Talent today aren’t going to stick around your organization and give you their discretionary energy and loyalty unless they feel they are being engaged, empowered and enabled in their role.
Most employees don’t want to just put in x number of hours a day in the same monotonous job. They want skills that make them more marketable NOW and in the future. They want to feel like they are learning and growing in their current role, and they want to feel like they have the skills and competencies to do a good job with their colleagues and customers.
We have observed that the new work order has changed, and talent is no longer trading job security for job loyalty. However, when you give them skills and development now and opportunities for growth in the future, they feel visible and valued, which translates into giving their discretionary energy and loyalty. Plus, when you develop your employees they are better enabled to serve both your internal and external customers and provide a better experience which can translate into more productivity and profits for your organization.
Millennials and Learning
Millennials especially are known for moving from job to job in order to expand their growth, salary and opportunities in their careers. A recent Gallup poll found that, “Millennials are more likely than both Gen Xers and baby boomers to say a job that accelerates their professional or career development is “very important” to them (45% of millennials vs. 31% of Gen Xers and 18% of baby boomers).” (Gallup, 2017).
Enable your Employees with Learning and Development
Hire for personality, then train for hard skills. There is lack of soft skills now in the workplace, and yet these skills are ones that help to create exceptional experiences for your customers. Often times the hard skills that an employee needs to execute their role are trainable. Soft skills that focus on creating personalized experiences for your employees and customers include: being authentic, hospitality, empathy, competency, commitment, friendliness and fun! If you hire your employees for these sort of skills, you can usually train them for the specific tasks they will need to know on the job.
Commit to your employee’s development and be accountable for their learning. Have a plan for developing your employees. Communicate and discuss with them openly about their opportunities for growth and commit to a plan of action. Ask yourself, what specific efforts have been made to improve my employee’s personal and professional skills? The best organizations, the ones who have high retention, high recruitment and employee loyalty, engage and enable their talent with learning and development throughout their careers.
For more information on how to implement a custom learning program in your organization click here.