Your employee is one of most valuable resources in your company. If you encourage them to grow to be the best employees they can be, they will become great brand advocates and help in the promotion of your business. It is important to identify the hidden talents of your employees and tap into them. You will be amazed at how this improves the work environment.
Do a human resource audit
Look at your employees and consider their academic training, software skills, certifications, professional development, leadership, and cultural diversity to name a few aspects. Put this in a document and try to workout what skill set each employee has and how they can be best applied to their position. You may also want to see if you have another position in the business where their skill set can better utilized.
Get out of the comfort zone
Push your employees beyond their comfort zone. Usually when employees are challenged, wondrous things happen. They are able to tap into their talent pool and work out problems from a different perspective. This will help your employees grow. Remember that when you put them in this position they are learning and you need to be there to guide them.
Find out about their after-work activities
It is important to know what your employees like to do after hours as it will highlight what they are passionate about. For example, if your employee likes to write apps after hours but is an accountant in the firm, they may appreciate being considered for an app developers job should the opportunity present itself.
Discover what they need
It is important to know what your employees’ needs are. They may have children and therefore need to leave early to collect them from school. Give them this flexibility if your company can afford it and you will see a more dedicated staff member. If the staff need more training, it may be to your advantage to offer them programmes to help them develop their weaknesses.
Motivate your employees
Give them incentives to achieve goals. Hold yearly feedback sessions where you highlight the places that they have developed well and advise them on places which need further attention. You may also start a mentoring programme where senior employees can teach young, upcoming stars in the company. This will boost both employees. The senior employee’s ego will be boosted because you believe in him and the junior employee will be impressed that he has an opportunity to learn all the nitty gritty of the company from a seasoned employee, especially if it is someone they admire.
By taking into consideration that your workforce is not a set of robots, but humans who want to feel valued and respected, you will be able to challenge and encourage them to be the greatest employees they can be. This will lead to better productivity and staff turnover will be decreased. So, let’s tap into your employee’s talents and help them shine for you.
Proudly brought to you by the National Small Business Chamber (NSBC).