With the job market constantly evolving and under pressure due to a skills shortage, HR teams are scratching their heads on how to attract new talent and retain current employees. Unlocking the potential of your employees plays a pivotal role in staff retention and will help your employees to continuously develop their career paths and skills.
With HR departments looking at workforce optimisation, it is vital, that as part of this, full potential is unlocked in the existing workforce. But how can this be achieved?
Leadership
How invested are bosses and line managers in their staff? Employees don’t generally leave because of organisations; they leave because of poor leadership and lack of support. Invest in your managers by offering training and coaching in leadership. Employees need good leaders for guidance & support and effective sharing of knowledge and skills.
As the world of work has changed so dramatically in recent years, so too have the skills which good leaders must have to get the full potential from their teams. Ensuring training is up-to-date, and that the organisation has adapted their mind set to support their leaders will help employees flourish.
What motivates your employees?
Great leaders know their employees and don’t take a ‘one fits all’ approach, they will explore what drives their employees. For some this may be money, whilst for others this may be flexible working hours, or a sense of achievement / accomplishment. Trends show the employees are also becoming more empowered by their own values matching the organisation they work for, and want a deeper understanding of organisational motivations and how they give back to the wider society and the world.
By having regular reviews and catch-ups with employees, you’ll be able to tailor your approach and management style towards that employee. This method will ensure that members of staff feel listened to and are likely to thrive in this environment.
Reward employees
Celebrate achievements with your employees. It is important to reward individual employees that have performed well and have exceled in their job. Measuring performance should be part of your HR strategy and should be transparent company wide. If there is no recognition in place, staff may feel that it is ok to do the minimum expected, whilst a reward system could increase productivity overall. And, as touched on above, the individualisation of employees in the workplace is peaking, different employees want to be rewarded for different things. Your rewards should reflect individualism and employees personally.
Lifelong learning
Investment in training and development within organisations can create an environment where employees feel that they are continually learning and growing their talents. An increasing number of businesses are offering courses that do not directly relate to their employee’s field – e.g. acting, yoga and/or languages. But, why? Whilst these skills may not appear directly transferable, they can unlock potential in the business, for example, a member of staff who is participating in acting classes may become much more confident in the workplace and then develop into a great manager as a result. It is also important for organisations to realise that not everything offered by an organisation should have direct impact on them. There is a growing sense of responsibility for employers to look after employees in a more holistic way. There are plenty of ways in which non-direct training results in non-direct impact to an organisation, but the idea here to the shift the way of thinking, embrace employees and help them to develop in a rounded, supported way, whether that be professionally, physically, mentally, emotionally, academically…
Create an inclusive and open environment
If you really want to unlock full potential, employees should feel encouraged to contribute ideas in a culture that is inclusive and open to new ideas. If the right environment is created, not only employees will reap the benefits, but also the organisation as it will continuously grow and flourish with renewed commitment and fresh thinking to make the business better. Actively strategising to create an evolving, dynamic and inclusive culture and putting steps in place to constantly review and optimise this strategy will ultimately provide you with a fantastic, thriving workplace with happier employees that are more productive.
Unlocking potential in the organisation will help you to retain staff, increase productivity and create a happier workplace. If you are looking to unlock potential in your organisation, Career Star Group can help.