No one can grow in a place that provides them comfort, but that doesn’t mean you should force them out against their will. Instead, you need to encourage people to come out of their shells by providing them with opportunities to grow and develop their skills, so they can be ready to face whatever hurdles are lying in their wake.
What Is Workforce Development?
In essence, the goal of workforce development is to empower individuals so that they can improve their potential in the workplace and the industry as a whole. By equipping professionals with the skills and abilities they need to advance their careers, it will be like developing the entire workforce for the better.
That’s why it utilizes the “people-first” approach. The process of workplace development often starts by creating opportunities for growth and learning within their respective organizations. These initiatives can then lead to an individual’s personal and professional growth, which can help them progress in their career faster.
As a result, business leaders will not only get more productive and efficient employees, but they can also enjoy the benefits of having skilled workers in their organizations. That’s why workforce development brings economic prosperity to businesses and their employees because it can benefit their bottom line.
What Is the Role of Performance?
One of the biggest reasons most employers, who have been in the business for a while, recruit young professionals is that they can offer fresh ideas and concepts that their other employees cannot. But that’s only because they are more updated about the current trends and best practices in the industry compared to the others.
But if your existing employees can follow the trends, work on their skills, and learn about the best practices, they can easily become indispensable to the company. Employers don’t necessarily have to bring in new blood to the workplace all the time. Instead, they should be focusing on developing the skills and abilities of their existing workforce.
If your current employees are equipped with the tools and resources they need to perform at their peak, it can greatly benefit your business’s bottom line. That’s why it’s essential to focus on their individual performances too. By taking the time to address their areas for improvement, you can create a team of more hard-working and dedicated individuals who believe in their ability to improve.
How Can You Use the People-first Approach?
Much like how you prefer employees who can develop their skills and work with minimal supervision, your employees are probably looking for employers that can offer them bigger growth opportunities. That’s because if they realize that their career is going nowhere in your company, they won’t hesitate to find another employer that can offer them something better.
You can use the “people-first” approach by focusing on the growth and welfare of your employees through various workforce development methods. For instance, you can create initiatives that will encourage your employees to seek out learning opportunities, such as:
Comprehensive Training Programs
A lot of employees can benefit from continuous and additional training. Imagine that you have one employee who has been in the same job position and doing the same set of tasks day in, day out for the last three years. Without other sources of growth or learning, this employee will lack the flexibility to perform other functions besides the one that they already know.
But offering comprehensive training programs can change that because these are for everyone. You can even incentivize those who will choose to undergo a work learn program so that your employees will be more motivated. And the best thing about these training programs is that they can easily apply what they learned during their courses in the workplace.
Workshops, Conferences, and Seminars
If you belong to fast-paced industries such as medicine, technology, or IT, your employees will greatly benefit from getting invited to attend workshops, conferences, and seminars about the latest developments in your line of work. These avenues are the perfect places to discover breakthroughs and growing trends in the industry.
Aside from that, these external learning opportunities can also help expose your employees to a wider network of professionals in your field. The exposure and experience alone can do wonders for your employees’ budding careers, especially if you’re determined to pursue the goal of workforce development.
But of course, this is not to say that you should push your employees away to find better opportunities. Instead, you need to show them why they should stay with your company and how much you value their contributions to the organization.
Self-initiated Study and Lifelong Learning
Lastly, you can help your employees realize the benefits of lifelong learning to their professional careers and their personal lives. This is because lifelong learning isn’t limited to the confines of formal education; instead, it’s a deliberate choice to continue learning and improving oneself.
Encourage your employees to undergo self-initiated study by offering them access to e-learning platforms and courses. You can also subsidize part of their expenses by providing lifelong learning allowances to those who want to grow and develop their skills as a member of the workforce.
The point is that you need to focus on the individual needs of your employees if you want to run a better business. Instead of forcing them to perform even when they’re already burnt out, you should take the time to understand what kind of help to give and provide the resources they need to improve themselves.
