Help Them Grow or Watch Them Go

Taking Time for Career Development

Employees want to build their careers, so managers must find time for staff career development. Engaged employees help your company shorten production cycles and increase productivity, profitability and customer loyalty. When you don’t give your employees the training and opportunities they want, they leave or, even worse, they become disillusioned and disengaged; that is, they stay but just slog through their work. The solution is having the right conversations.

Today’s pressured managers have to make quarterly and yearly sales goals. They must streamline their budgets and maximize their resources. Thus, many find it hard to find time to speak with their staffers about their career trajectories. The best bosses schedule time for career development. Instead of seeing it as a nuisance or sideline, they regard it as “helping others grow.”

“Career Conversations”

Career development isn’t necessarily arduous. It doesn’t have to mean checking off to-do items on a methodical list. You must simply speak with your employees. Instead of hosting a detailed, two-hour evaluation meeting once a year, touch base with each employee ...