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It’s Only Common Sense: Developing Great Employees

The biggest problem most of my clients face today is a shortage of good people, which is common to all industries right now. A Five Guys restaurant in Washington State stood idle for over a year before it actually opened because management could not find enough people to staff it. Another company in the same state has been known to offer a new Tesla to recent college graduates who join the company.

Most of the companies I work with have 10–20 open positions at all times. One company I work with recently hired several young, sharp engineers but forbade me from writing and publishing a press release about them lest some other company try to steal them away. Design companies are wary of training young people because once they are trained, competitors or customers may try to hire them.

This is a problem that we need to solve, and it’s not going to get any better any time soon. That’s why I was anxious to buy and read an excellent book called Help Them Grow or Watch Them Go: Career Conversations Organizations Need and Employees Want by Beverly Kaye and Julie Winkle Giulioni. This is one of the most important books you could read on career development and employee satisfaction and retention. It’s about making sure that managers are nurturing the people who report to them and always developing employees.

I took away many things from this book, but the one thing I want to get across to you is the idea that the once-a-year review is as dead as the proverbial doornail. It is a waste of time to think that we are going to develop our employees by spending an hour or so annually with them discussing their career path, value to the company, and personal growth plan. It’s not going to happen!

Instead, Beverly and Julie advocate an ongoing, personal developmental conversation with each employee—a kind of perpetual mentoring plan, making sure that you are always guiding the employees on a path of personal fulfillment along with them making extensive contributions to the organization. According to the authors, career development is everything; it is what makes the difference in your employees’ future productive engagement with your company.

Here are seven of the most pertinent bits of advice from the book that we should all consider.

1. Talk With People
Just the act of talking with your people and taking them seriously will energize, encourage, and motivate them. Yes, by regularly talking to them about their career, you will make a world of difference in helping them be the best they possibly can.

2. Keeping Learning About Your Employees
The more you know about your employees, including what drives them, the better you will be at nurturing their careers. Knowing exactly what they love to do and what they would love to do in the future will make you a great mentor.

3. Encourage Your Employees
Show them which of their skills are valuable and where these skills can take them.

4. Show Your Employees the Future
Paint a picture of their careers today and where their skills and passions can take them in the future. This is true development both for you and your employee and can change both of your lives.

5. Help Your Employees Focus on What They Want to Do
…instead of what they want to be. It’s not always about the title; it can be about what will be the most rewarding to them. Help your employee discover what they are really good at and what they love to do; this could help them to develop a valuable role in the company that is not based on titles or normal career paths. You can turn them into a true outlier.

6.  Support People
…especially as they find their way to new and exciting career paths within the company. Help them to develop confidence in their own creativity. Develop a basis of understanding between the two of you that will allow each of you to dare to dream about what the employee could do with their skills, and then help them do it.

7. Help Your Employees Turn Their Dreams Into Reality
By helping your employee find a valuable role in the company, you will not only develop a passionate, energetic, and super-productive member of your organization, but you will also help develop a great organization. Encouraging your employees to do what makes their hearts sing—and the company great—is the key.

Conclusion

In the end, it is all about engaging your employees in meaningful and productive career-developing ongoing conversations. If you do this right, you will never struggle to find and keep dedicated, passionate—and most importantly—loyal employees.

It’s only common sense.

Dan Beaulieu is president of D.B. Management Group.