The success of an organisation starts with its people.
People who work together as a team that:
- feel valued and included,
- focus on development and growth and
- are working towards a common goal,
are more likely to be highly engaged, become long-standing employees that add value and experience and have a vested interest in the overall performance and success of the organisation they work for.
So, what’s the underlying factor?
Here at Corporate Edge, we believe that all three factors form the basis for happy and highly engaged team members. As a leader you can create the right environment and culture for success, you can articulate and live out organisation values and goals and you can strive to engage everyone in the team. As organisations continue to adapt to changing norms and new employee patterns, they must be focused on growth and development as key drivers of engagement, retention and business performance.
Investing in and encouraging your people to focus on their own professional development has a major impact on the bottom line of your business. Here’s how.
1. Development’s impact on engagement
An engaged individual is an innovative, high-performing and enthusiastic individual that is committed to bettering themselves, their team and the organisation. By investing and making development a priority, it becomes the top driver of the level of enthusiasm, connection and commitment the employee feels towards the organisation. By levelling up their skills and learning from new experiences, individuals feel supported in their growth, which benefits the entire business.
2. Development’s impact on retention
According to Culture Amp’s research, “Employees who don’t feel they have access to L&D are 2x more likely to leave in 12 months.”
One-third of employees cited lack of career growth and development as the top reason when exiting the organisation.
“If you want to keep people in a role longer, give them something to look forward to in their career as a result of being in that role. Waiting to ‘save’ employees who come to you with other offers in hand, signals to employees that the secret to advancement is to just threaten to leave. That creates disruptions to workflows, hurts pay equity and creates other negative ripple effects throughout the organisation.”
Kenneth Mathos (Director People Science, Culture Amp
3. Development’s impact on business performance
Business performance is more than just profitability. Organisations that focus on development perform better across multiple outcomes such as headcount growth, funding, stock price and of course, profitability. Further data also proves that focusing on development preceded these favourable outcomes. The ripple effects when focusing on individual development are felt throughout every level of a business.
We see this happening because by prioritising development allows individuals to play to their strengths and be more innovative than their counterparts. They have a renewed passion for their role and are willing to explore new avenues. This makes the business more attractive and ahead of the market.
As a leader, how do you make professional development a priority?
- In your 1:1’s talk about goals, career trajectory, future plans – don’t be afraid of the answer!
- Hold the individual accountable if they want to seek out further education
- Support the individual who does want to upskill and reorganise workload priorities
- Empowering individuals to seek out potential learning opportunities and to take them
Development is more than just paying for education. It’s an organisation-wide mindset that benefits all. It’s a way to improve your people and help them grow with the company.
