How to Build an Effective Employee Development Program

Employees are the cornerstone of organizational success. A well-motivated workforce leads to better performance and efficient achievement of business goals. However, no magic formula inspires employee loyalty. Every employee has different aspirations and personal goals, but several factors do seem to impact retention rates: career plans, development programs, recognition, remuneration, and incentives. 

An article from Harvard Business Review indicates that employees are 34% more likely to continue in an organization that invests in their professional development. Moreover, Deloitte’s research suggests that organizations with strong learning cultures are 92% more likely to progress financially and have a highly motivated workforce. 

Step-by-Step Guide to Create an Employee Development Program

Creating an effective development program is a pursuit of rigorous efforts and time. It arms the employees with lifelong skills, demonstrates organizational trust, and eagerness to drive employee growth and retention.

So, how can your organization develop an effective employee development program? Here’s the complete guide to help you make an effective program:

Step 1: Set Clear Objectives

Initially, you need to define exactly what the employee wants out of their role, their aspirations, and where they see themselves in the long run. It will help you formulate specific objectives for the development plan. These objectives should factor in the employee’s skills, knowledge, competence, and ideally align with the overall organization’s goals. It must be mutually beneficial and not a one-way investment. It will help in materializing the employee’s potential and directing it towards the accomplishment of business goals.

Step 2: Assess Existing Skills and Employee Profiles

There’s a wise saying that what you cannot measure, you cannot improve. Try and measure the current skillset of your employee. You can do this through self-assessments, focus groups, performance appraisals, and feedback from line managers. It will give you a well-rounded picture of what to address with your development plan.

Once you know that, you’ll be able to identify areas for improvement and potential growth. Try to be realistic and candid with this assessment, as it will set the groundwork for the program. Use this as an opportunity to enrich employees’ potential and address the room for improvement.

Step 3: Determine a Timeline

Time is of the essence. What goals do you envision for the employees in six months? A year? Five years? It’s probably not crucial to go beyond the scope, but try to define a tentative timeline and career progression accordingly. You can start with smaller, easier-to-accomplish objectives and build up to more ambitious career goals. Maybe completing the professional certification or apprenticeship in an entirely different department.

Step 4: Prioritize Employee Development Needs

Next, it is essential to prioritize the development needs based on their relevance and importance, and most importantly, their relevance to the employee and organization. Consider the employee’s role, their career aspirations, and the company's strategic objectives to come up with exclusive career plans. It's recommended to focus on the skills that have the most immediate impact on performance and growth. 

Step 5: Create an Action Plan

Develop a strategic action plan for the employees that outlines the personalized steps and timelines for their development. Break down the development activities into manageable tasks and set realistic deadlines. You can also refer to the SMART goals model for the creation of tasks. SMART goals are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound. It’s a great methodology to design a tangible development plan. 

Step 6: Provide Resources and Support

Once you’ve created the plan, enlist the resources that would be required to accomplish the development plan. The most obvious of these is budget, setting aside dedicated funds for employee training and development. One of the most important factors of modern training is meeting the employees where they are and creating a convenient way to enrich their potential.

Here’s where Brasstacks comes into play. You can mobilize your training by creating bite-sized, accessible modules that employees can access anywhere, anytime. It will help them in completing the training at their own pace.

Step 7: Track Progress and Milestones

Schedule time for regular check-ins so you can track their progress. You can stagger these at different intervals, depending on the nature of the career plans: perhaps once a month, a quarter, and then biannually. Don’t be afraid to adapt or improvise the goals themselves, if circumstances change or new opportunities arise - leverage them. Keep asking yourself these questions to evaluate the overall progress: Is the plan still relevant? Is it still helpful? How is it going to make an impact? 

Step 8: Acknowledge and Incentivize

Celebrate milestones on your employee’s journey and share their progress with the cross-departmental team to motivate the workforce. Furthermore, you can also enhance workplace learning by encouraging employees to share their findings and new skills within the organization. It will be mutually beneficial for the employee and the organization. It is the essence of the learning culture: fostering a company-wide attitude towards lifelong learning and continuous development. A study from Deloitte concluded that companies with a strong learning culture are 17 per cent more likely to be profitable.

Employee Development Program - Best Practices

Globally, organizations are investing millions in employee development programs. However, few of them are unsuccessful because of the inter-organizational frictions and inadequate planning. To mitigate the risk, we have highlighted below the best practices to create an incredible employee development program: 

Find a Visionary Program Director 

Recruiting the right program manager is critical to your development program. An authoritative program manager doesn’t guarantee success, but a passive one will ensure underwhelming results. An influential program manager provides essential ongoing support, training, and coaching to participants. They identify opportunities and troubleshoot problems, working with relevant stakeholders to make ongoing adjustments and keep the program thriving. They also play a key role in promoting the program to potential participants and serve as the ambassadors of the organization.

You must ensure that the program director is a passionate, excellent communicator and has top-notch organizational skills, as they will serve as the backbone of the development program.

Embed Flexibility into your Development Plan

Successful employee career development programs balance structure, agility, and flexibility. It has inherent formality within the development process, such as in participant training, progress tracking, and communication, to help the program run efficiently. In the initial planning phase, identify areas that require flexibility and build them into the program. Areas to consider include program format, participant interaction tools, duration, and feedback mechanisms. 

Be a Proactive Salesperson of the Program

When introducing new employee career development programs in organizations, generated enthusiasm doesn’t always convert into high participation rates. A common reason is the absence of effective promotion. Don’t assume potential participants understand the benefits. You’ll need to convince them that participation is worth their time and effort.

Get creative in spreading positive feedback about the program through internal communication. Some of the common tactics to increase participation are launches and learns, parties, and presentations at company meetings. Don’t limit yourself to any one method, blend it and keep promoting your program. A program is as successful as the number of participants. 

Become a Matchmaker

To create a thriving and sustainable employee career development program, it's critical to form a solid relationship between the mentors and mentees. An essential part of the learning process is accurately matching coaches to employees. This is where program management software can improve and speed up the matching process.

Instead of doing cumbersome, administrative hand-matching, you can use software to generate intelligent matches based on gender, mutual goals, or similar experiences. You can also simplify it by setting up your program where employees can sign up and choose their coaches or mentors.

Share Successes and Testimonials

After the successful launch of the career development program, the focus naturally shifts to operating the program and keeping it running smoothly. To demonstrate the value of the mentoring and coaching program to both existing and potential participants, continue to acknowledge their contributions and spotlight these successes throughout the program. These continual efforts will bring energy to the program, expand participation, and increase overall program acceptance within the organization. 

Conclusion

Well-designed development programs are a win-win for organizations. While they may require organizations to invest time and resources upfront, they empower employees with the competencies to advance professionally. It enables businesses to lay the right foundation for future leadership. 

The cornerstones of a robust development program are collaboration, transparency, and convenience. To ensure the accessibility and reach of your employee development program, you can use Brasstacks, which has 300+ pre-built courses to enrich your team’s potential, and you can also create your own courses with the help of its microlearning course builders.