Invest in Your Employees Growth

When you invest in helping your employees growth, you are investing in your business. If your employees are your most valuable asset, how can you unlock their real potential and create an environment where they are fully engaged?
Take an Active Interest in Their Growth
Invite your employees to take an active role in their development. Work together with them to set goals both for their performance and their careers. Understand what they want to accomplish professionally. Do they want to move into management? Are there new skills they would like to add to their portfolio? Once you understand where it is they would like to go, assess what you feel are their strengths and the areas where they can improve. Set measurable goals for them and meet with them regularly for reviews.

Provide Opportunities for Employees to Grow Their Skills and Knowledge
Encourage employees to take outside classes, workshops and conferences and share what they learn with the rest of the team. Keep a database of books and articles that team members can contribute to and use as a resource. Make sure your employees are being challenged in the work they do. New projects and new responsibilities help employees show their potential and push them to learn new skills. Give employees the opportunity to try out different roles and responsibilities that are outside of their normal wheelhouse. They’ll understand your organization more fully, learn new skills and contribute fresh ideas and perspectives. Have your team learn and work on specific skills together. Maybe they need to work on public speaking, writing, or networking. Have a workshop with follow-up support so team members can continue improving on these skills.

Set Up a Mentoring Program
Mentoring programs give employees growth and the opportunity to help each other. It is a way for employees to learn new skills, gain knowledge and build connections. It takes time and effort on both sides to nurture and build a relationship of trust and support. Have your employees schedule set times to focus on working together. Have them set goals and track and share their progress. What does the mentee look to gain from the relationship? How does the mentee visualize growing her career? What is the mentee passionate about? The most successful mentee relationships happen when employees go beyond the work boundaries and get to know each other’s interests, passions, challenges, and values. Encourage building these connections in your mentoring program. In this deeper relationship the mentor can truly understand their mentee’s aspirations, and the mentee will feel heard.

Encourage Networking
Networking allows employees to gain business advice, come up with new ideas, get multiple perspectives, and build confidence. Encourage networking in and out of the office. Have monthly team lunches. Host office events during work hours. Attend industry events as a team. Internal networking creates a more comfortable, supportive work environment. Out of the office, encourage membership in professional organizations. Keep an updated list of industry related meetings, workshops and conferences for employees to attend. Encourage team members to speak at events or present workshops.

Create a Happy Healthy Workplace
How comfortable employees are in their workplace and how safe they feel in expressing themselves there affects the way they approach their work. Create an environment where your team feels listened to and valued. Create a work space that is open to new ideas and diverse perspectives. In meetings, be intentional in making sure everyone has a chance to share their ideas or opinions. Create opportunities for different people to work and socialize together. Celebrate successes! Show people they are appreciated, and let them know how important they are to your business. Trust your team members. Let them take risks, try out different ideas and take on new responsibilities. Give them plenty of room to succeed and grow and even to make mistakes along the way.

When you effectively put these principles into action, your employees growth will be outstanding. Their growth will impact your business in positive ways. Let 100Ninjas support the success of you and your team with a Virtual Assistant. At 100Ninjas, we have packages that suit every need. Reach out to 100Ninjas today!