The other day we collected feedback from one of our current clients. One of the employees said they didn't quite understand why they should be concerned with personal growth and goal setting. Another response was, "I don't have time for personal growth at all." We encounter these answers more often. Although understanding personal growth can lead to better performance, a more meaningful (work) life and more satisfaction, it appears that employees are not aware of the benefits of paying attention to their own development and growth. A pity, because as an employee and as an organization you miss a lot of opportunities . So how do you make sure that employees do become aware of the personal growth and development they are going through and experience how it can help them move forward? We help you move forward!
By being aware of your personal growth and development, you are aware of the things that are and are not going well and can better respond to them. This provides focus, increases your motivation and value to the organization. But not every employee thinks about what steps they want to make on a personal level, what they need to do in order to do so and how that can be achieved. Nor do many employees look back on the achievements and successes that have been celebrated in the past period.
Many employees just go about their everyday tasks, perform their jobs well, and are fine with that. They really see working on personal growth and development as something extra on top of 'their regular work'. However, it should actually be something that is woven into your work. And that is exactly what many organizations struggle with. HR departments and management often know that employees should be more engaged in their personal growth and development, but employees themselves do not always see the point. They have often never experienced what it can deliver, do not know where to start and what to do.
What role can you as HR play in this?
Working on personal growth is about the consciousness of the employees. Awareness of what you really like in your work and where you would like to become even better or help others. It really does not have to be an immediate goal to go one step higher. How can I make my work even more enjoyable' can also be a goal. That awareness also includes looking back at what you have accomplished. It is the manager's job to regularly discuss personal growth with his/her employees and to look back at the development of the past period. Show your appreciation , which can be enormously satisfying. For example, give them feedback and let them know that your work will also improve in quality when you are busy with your personal growth and development.
Often for employees, day-to-day work is priority No. 1. Many of them are also not always given the space to think about personal growth and development, or feel they don't have that space. It is the organization's job to facilitate this. Because if you as an organization want people to engage in something, then you also have to make sure that there is room to engage in it. Perhaps even by very strictly scheduling half an hour off every week for employees to work on their personal growth and development. It's a small start, but you can keep building on it until it becomes a habit.
There are also several jobs where it is very difficult to plan a schedule. Mechanics who work on call, for example. When a machine is broken, they are called up and it is up to them to fix this machine. Therefore, this is often the only goal they have in their work life. Our advice is to set one goal that is about your daily work, so for example: 'I want 80% of the broken machines repaired within 1 day', and in addition one goal that is process-oriented, such as: 'How can we work with the team to ensure that in 3 months there will be 2% fewer breakdowns?' So goals really don't always have to be result-oriented, but can also be process-oriented.
Tips from us
- Behavior change is a long-term process, so start small and build out. One step at a time.
- Continue to have ongoing conversations with your employees about personal growth and development, even if it's just 10 minutes a week or every two weeks. Through sincere attention, employees will feel heard and ultimately show more input or experience commitment. Questions you can ask during that conversation include:
- What went well last week? What feeling did that give you?
- How can you make your work easier and more fun? What do you need to do that?
- If you would like to change something about your work situation, what is it? What can we do about this?
- As an organization, provide space to take up personal growth. Ensure that all the resources employees need are adequate. In Treams' software , both manager and employee have continuous insight into employee development. Don't your employees have their own laptop on which they can keep track of their personal growth and development? Then make sure there is a shared laptop on which everyone can log into their personal development platform.
- Lead by example. As management, set a good example and encourage employee initiatives. We have found that when employees feel that their personal growth and development is important to the organization and feel they have the space to work on this, they actually take that space.
In short, understanding employees' personal growth starts with awareness. Make them aware of the growth they are experiencing and have already experienced. In addition, as an organization, you must facilitate this in concrete terms. Always remember: behavior change and awareness can be a very long process. Therefore, start small and keep building it up. It only gets better by trial and error.
Work happiness , a hot-topic lately. But what factors actually contribute more to work happiness? And does work happiness have to do with the opportunity to grow and develop? And how do you, as management, make your employees aware of these development opportunities? Is work happiness perhaps even a new business model? And if it were a business model, should it also be measurable? This and much more about happiness at work can be found in our happiness at work magazine. You can download it here.