While trolling through LinkedIn, I noticed a meme that caught my attention. Tim McClure, a professional speaker and leadership consultant said, “The biggest concern for any organization should be when their most passionate people become quiet!”  Hmm… maybe we should let that sink in for just a minute.  How is your employee turnover rate? Is your organization losing good employees who are moving to other jobs or careers? Have your passionate employees lost enthusiasm for working? Have they quit covering tasks that have been left uncovered? Are your employees starting to say, “That’s not listed in my job description”?  Have you noticed the Quiet Quitting trend in your workplace? Perhaps your employees are blaming it on COVID, but that’s a smokescreen. Now is the time to create a Professional Development Plan for your organization.

Coming from an educational background, our college would plan at least two formal professional development events each year along with various smaller, required training sessions.  Not only would we receive training, but we were usually spoiled with luncheons and interesting keynote speakers. Industry leaders also create a Professional Development Plan to invest in their employees’ workplace skills, carve out strategic planning sessions, build stronger teams, and improve morale. If you want your organization to succeed, empower your employees to build skills that generate results!

Now is the time to identify what your employees need so they choose to contribute to your organization in a positive way. Now is the time to provide professional development sessions that are crucial for the culture of your industry and offered in ways which help employees feel valued and appreciated. The more employees you have, the more diverse areas you’ll need to address. Now is the time to identify issues noticed in the workplace. These often dictate the type of training that needs to be planned.  Professional workshop leaders provide sessions in interactive, inclusive, and insightful ways and can help identify areas of concern. Here are suggestions to help create a plan that will lead your employees and your organization to success:

Differentiate between hard skills that employees need to complete their job and soft skills that are crucial for job satisfaction. Both skills are needed for a well-rounded professional development event.  Hard skills involve best practices for working with new equipment or understanding industry guidelines for any number of tasks. This is also a great time to cover standard operating procedures, organizational expectations, new technologies, or take time to explain the company’s new benefits plan. Separating professional development into hard skills and soft skills is important as well as carefully choosing the workshop leaders who will teach these skills.

Identify areas of personal and professional growth within your organization. Including these areas will help your employees answer the question, “What’s in it for me?” and will help them feel valued and appreciated.  Add sessions that cover communication skills, time management, negotiating, delegating, problem solving, conflict resolution, goal setting, soft skills, coaching, accountability/responsibility, networking, leadership skills, and managing change.

Consider your employees’ basic physical and psychological needs during the training. This includes the training location, dates and times for training, comfort of the facility, safety, inclusion, recognition, and growth opportunities. Now is the time to check the “morale” temperature of your employees. Do they seem happy to be at work? Do they feel valued by the organization?  This would be a good opportunity to communicate needs within your organization. Do your employees earn bonuses, get raises, or promote into higher positions? It’s no secret that employees will work harder and enjoy work more when their environment satisfies Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.

Connect with trainees for more effective sessions. Establish relationships to foster rapport and create a climate conducive to learning and working. Share business goals with employees and offer opportunities for employees to participate in the process of achieving their goals. Meet with employees and work with them to create individual employee development plans to reach long-term and short-term goals. Discuss cross-training opportunities that can help employees advance within the company. Routinely follow up with employees to discuss the progress made and determine if further training is needed.

As a manager or business owner, consider that our employees could work in any number of places. It is our responsibility to attract, onboard, train, and retain the good people who come to work with us. The success of our industries depends upon the great people who get the work done. Creating and following through with a Professional Development Plan is one of the smartest investments you can make, and it provides a win-win situation for everyone.  

If you have questions about how to create a Professional Development Plan, I’m happy to help.

Here’s to your next Professional Development Event!