Employee growth and development initiatives are a winning bet for both employees and companies alike, because people are more motivated and perform better as a result. How to instill an effective skill-building momentum?
01
Encourage people to improve
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Rely on individual incentives, e.g. Speak with people about their personal aspirations to target adapted development opportunities.
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Underline the strengths on which people can rely to succeed, e.g. Reflexively underline the aptitudes that people demonstrate in their small day-to-day victories.
02
Facilitate learning
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Create a variety of opportunities for subordinates to practice new skills.
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Encourage frequent feedback, e.g. Make a habit of sharing your observations over time, and encourage others to do likewise.
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Don’t hesitate to provide periodic support if people get stuck, e.g. Have your subordinate reformulate the problem by asking pertinent questions which may point to potential responses.
Take action
Imposing recommendations and solutions on a team member experiencing difficulties might not help him mend his ways.
Does one of your staff members perform below expectations or in an inadequate behavior? Fix a meeting to discuss the issue. Share your concerns by relying to the greatest possible extent on facts, listen to his point of view, and engage in a dialogue until you have reached a common understanding.
Then ask him what action plan he envisages to reduce the gap between what you have seen and your expectations. Encourage him to be specific and concrete: what is he going to do? How will he measure his progress?
Position yourself as a resource, but favor the plan proposed by your staff member to increase the chances that it is effectively put in place. Also encourage every initiative that will enable small conclusive steps.
Ask questions before you respond (15 min)
A manager must sometimes resist the temptation to bring the solutions to his/her staff members.
The next time one of your staff members comes to ask you for advice, refrain from giving him a solution: start by interrogating him. E.g.: Can he explain the issue better? According to him why is this situation happening? What solutions has he already envisaged? What makes him think these won’t work? What would it take for them to function? Etc.
While doing this, ensure you are not conducting an interrogation that could be perceived as aggressive! Establish a true dialogue, and give your counterpart the time to think, to prepare his response more thoroughly. E.g.: Reformulate his ideas to encourage him to take them further.
Let him reach his own conclusions. They could be different from yours, but you might be surprised!
Choose how best to help a team member (10 min)
When a staff member needs help, the way in which you support him/her might contribute to his/her development.
If you have uncovered a potential for development in one of your staff members, and you have some time available, make sure you don’t provide him with ready-made answers simplistically: you would miss an opportunity to “help him grow”.
First ask him to better formulate and clarify the issue: this is often sufficient to find a solution! Similarly, simply reassuring people of their capacity to find a response by themselves may be enough to get them going…
Your help might also consist in teaching him how to identify different options or to define selection criteria. If he lacks in expertise or in the case of an urgent matter, you can also propose a methodology he should follow to solve the problem.
Conseils pratiques
> Ask questions to help people make progress (opens in a new window)
> Helping a subordinate solve a problem
Aller plus loin
> How to develop talent like a superboss
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