All companies are built on four main elements – the product; the people; the systems, and the processes. In this article, I will talk about the most important one. People. YOUR PEOPLE.

Employees are a company’s backbone. No matter how good systems and processes you have, how great is your product, or how many bots will replace your Sales Reps, unless you have your people standing behind your vision and idea, your road to success will be rocky, and you will be fighting your battles alone. And most probably – you fail. That is why the businesses put so much importance on the recruitment process – they want to make sure we hire the most qualified staff. Often, though, companies omit to put the same emphasis on the development and education of their employees after they are hired and successfully onboarded. And that is the reason why the best people leave.

The top talents leave for the lack of growth opportunities more than for anything else.

Employees’ development is everything that helps to address their weaknesses and harness their strengths, and everything related to your business. Take soft skills for instance. You might have technically brilliant employees, but if they are not capable to sell the excellence of their products to your clients, chances are that your business will suffer, no matter how great the product they developed. Or another situation – you implement the new software that you hope will help your company grow, but due to the poor training, you end up with a bunch of confused employees who have tiny clue as to how to use this new thing, and worse – your daily operations suffer as such by the lack of their knowledge.

There are numerous studies conducted that prove that organizations that are investing in their employees’ development have increased sales, and doubled profits compared to organizations that are not committed to their employees’ growth. Dedicated training and development promote employee engagement, and an efficient, and engaged workforce is crucial to your company’s financial performance. Furthermore, 93% of employees will stay longer when they feel that a company is investing in their career and personal development. Training and development help companies gain and retain top talent, increase job satisfaction and morale, improve productivity and earn more profit. Additionally, businesses that have actively interested and dedicated employees see 41 percent lower absenteeism rates and 17 percent higher productivity.

Who Should be Interested in Training and Development?

Everything starts at the top of any company’s hierarchy. By that, I don’t mean that only the C-level executives should attend self-development training and workshops. It is rather the opposite – ALL people in the company should have the option. But what I mean when I say it starts at the top is that unless the executive management actively supports and promotes the education of their employees, the idea has poor chances to succeed. But nowadays is normal, that progressive companies to see the importance of the development of their employees, and HR leaders are asked to help frame strategic planning, which almost exclusively involves robust employee training and development initiatives. And good HR leaders are looking at their teams as living organisms, assess the individual members, and try to suggest training programs suitable to their particular needs.

Why should you invest in your employees’ development?

In short, it is an investment, not the money spent. But if you want some more concrete reasons, here they are.

Improvement of the employees’ retention

It’s 6 times more expensive to hire and train a new employee than to keep the old one. Retention, in general, is a major challenge for employers but you have a high chance to retain your workers if you provide them with the opportunity for career development. Training and development have become so important within businesses that it is often used as a competitive advantage when hiring. Offering career development initiatives help employees establish a sense of value within the company and fosters loyalty, ultimately resulting in increased staff retention and a 59% lower staff turnover rate.

Development of future leaders

Targeting your employees’ potential and developing them as future leaders is vital in establishing a business for growth and expansion. If you want your company to be strong, you have to have strong people. If a company is focused on promoting its leadership programs, it can achieve its future business goals by preparing promotable talent, and in some way – a succession plan. More than that, by developing future leaders, you will have more independent people who are willing to make autonomous decisions and feel empowered for doing so. Who doesn’t want that?

Addressing your employees’ weaknesses

Did you hire someone great with coding, but who lacks presentation skills? Not a problem, help them to overcome what they are lacking. As said before, nobody is good at everything, and more often than not, you have in your team people who would do well if someone helps them to overcome their weaknesses. Not only because it will boost their productivity and morale, but also because it will increase their loyalty toward you, and in times when it’s so difficult to find high-quality people, we don’t want good ones to leave us only because we were greedy on providing them the means for their development.

Boosting loyalty

People remember how you treat them in good times and stick with you throughout the bad times. Investment in your employees’ education never goes in vain, for when people feel that you care for them – they care for you back. There are always good times and bad times in business – even if you’re super successful, chances are that you will come across some roadblocks. When this happens, you need your people back you up, and more importantly – stick with you, stay with you, and help you.

Building great teams

Finally, providing opportunities for employees to explore new topics, refine their skills, and expand their knowledge can help your team members bond with each other, and create a great team. They can learn how to lean on one another, and they can learn how to collaborate effectively with colleagues who have specific areas of expertise they might be lacking. Learning from each other’s strengths not only leads to a more well-rounded workforce, but those relationships can also improve retention and general productivity.

You can’t only hire superstars. But you can create them, and this should be one of the top priorities for any company that wants to survive and thrive on the market.

It is every company leadership’s responsibility to make sure that the development programs are available to all in their company, starting from the top executives, to the new comers. Career development is not just a word, it is an ongoing process, and as such, a responsibility of every leader.

If you want to start, check out some of our Leadership development programs, and get in touch with us. We will prepare the program that is tailored to your needs.