Develop the employability of your staff members

Many enterprises do consider the development of their staff as an important matter, but generally, it is disconnected from daily concerns. They essentially rely on the annual performance review between staff and managers, during which they discuss the employee’s preferred evolutionary path and possible perspectives in view of the performance achieved, of the competency referential and of the career paths defined by the organization. The manager then plans training programs and makes recommendations for growth.

This approach has the advantage of providing each person with a reference framework to project themselves into the future. Nonetheless, the studies conducted among employees show that they often think their company does not help them sufficiently to develop. Similarly, more than half of the executive managers recently interviewed by Deloitte consider that their performance management process does not support sufficiently the commitment and performance of their staff. The main reasons for this are the too discontinuous cycles, thus lacking in reactivity, combined with a tendency to measure past performance rather than supporting the future one. Furthermore, excessive standardization prevents the organization from fully building on everyone’s specificities.

In truth, things have changed; and this requires an approach towards staff development that is more personalized, more continuous and intrinsically linked to the daily work:

- Base your recruitment as much on developmental capabilities as on achievements.

- Ensure your staff members learn from their daily work.

- Help them develop their full potential by encouraging them to surpass themselves.

- Do not consider their departure as a break-up, but rather as a logical result of their development, and take advantage of it.