The term professional development is often heard, but what exactly is understood by it? Professional development can be defined as the acquisition of new skills and new knowledge that are focused on advancing one’s career. Professional development often goes hand in hand with personal development. What is more, professional development is often pursued as a form of personal development. The individual is usually the one who chooses and organizes their learning process, makes an effort to attend conferences, workshops or classes and, in general, makes time to improve themselves as professionals.
Makes sense, right? To a point, yes, it is a solid idea, however, professional development is something that can also be encouraged and nurtured by organizations. Professional development for employees represents a long-term investment that can actually pay off and improve an employee’s performance, loyalty and many others things. Let’s take a look at the different strategies through which an organization can stimulate professional development.
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Right people in the right places
What to do if an employee is not delivering? Well, from a professional development approach, a good idea would be to see what is that employee good at and where they can be at their best, so rather than just firing them, it’s a good idea to look at where they could do better. When hiring people for a specific position, it may be necessary to do an assessment to see if there are other positions that they could fill better. In general, it involves knowing an employee’s strengths and knowing where they can put them to good use.
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Support instead of threats
It’s common practice to warn employees that mistakes or lack of performance can lead to firing or even to other sanctions, like pay cuts and others. However, from the perspective of professional development, it would be better to offer employees support. This could be in the form of mentor-ship, where more experienced employees or specially focused managers could offer employees individualized guidance that would help them improve their performance and grow professionally.
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Growth opportunities
It is important to make different opportunities for professional growth available. The company can support different courses, host workshops or help their employees attend conferences, get a better education and new skills. When an employee is given the chance to develop professionally, not only will their loyalty to the company grow, but they will also have more to contribute. If the individual capabilities of individual employees improve, so does the overall level of the organization. People who are capable of growing and are constantly bettering themselves can keep up with changes and bring innovative solutions to the workplace.
In short, investing in professional development and supporting your employees can do a lot on the long term to improve an organization’s performance. If you want to learn more about how to implement professional development for your organization or how to make it work for you, you can benefit from professional corporate training. We offer our services in Sydney, Australia and would like to invite you to look at our website at http://www.breakthroughcorporatetraining.com.au/ and contact us for a free consultation or a breakthrough coaching session.
