Over the last few years or so, the self-development genre has only increased in popularity. From Tony Robbins to Gary Vaynerchuk, authors and self-development gurus have acquired a massive following for individuals looking to better their personal development. It should come as no surprise that countless employers have taken note of this trend. You may be asking why these employers are taking an interest in their employees’ personal development. The reasoning is that when employees take the time to focus on their personal growth and self-development, this floods over to their professional life by boosting morale. As leaders start investing and encouraging more personal development of their employees, they are investing in more excellent production capabilities of their business. For this guide, let’s navigate how employees and their employers can benefit from promoting personal growth and development in the workplace.
How to promote growth and personal development
Embrace employee self-awareness
One of the biggest things employers should implement is encouraging their employees to increase their self-awareness as a part of their personal development. It is important to note that self-awareness is a large part of a personal development process. If you aren’t self-aware of what skills or aspects of yourself that you want to develop further, you will waste a lot of time and energy trying to figure that out. Below are a few ways that you can help your employees become more self-aware to enhance their personal development process:
- Personality tests – such as Myers-Briggs or Enneagram personality tests.
- Skills tests – skills tests to see where they may have untapped skill sets.
- Behavior tests – tests that measure behavioral patterns.
- Self-evaluation tests – tests that employees can take that measure a self-evaluation of areas they would like to improve themselves.
Encourage mentorship programs
Encouraging a mentorship program has been shown to create an overall healthier, happier, and more productive workplace for your employees. Mentorship programs allow more experienced employees at the company to mentor new or less seasoned employees in order to increase their self-development. Most leadership will naturally be a mentor to their employees and their team, but establishing a mentor program ensures that it focuses on mentorship outside of an employee’s day-to-day team. Mentorships not only allow your employees to develop more incredible skills, but they will also allow other employees to keep each other accountable and develop better interpersonal and leadership skills.
Incentivize self-development for employees
Positive reinforcement has been one of the best methods to condition employees to excel in the workplace. Keeping that in mind, most individuals are also motivated by incentives. This sentiment also rings true when it comes to personal self-development, especially in the workplace. Most employees prefer to get rewarded for making an effort to enhance their self-development, and it will motivate them to go the extra mile in the workplace.
Incentivizing your employees to take time to enhance their growth and self-development does not have to break the bank. Some options to consider when incentivizing your employees to promote their personal self-development:
- Lunch and learn – offer this incentive as an option that allows your employees to learn and develop new skills and information while also enjoying a company-sponsored lunch.
- Courses and certifications – offer incentives for employees to learn new skills, knowledge, and certifications outside of the company with tuition, class, or certification discounts as well as possible partial or complete reimbursement options. Many employees will take the initiative to attend additional schooling if employers offer to pay for their learning and development skills.
- Job shadowing – Allow employees to job shadow others in other business areas of interest to them. Doing so will help an employee find a more specific area of self-development and growth they want to learn.
It is important to note that, if budget allows, investing in further education and training of your employees with new skills and knowledge can enable them to grow more professionally within and for the company.
There are immeasurable ways to encourage and incentivize the personal development of your employees in the workplace. It is vital to ensure employees have allotted time for self-development and personal growth into their workdays. If you promote that personal development is essential yet do not provide the time for your employee to invest in themselves, you limit yourself and your employees from exponential growth. Encouraging your team to learn and grow on top of their day-to-day tasks can transform the way they approach their work. Therefore, when you implement a professional self-development plan for your employees, you prioritize personal development strategies.
