Employee Development Guide: How to Maximize Employee Potential

Are your employees operating to their highest potential? Or is untapped potential slipping through the cracks?

In today's competitive business environment, it's crucial to not only attract top talent but also to invest in the continuous growth and development of your workforce. By investing in employee development, organizations can improve employee satisfaction, increase productivity, and foster a culture of innovation and collaboration.

This focus on development becomes even more important in light of a recent Gallup poll which found that more than half of employees are at least somewhat disengaged with their work. Worse yet, 13% are actively disengaged — meaning they have no intention of even trying to reach their full potential.

Graph showing US engagement trend among employees is less than 50% of the entire USA work population

Source

So, how can you foster an environment that encourages your employees to grow, excel, and remain engaged?

The answer lies in a strategic focus on employee development. To bring you the most effective strategies, we've interviewed several experts in the field of employee development including:

Abigail Kidd, VP of Client Experience, Sparck
Becks Redpath, Leadership & Culture Coach
Ben Brooks, Founder and CEO, PILOT Inc.
Brianna Doe, Career Coach and Director of Demand Generation, Aion

In this post, we'll explore their insights and proven methods for nurturing your employees' knowledge and skills, ultimately leading to a more productive, motivated, and loyal workforce.

Let's dive in.

A Quick Note: Employee Development vs. Employee Training

Before diving deeper, let's quickly clarify the distinction between "employee development" and "employee training."

Employee development refers to any professional growth an employee experiences throughout their tenure with your organization. While formal training sessions contribute to this growth, employees can also develop their skills on the job, through interactions with colleagues, or by engaging with your company's educational resources.

In essence, employee development is open-ended, continuous, and potentially unlimited. It involves anticipating, recognizing, and seizing every opportunity for learning and growth.

To be clear:

If your employees are only developing their skills during formal training sessions, they're unlikely to reach their full potential. Employee development should occur during both formal and informal moments, and it's your responsibility to create a work environment that enables this.

Key Benefits of Facilitating Employee Development

Employee development is essential for organizations that aim to thrive in a competitive business landscape. By investing in the growth of their team members, companies not only improve their overall performance but also enhance employee engagement and retention.

Brianna Doe, career coach and Director of Demand Generation at Aion, emphasizes the advantage of investing in employee development:

“The biggest benefit to organizations that invest in employee development is increased employee engagement and higher employee performance!

Not only do companies have the opportunity to show their employees how much they value them, but they’re also investing in their teams by helping them develop professionally. Employee development gives each participant the opportunity to upskill, become stronger members of the team, and show them that they work in a supportive environment that wants them to grow.”

Brianna's insights underscore the importance of fostering a culture that values growth and encourages employees to develop their skills.

The following list of benefits highlights the positive outcomes organizations can achieve by embracing employee development.

1. Improved Employee Engagement and Motivation

Providing open opportunities for your employees to learn and grow is crucial to keeping them engaged.

It’s actually a top concern for most managers, according to a recent report from SHRM:

Source

While 87% say they use training and developmental opportunities to increase engagement, 92% do so to improve their employees’ overall experience with the company.

Practically speaking, it equips your employees to push past blockers, try different solutions, and otherwise persevere in their work.

(This, in contrast to the stagnant employee who shuts down and gives up at the first sign of trouble.)

And, with ever-present opportunities to grow, your employees will always be motivated to do so. Intrinsically, they’ll be continuously challenged to do more and deliver more value to the team. They’ll also be motivated to learn more in order to grow in their career with your company — that is, as long as you provide the opportunity here, as well.

2. Improved Job Performance and Productivity

If your employees are…

Always learning and growing
Engaged in their work, and
Motivated to succeed

…you have a recipe for maximum performance and productivity across the board.

However, if any piece of the puzzle is missing, the same results can't be guaranteed:

An engaged but stagnant employee may be prone to accidents, while a talented but disengaged employee may not contribute value to the company.

By providing employees with ongoing learning opportunities and practical ways to apply their new knowledge, they'll be able to consistently work at their highest capacity.

3. Enhanced Innovation and Excellence

Effective employee development enables team members to exceed expectations and surpass the status quo.

The concept of ongoing employee development assumes that growth is limited only by the resources and opportunities available. Employees will not only learn what's necessary to excel at their jobs but will also strive to propel your company ahead of the competition.

This is why employee development goes beyond basic training sessions with limited scope.

4. Increased Retention of Top Talent

When employees have limitless growth opportunities, they tend to remain loyal to your company.

In fact, 82% of managers use training and development initiatives to reduce employee turnover. This aligns with the connection between growth opportunities and employee engagement.

More importantly, focusing on the development of dedicated employees leads to the retention of top talent.

5. Improved Business Performance

The impact of effective, ongoing employee development on your business’ bottom line is substantial.

As Leadr points out, there are a number of factors to consider here, such as:

The costs associated with retaining disengaged employees and losing top-performers
The ongoing cost of hiring new talent, versus developing existing team members
The intangible costs of missed opportunities and less-than-optimal outcomes

Yes, you’ll eventually earn major returns on your investment into employee development. But you’ll immediately eliminate many of the sunken costs and other blockers that stem from managing a stagnant team.

Again, once your team is able to measure up to their current potential, they’ll only continue delivering more and more added value to your business over time.

Creating a Culture of Continuous Employee Development

To truly maximize employee potential, your organization needs to create a culture that values learning and development at its core. This means fostering an environment where employees are encouraged to learn from their successes and failures, share their knowledge, and constantly seek opportunities to improve.

Ben Brooks, Founder and CEO of Pilot Inc, points out that:

"Culture must be a lens through which employee development is designed. How one 'gets ahead' in an organization is heavily shaped by culture."

By aligning development initiatives with your company's culture, you can create an environment that nurtures growth and empowers employees to reach their full potential.

Here are some key areas to focus on.

1. Establish a Learning Mindset and Encourage Continuous Learning

Fostering continuous employee development starts with instilling the notion that any employee can grow, learn, and develop in their jobs and careers.

Carol Dweck, in her book "Mindset: The New Psychology of Success," explains the importance of cultivating a growth mindset—the belief that our intelligence, talents, and abilities can be developed through hard work, practice, and learning from experiences. In her research, Dweck found that students who were taught the growth mindset showed a significant improvement in their academic performance compared to those who were not.

This finding can be applied to the workplace, allowing employees to understand that their knowledge and abilities are not fixed in stone and can improve over time with the right mindset.

This means encouraging your employees to:

Recognize and seize every opportunity for growth they encounter
Acknowledge and celebrate their growth and dedication to development
Adopt a critical thinking approach to identify learning opportunities in daily tasks and experiences

(Note: You’ll need to keep employees motivated when they encounter challenges along their path to growth. Help them understand that mistakes made are simply opportunities to grow — and reinforce this idea by giving them ample time to explore and experiment in time.)

2. Empower Employees to Take Ownership of Their Development

With a strong foundation of continuous learning in place, it's crucial to empower your employees to take ownership of their own development, further driving their commitment to growth within the company.

As Ben Brooks states:

"Hands down, the most important aspect of employee development is giving the employee a huge part to play in their own growth. We say 'put the employee back into employee development,' which means treating employees like adults, owners of their careers, and equipping them with the tools and resources to realize they, not HR or their managers, are ultimately responsible for their careers."

To empower employees to take ownership of their development:

Provide them with resources, tools, and support to help them identify their strengths, weaknesses, and areas for growth.
Encourage them to create individualized development plans, setting goals and outlining the steps they'll take to achieve them.
Offer flexibility in learning and development opportunities, allowing employees to choose the paths that best align with their career aspirations and interests.

Brianna Doe emphasizes the importance of supporting employees in their development journey:

“If you want to create a culture that supports employee development, then actually support your employees.

Understand their interests and learning preferences, and ensure accessibility to development opportunities. By doing so, you increase the number of people who will leverage these opportunities.

Find ways to encourage employees to get involved and upskill by demonstrating that professional development initiatives and programs are worth their time, and designed specifically for their growth. You can develop libraries of resources, and involve leaders and subject matter experts (SMEs) to provide guidance."

By empowering your employees to take charge of their own development, you'll not only foster a culture of continuous learning but also create a more engaged and motivated workforce.

3. Provide Open Access to Organizational Knowledge

As employees take charge of their development, it's essential to support their efforts by providing open access to your organization's knowledge and resources, enabling them to learn and grow effectively

Your team’s collective knowledge and wisdom will be a go-to resource along your employees’ developmental journeys.

For one, your employees will rely on this knowledge to follow best practices, navigate difficult challenges, and optimize their efforts. To this end, your knowledge documentation must be comprehensive, cohesive, and easily-digestible.

(Otherwise, it could actually impede your employees’ development at times.)

Your employees should also be empowered to add to your team’s collective knowledge whenever possible. This will strengthen their aforementioned critical thinking abilities, and give them ongoing opportunities to apply their knowledge in ways that will benefit the organization as a whole.

Make sure your team members have open access to each other, as well. In further enabling ongoing team collaboration, you’ll allow for the free flow of ideas throughout your organization — which will inevitably lead to growth and development for all involved team members.

Fostering a collaborative work environment is essential for continuous employee development. By encouraging collaboration and knowledge sharing, you create a culture where employees are empowered to learn from each other, gain new insights, and refine their skills. Here are some strategies to promote collaboration and knowledge sharing within your organization:

Create cross-functional teams: Encourage employees from different departments to collaborate on projects, enabling them to share their expertise and learn from one another. Cross-functional teams help break down silos within an organization and facilitate the exchange of knowledge and skills.
Hold regular knowledge sharing sessions: Organize regular meetings or workshops where employees can present their recent work, findings, or insights. These sessions can take the form of presentations, demonstrations, or roundtable discussions, providing opportunities for employees to share their knowledge and receive feedback from their peers.
Promote open communication: Encourage open communication within your organization, both within and across teams. Implement communication tools and platforms to facilitate easy and instant communication. This will allow employees to ask questions, share ideas, and collaborate more effectively.

5. Implement Recognition Programs and Celebrate Successes

An essential component of creating a culture where employees collaborate and share knowledge in an effort to grow within the company is acknowledging and celebrating their accomplishments. By implementing recognition programs and celebrating successes, you create a positive work environment that motivates employees to continue growing and striving for excellence.

Establish a recognition program: Develop a program that recognizes employees for their achievements, whether it's completing a challenging project, reaching a milestone, or demonstrating exceptional performance.

Abigail Kidd from Sparck suggests tying employee development successes to the organization's goals and performance management:

"At Sparck, one of our favorite ways that employers can reinforce a culture that supports employee development is by creating an employee recognition program around these achievements.

So whether there’s a monetary reward or reimbursement, these employee development successes are also strategically celebrated and tied into the organization’s goals and performance management. This is even more effective if employers designate specific time that’s dedicated to employee development, which encourages employees to take ownership of their own development."
Celebrate individual and team successes: Encourage a culture of celebration by acknowledging both individual and team successes. Organize events, team lunches, or casual gatherings to celebrate milestones and achievements. This not only fosters a sense of camaraderie but also helps employees feel valued and appreciated for their hard work.
Share success stories: Highlight employee achievements by sharing success stories throughout the organization. This can be done through internal newsletters, company-wide announcements, or social media platforms. Sharing success stories not only recognizes the individual but also inspires others to pursue their own development goals.

By implementing recognition programs and celebrating successes, you reinforce the importance of growth and development, motivate employees to continue striving for excellence, and create a positive work environment that supports personal and professional growth.

Becks Redpath highlights the importance of creating a learning culture, saying,

"Encourage employees to seek out new knowledge, skills, and experiences, allowing them to try and fail. Learning develops grit, which is beneficial in the long run. Offer flexibility so that employees have the freedom to pursue their development goals.

Supporting the pursuit of personal development, whatever that looks like to the individual, can allow purpose and values to align beautifully within the organization. Celebrate the successes: recognize and reward progress and accomplishments. Employers should lead by example by demonstrating a commitment to their own development, which is inspiring to those around them."

The Role of Managers in Employee Development

"Managers and supervisors play a crucial role in supporting development. They set clear expectations, provide feedback, offer training and development opportunities, mentor employees, and encourage a growth mindset. Leaders are in charge of climate control and setting the tone for the culture. They should be integrated within the community to model relationship building and inclusivity."

Let's explore the key aspects of a manager's role in employee development:

Coaching and mentoring. Managers can inspire employees by sharing their expertise and experiences. Acting as coaches and mentors, they create an environment where employees feel comfortable seeking advice and discussing career goals.
Championing professional growth. Managers should actively encourage employees to pursue professional growth opportunities, such as attending workshops or training courses. Supporting employees' efforts to expand their skills demonstrates a commitment to employee development and fosters a culture of continuous learning.
Facilitating skill development. By understanding their employees' skill sets, managers can assign tasks and projects that align with their strengths and areas for growth, promoting skill development and boosting employee confidence.
Building a community. Encourage colleagues to provide peer-to-peer coaching, collaborate, share knowledge, and offer feedback and support. A united team that connects and nurtures one another strengthens the organization's overall culture and fosters employee development.

Creating a Development Plan: Key Steps to Identifying and Enabling Your Employees’ Developmental Needs

A well-structured development plan is crucial for nurturing employees' growth and unlocking their potential. By following these key steps, you can create tailored development plans that address each employee's unique goals and aspirations, fostering a motivated and high-performing workforce:

1. Conduct Performance Evaluations

Begin by collecting objective and subjective evaluations of employee performance.

Objective assessments measure how well each employee has met their performance goals. You can also use performance data to determine where an employee has had the most impact on the team and the company.

Subjective assessments — specifically self-assessments — can help generate insight into how your individual employees feel about their performance and contribution to the company.

2. Identify Skills Gaps and Areas In Need of Improvement

With a more holistic view of the employee’s abilities — and of their perceived abilities — you’ll be better able to identify specific gaps in their knowledge and skills.

As you identify these areas in need of improvement, you’ll want to prioritize them based on:

Their developmental goals
Their strengths, weaknesses, and overall abilities
The needs of the team and of the business

Addressing these gaps through personalized development plans ensures that your employees’ developmental efforts are relevant, impactful, and worth the investment.

3. Customize Employee Development by Uncovering Individual Goals

Support employee development by recognizing and addressing each employee's unique career aspirations and growth objectives. By doing so, you can create tailored development plans that meet their specific needs, resulting in increased performance and productivity.

Brianna Doe highlights the value of personalizing employee development:

“You might have an employee development program, but each participant should have a personal development plan. A cookie-cutter approach to employee development will leave your employees feeling like another number. Instead, create an employee development plan customized on the skills your employees are looking to sharpen as well as their goals.”

To uncover individual goals and customize employee development plans:

Schedule regular one-on-one meetings: Establish a consistent schedule for one-on-one meetings with your employees, providing a dedicated space for open communication about their career aspirations, goals, and growth opportunities.
Ask the right questions: During one-on-one meetings, ask open-ended questions that encourage employees to share their thoughts and feelings about their career trajectory, personal strengths, and areas for improvement. For example, ask about their long-term career goals, what they enjoy most about their current role, and what new skills or experiences they wish to gain.
Create personalized development plans: Based on the information gathered during one-on-one meetings, work with each employee to create a tailored development plan that addresses their specific goals and aligns with the organization's objectives. These plans should include clear action steps, resources, and a timeline for achieving their goals.

Abigail Kidd, VP of Client Experience at Sparck, highlights the value of continuous communication and transparency to help managers with the process of personalizing an employee’s development plan:

"The most critical employee development opportunities to increase performance and productivity are found by uncovering employees’ individual career and growth goals. And the best way? Through conversations and 1-1s.

Managers play a crucial role in customizing development plans by identifying employee needs and connecting them to the right opportunities through conversations and one-on-one meetings.”

Kidd further emphasizes the need for transparent communication within the organization:

“Career advancement and learning opportunities must be accessible and well-communicated. Employees should know what they need to achieve for promotions and have a clear understanding of the available opportunities.”

Establishing a clear understanding of each employee's individual goals is just the beginning. The next step is to facilitate continuous collaboration and feedback to help employees achieve their goals and advance their careers.

4. Collaborate on Goal Setting and Provide Continuous Feedback

Work with employees to set realistic and achievable goals is vital for their growth and development. Encourage a focus on incremental progress rather than solely on major milestones. As Ben Brooks suggests:

"Start small. When people think of development, there is this huge bar of a 'next role,' 'promotion,' or 'new job' that often comes to mind.

Instead, have the employee focus on what they can do within their locus of control, right now. Things that would make their week better, give them a win, help them learn something, stretch, or build momentum. This isn’t about taking a big swing infrequently, it is about incremental consistent improvement each week someone’s at work – a growth mindset."

To better enable employees to achieve their growth goals, you should develop a process for providing regular, constructive feedback on employees' progress. This could involve scheduled check-ins, progress updates, or real-time feedback during day-to-day tasks.

Brooks recommends encouraging employees to actively seek feedback from various sources:

“Experienced people know the best feedback we get is the feedback we ask for, rather than waiting for it to come out of a system, report, or process cycle. So building into the process moments where employees solicit feedback, from a diversity of sources not just their managers, is what I find works best and how we’ve built PILOT.”

Collaborating on goal setting, focusing on incremental progress, and fostering a culture of open communication and feedback-seeking helps employees gain valuable insights and accelerates their growth.

Employee Development Programs and Methods

To enable your employees to grow, it's crucial to provide them with the right opportunities and resources. In this section, we'll explore various employee development programs and strategies that you can use to facilitate and support their growth and development.

On-the-Job Training (OJT)

On-the-job training allows new or less-experienced employees to learn from their expert colleagues directly on-site, gaining real-world experience.

Experts demonstrate specific processes and guide the learner until they can confidently complete the task independently. OJT is commonly used when onboarding new hires or adding new responsibilities to an employee's workload.

Pros of On-the-Job Training

Real-world, hands-on experience
Learning occurs in a controlled, but still realistic environment
Minimal halt in productivity during expert demonstrations

Cons of On-the-Job Training

Mistakes, missteps, and other bottlenecks can disrupt actual productivity
Potential legal issues (e.g., compliance issues due to mistakes from learners)

Job Shadowing

Job shadowing involves learners observing experts as they perform tasks in a real-world work environment.

However, shadowing is purely observational in nature, with learners passively watching experts as they perform a specific process or duty. While direct instruction and conversation take place throughout a shadowing experience, the learner typically won’t be required to demonstrate the process within the session.

Job shadowing allows less-experienced employees to observe best practices in action — which can also help them identify solutions to problems they may be facing in their day-to-day workload.

Pros of Job Shadowing

Observation of experts in real-world settings
Learners and experts can potentially form mentorship-like relationships
Low to no risk involved when demonstrating processes

Cons of Job Shadowing

Limited exposure to different situations
Experts may need additional training in how to effectively communicate as they work through processes

Classroom Training

Classroom training takes place off-site in simulated work environments or theoretical settings. It can involve direct instruction from an expert in a lecture-style format, hands-on learning through simulated tasks, or cohort members communicating asynchronously to complete tasks over time.

Pros of Classroom Training

Controlled and intentional learning experiences
Low to no risk involved when practicing simulated tasks
Opportunities for exploration and collaboration

Cons of Classroom Training

Off-site training takes learners and experts away from actual job-related duties
Theoretical learning experiences don’t always translate to real-world settings

E-Learning and Online Courses

Online courses and e-learning platforms offer employees the flexibility to learn and develop new skills at their own pace and convenience. These platforms provide access to a wide range of courses and resources, allowing employees to choose topics that align with their individual goals and the organization's objectives.

Pros of e-Learning and Online Courses

Flexibility to learn at one's own pace, anytime, and anywhere
Access to a wide range of courses and resources
Cost-effective and time-efficient compared to in-person training

Cons of e-Learning and Online Courses

Limited interaction and networking opportunities
Requires self-discipline and motivation to complete courses
Quality of courses may vary, making it essential to choose reputable platforms and programs

Conferences and Workshops

Conferences and workshops provide immersive and comprehensive learning experiences off-site. These events include a mix of lecture-based instruction, collaborative group work, and open discussions on various topics.

Conferences and workshops aim to empower individuals with a solid foundation in their field, helping them take their skills to the next level.

Pros of Conferences and Workshops

Immersive and comprehensive learning experiences for specific employees
Intentionally-designed opportunities to engage and network with colleagues
Informal opportunities to socialize and build camaraderie

Cons of Conferences and Workshops

Time-, money-, and resource-heavy initiatives
Potential accessibility issues (e.g., for remote employees during real-time events)

Coaching and Mentoring

As we discussed earlier, mentorships are ongoing relationships between expert team members and their less-experienced proteges.

The goal of creating mentorships is to provide continuous guidance to developing employees as needed, either with regard to specific processes or their overall duties. Mentorships are typically open-ended, with each party routinely reaching out to the other to check in, maintain alignment, and spur growth.

Pros of Coaching and Mentorships

Facilitates knowledge sharing from experts (leading to knowledge retention for the company)
Experts can individualize instruction and guidance based on learner needs
Forges a sense of camaraderie between expert and less-experienced team members

Cons of Coaching and Mentorships

Mentors may sometimes be taken away from other job-related duties (or, mentors may not be able to attend to proteges as needed)
Easy to overlook gaps in skills and knowledge that aren’t immediately apparent

Communities of Practice

A community of practice is a group of employees with a shared interest in a given domain or topic, who have come together to learn more about said topic through intentional study, discussion, and practice.

Depending on the learning goal, communities of practice (CoP) can exist within singular teams, or may consist of members of different departments within your organization. For example, a CoP focused on specific sales techniques would likely consist of members of your sales team — while a community focused on developing company values would involve multiple members from each of your teams.

Within a community of practice, members can assume the role of teacher and learner at different times. This allows developing employees to take more control of their own learning — and to provide value to others whenever possible.

Pros of Communities of Practice

Facilitates cross-team engagements and opportunities to share knowledge
Open, creative discussions can lead to unforeseen breakthroughs
Practical application of learned knowledge and skills built into the process

Cons of Communities of Practice

Requires a hefty commitment from all learners
Discussions can potentially run stagnant if leaders don’t maintain control

Measuring the Success of Employee Development Initiatives

On top of knowing how your employees are developing, you need to know how you’re doing in terms of facilitating this growth.

1. Set Measurable Goals

Establish clear and measurable goals for your developmental initiative.

For example, if you aim to improve team collaboration, set a goal to increase the number of cross-departmental projects by 15% within six months. This will help you focus on whether your employees are developing as intended and whether their engagement with your initiatives translates to improved performance.

2. Conduct Employee Evaluations and Assessments

After you’ve implemented the initiative, you’ll then evaluate:

Your individual employee’s efforts to learn and grow
Your/the team lead’s efforts to facilitate this growth
Whether the above lined up to actually realize growth within your employees

This goes beyond stating whether or not they completed a certain training or attended a conference.

Here, you’ll want to determine:

Did they successfully learn the necessary information?
Did they successfully apply it to their duties as intended?
Have they used their newfound knowledge or abilities in other, more advanced ways?

Highlighting the significance of employee feedback, Brianna Doe had the following to say:

“Collecting employee feedback is crucial. Without it, the leadership team will be flying blind. What's working? What's not working? Do employees actually feel supported, or is 'employee development' just a buzzword around the office?

By giving each employee the opportunity to provide feedback (preferably anonymous), the company can identify areas for improvement, what they can do better, and what's working for the teams.”

Be sure to collect feedback from your employees throughout the initiative, as this will help you again gauge your efforts to engage them, and their willingness to engage in the first place.

3. Analyze the Impact of Learning on Employee and Business Performance

Finally, zoom out to trace the impact of your developmental initiative to the overall success of your employees and your business.

In terms of your employees’ performance, consider:

Did their development lead to the intended improvements in performance?
Have the lessons learned “stuck” with the employee in a practical sense?
Is the employee better prepared for the future, in their current position or otherwise?

You then need to know how this growth has impacted your business — to again validate your efforts, and to determine your next step as you continue to develop your employees’ knowledge.

Tools for Strategic Employee Development

To take your employee development initiatives to the next level, you’ll want to invest in a variety of software and digital tools.

Such as…

Learning Management Systems (LMS)

A learning management system (LMS) allows you to take full control of your employee training initiatives on both the front and backend.

For one, your LMS will enable you to create and present educational sessions and series’ to your employees, in real-time and on-demand. Your individual employees, then, will be able to navigate these learning experiences in multiple ways to strengthen their own engagement and comprehension.

Your LMS will also allow you to administer these learning experiences, ensuring your employees get the absolute most out of them at all times. As you assess their developmental efforts, you'll then be able to point your employees to further educational content and learning opportunities that are most relevant to them.

Mentoring Software

Mentoring software provide managers with full visibility and control of the mentoring relationships in existence throughout their organization.

With mentoring software, you’ll easily be able to:

Identify and recruit mentoring candidates
Create, manage, and assess effective mentoring relationships
Develop learning goals and plans for your mentor relationships

With a holistic view of these relationships, you’ll also be better able to assess and improve your approach to your use of mentoring as a means for professional development, overall.

Performance Management Software

Performance management software helps you determine what your employees know and can do — and where additional training and learning is needed.

An effective performance management tool makes it easy to communicate one-on-one with individual employees to discuss their current and future professional development.

Key tasks you’ll be able to complete include:

Assessing past and current performance
Creating and refining developmental goals
Connecting employees to the necessary educational resources and channels

When used along with your LMS, your performance management tool will allow you to create ongoing, ever-evolving learning paths for your employees to embark on.

Communications Tools

Chances are, you already use a number of tools for communication purposes — and will now need to configure them to enable employee development in various ways.

For example, you might create Slack channels or intranet message boards for each Community of Practice operating within your organization.

You can also use your communications tools to link directly to educational articles, videos, and resources for learners to take advantage of. With proper integrations set up, you can even deliver certain educational content directly within these comms tools, as well.

Finally, you can use these tools to check in with your employees with regard to their ongoing development. Similarly, your employees should be able to reach out to you whenever they need additional guidance, access to certain resources, or anything else that will further enable their growth.

Knowledge Base and Knowledge Management Software

Knowledge base and knowledge management tools ensure your employees will always be able to learn what they’ve set out to learn — and then some.

With knowledge base solutions (like Helpjuice), you can:

Document your team’s collective knowledge in both text and multimedia formats
Structure your knowledge documents for practical and contextual learning
Share knowledge content with learners and mentors in real-time

Knowledge management software helps further integrate your tech stack, with a focus on capturing company knowledge and wisdom whenever it’s created or communicated. With a solid knowledge management system in place, every opportunity for your employees to learn and grow will be identified and documented accordingly.

Using Helpjuice to Spur Employee Development

As we’ve said, an internal knowledge base is vital to your efforts to spur employee development.

As a leading knowledge base software provider for over a decade, Helpjuice’s team is laser-focused on making continuous learning the “new normal” for teams of all shapes and sizes.

Along with our advanced and ever-evolving software, we provide hands-on onboarding and support to teams looking to jumpstart their continuous learning initiatives without having to reinvent the wheel.

Best of all? You can try Helpjuice for fourteen days completely free of charge.

Ready to get started? Sign up for your free trial today!