Staff development should be a critical part of any business plan.  Is it part of yours?

A strong staff development plan is mutually beneficial to a company and its employees.  Professional development helps employees to feel fulfilled and valued.  Fulfilled and valued employees tend to have higher morale, productivity, and loyalty, which equals increased employee retention—and saves the company time and money.  Investing in employee development also creates well-rounded workers who can contribute more to their positions and to overall business function.

An investment in staff development is an investment in your company’s future success!

Successful staff development should be…

• Relevant.  Sitting through a 2-hour webinar that has nothing to do with their job function will not make for happy, productive employees.  Such a misstep may even spoil those employees on future plans for staff development.  To make the most of employee time, choose training that is relevant to each position, and keep it succinct.  Long meetings, no matter how full of information, often lead to wandering minds.
• Goal-Driven.  Not only should you develop training techniques relevant to your employees, those techniques should also fall in line with your company’s goals and work toward fulfilling them.  Staff development should always focus on the bigger picture of the company’s purpose, business needs, and customer satisfaction.
• Ongoing.  To ensure maximum efficiency, staff development should be a key element of your company’s culture, and training should be held regularly throughout the year.  Regular training will help employees stay on top of current trends and events in the industry, and will help to maximize their professional satisfaction.
• Flexible.  Ongoing, goal-driven staff development does not mean an unyielding wall of mandatory training!  Try offering employees a variety of trainings at various times, so they can select the topics they find most interesting and relevant.  This will help give employees a feeling of control over their professional destiny and how they fit in with the company, and can also help to reinforce trust and decision-making.
• Collaborative.  Once you’ve laid the groundwork for an ongoing staff development effort, include your team!  Allow them to make suggestions for development projects.  You may also encourage them to form small groups or committees to directly steer future training opportunities.

So once you’ve developed that relevant, goal-driven, ongoing, flexible, and collaborative staff development plan, how can you apply the lessons learned to a practical business environment?

Depending on the type of training received, the knowledge can be applied to…

• A position in another department.  If an employee has studied budgeting practices, let him do some basic work in the Finance Department to see how his knowledge fits into the business as a whole.  A ride-along with a member of the budget team would also be helpful to reinforce knowledge retention.
• A position someone else has.  Cross-training is one of the most overlooked tools in a company’s arsenal.  Exposing employees to each other’s jobs not only broadens their professional horizons, it facilitates productivity and promotes a broader understanding of company operations.  It is also good for employee wellness; employees can take vacation or medical leave with peace of mind that the work will get done.  Cross-training is also a good tool to demonstrate employee versatility, and to identify those who might be management material.
• A management position that might open up later.  Higher training in an employee’s department, as well as training in scheduling, human resources, and networking, can help set an employee up for a management role.

As you can see, a strong staff development plan can only strengthen your company now and as it moves into the future.  Educated, well-rounded employees can benefit any business’ bottom line.  Staff development also plays an important role in employee relations, leading employees to feel like valued assets, increasing their loyalty and satisfaction.

Ready to make staff development a cornerstone of your company’s culture?  The friendly professionals at YES! Your Human Resources Solution, Orange County’s premier HR consulting firm, can help you get started.  With more than 20 years of Human Resources experience, we can help you build a staff development plan that’s right for your business.  We even offer a selection of trainings to help you take that first step.  So what are you waiting for?  Visit our website or call us today for a free consultation.