest.
-
Send them to relevant company events, conferences, or meetups they can learn from.
-
Put them on relevant projects that will help them boost their skills in areas of interest.
Help them utilize their passion
As your team and company grow, some processes may become outdated, which is why you need to keep things fresh. It might have been the best you could do when starting out, but now your employees are finding it hard to use the same systems and processes. If one of your team members mentions an inefficient system or a broken process, ask them if they would consider taking it on as a project.
You never know, this could be something they are passionate about if they cared enough to bring it up. Thus, the motivation to fix it will be there. Additionally, if they succeed in improving or fixing this project, they can add it to their resume as a success story. Handling a daily problem will make your employees happier, easier to work with, and stress-free. It is a win-win for everyone.
Passion projects hit three target areas that help to motivate employees intrinsically:
-
Purpose: The project significantly helps the company, the team, and the individual.
-
Mastery: By tackling this project, they'll build up their skills.
-
Autonomy: They are in charge of the project and get to develop goals for themselves
Maximize the work areas your employees are worked up about, and they might surprise you with the results. You'll be helping them grow, and the work will improve things for everyone across the board.
You might also like 5 Strategies for Increasing Employee Engagement.
The goal is to reward good performance even when you cannot support employees' career development. If you have a team member doing a stellar job consistently, don't pile work on them without even a crumb of praise. Such behaviour will lead this employee to leave. Use the strategies above to support employees’ career development, which will lead to growth and success for you, the team, and the company.
Don't forget your poor performers as well. It is equally important that they also see rewards for their successes, regardless of how small they seem. When such an employee notices that they can do well in a particular area, they'll work harder to improve for continued success. Before you know it, they'll also start growing and developing into a valuable member of your team.
To have a loyal and fulfilled workforce, you must instil a sense of accomplishment in each team member. Thus, the factors keeping you from promoting them should not hold you back from supporting employee career development. Get creative with the above strategies to boost employee retention, motivation, and morale.