While motivated and successful employees undoubtedly contribute to a company’s success, far too often, organizations fail to invest sufficiently in developing their people’s potential. By leveraging a comprehensive strengths assessment like the HIGH5 test, companies can gain invaluable insights into their employees’ unique talents and areas for growth. This empowers organizations to tailor their personnel development efforts, maximize the impact of their investments, and foster an environment where employees can thrive.
The best way to grow your business is to invest in your team. Personnel development provides you with everything you need to help motivate and develop your employees so they can reach new levels of success in every aspect of their lives. We’ll explore what personnel development is and why it is crucial for your business’s success. Keep reading to find out more.
What is personnel development?
Personnel development encompasses the strategic efforts organizations undertake to enhance their employees’ knowledge, skills, experiences, commitment, and overall value. A key aspect of this is identifying and nurturing each individual’s unique strengths through comprehensive assessments like the HIGH5 test. By fostering an environment that empowers employees to leverage their innate talents, organizations can unlock new levels of performance, engagement, and growth for their workforce.
When an organization invests in its people, it paves the way for success. Personnel development provides employees with opportunities to grow so they can perform at their best. This type of development is more than just learning new skills. It’s about helping employees find their passion and bringing out their full potential. The benefits of personnel development also give employees a chance to gain exposure to new ideas.
Pro Tip From HIGH5
Encourage your team members to complete the HIGH5 strengths assessment. Reflect on the insights gained and have open discussions on how to capitalize on their revealed strengths in their current roles and future development paths.
What are the benefits of personnel development?
The benefits of a well-executed personnel development strategy are vast – from enhancing employee skills and boosting morale to improving retention and reducing costly turnover [1]. A critical component of this is adopting a strengths-based approach, such as the one offered by the HIGH5 test. By identifying and leveraging each employee’s unique talents, organizations can unlock new levels of motivation, engagement, and performance, ultimately driving business success. Let’s have a look at several benefits of personnel development.
Benefits of personnel development
- Boosts employee morale
- Increases staff retention
- Develops new leaders
- Builds a strong organizational culture
- Improves customer service
- Enhances decision-making skills
- Increases productivity, efficiency, and performance
- Leads to new personal skills
- Improves employees’ interpersonal skills
Methods and programs for personnel development
People can be motivated through extrinsic motivation by things that they need or want an appealing salary, bonuses, and rewards [2]. For example, people are usually more productive when they’re incentivized to do so because they will have an extra drive to meet their goals. This may come in the form of a bonus, promotion, or even praise from the boss. But intrinsic motivation is also important – it comes from inside your employees. You can help them build this type of motivation by creating a work environment focused on team spirit and collaboration. So how can you, as a leader, create an environment that fosters intrinsic motivation? Let’s look at two methods: through education and mentorship.
Method 1: Education
Educational programs are a great way to give your employees knowledge on numerous different topics. These may include courses on time management, leadership, sales, or even computer skills. The best part? When you invest in your people’s education through company-sponsored training, you’ll drastically improve their day-to-day performance and work ethic. Look into classes and professional development programs for your team.
Method 2: Mentorship
Mentorships are another fantastic way for organizations to show their commitment to developing their team – because they give employees access to an experienced “buddy” who provides advice and guidance for success. However, it’s important to note that this relationship should go both ways. Mentors must also take their mentees under their wing and ensure they’re supported throughout their careers. You can even build this initiative into your company culture by inviting new employees to ‘mentor’ their peers. This way, they’ll grow to become better leaders and learn how to support other people in the workplace.
Pro Tip From HIGH5
Review the personalized reports from the HIGH5 strengths assessment with your team. Discuss how their top strengths can be applied to overcome specific challenges or pursue new opportunities within their roles.
Goals and plans for personnel development
Fostering a collaborative environment where employees understand and buy into the organization’s goals and plans is crucial for successful personnel development. However, this process becomes even more impactful when coupled with a strengths-based approach. By aligning team goals with individual strengths – as identified through assessments like HIGH5 – employees can better recognize how their unique talents contribute to the broader vision, enhancing their motivation and commitment to personal and professional growth. Talking about the company’s future is a good way to get an understanding of what employees want in their careers.
Goals that are related to business development should resonate with employees. For instance, if your organizational goal is to increase your number of clients, then you need to clearly discuss how this will impact everyone in the team. Since teamwork is so important here, it’s also good for managers to come up with specific goals that involve more than one person. When discussing goals and plans with an employee, it’s important to show them what they’ll gain by helping the company succeed long term. While there are certainly short-term benefits, such as extra money or bonuses, focusing on these alone may cause people not to buy into your vision. Instead, talk about how success now will lead to better opportunities down the line.
The best type of goals involve milestones that are easy to follow. For instance, something like “complete a certification” is much more concrete than “try hard at work.” It’s not impossible to get your staff to buy into vague ideas – but it will be a lot harder. When employees share their goals with you, make sure that you listen and show them how they can effectively accomplish this. As a manager, it’s important to encourage everyone who wants to pursue professional development opportunities, such as programs or courses.
Some people may have difficulty achieving personal or professional goals due to extenuating circumstances. Maybe they have a chronic illness or maybe they have family responsibilities that interfere with their job. In this case, it’s important to work together so you can find a way to reach your goals without putting too much pressure on the employee. It’s also true that not everyone shares the same goals. Some individuals may be perfectly happy where they are and don’t want to chase after promotions or take challenging courses. People want different things from their jobs and careers. As long as you’re honest about what you expect from employees, then everyone should be able to figure out whether or not they will be able to move forward.
Pro Tip From HIGH5
When setting development goals with your team, refer to their HIGH5 strengths reports. Identify opportunities to leverage their top strengths in pursuit of those goals, creating a personalized roadmap for growth.
How to improve personnel development?
The first step to improving personnel development is to establish the benefits. This will help increase people’s buy-in on the topic. You can also try to institute new methods to help your team grow. Think of educational programs and mentoring programs. If you can get your team involved in these initiatives, they’ll be committed to the cause and much more willing to cooperate – simply because it’s something they’re interested in.
But what happens if this isn’t enough? If your employees still aren’t motivated to participate or make use of the new development opportunities, you could focus on creating a work environment that supports teamwork and collaboration – where specific goals are encouraged yet self-development is also a priority. To do this, you need to create a culture where people feel that they have a purpose and that their work is valuable. It may take a significant amount of effort – but when employees know that you’re invested in them and committed to helping them succeed both personally and professionally, your personnel development will pay off.
As for the individual, you can improve your motivation by setting achievable goals and desired results. This will not only create a sense of focus and purpose, but it’ll also give you something to work toward. So before you try something new or adopt a different policy, consider what type of change will bring about the best outcome – and where your employees’ benefits lie in this.
5 examples of weak personnel development
Weak development occurs when you create an environment that doesn’t support professional development. For example, instead of creating a collaborative atmosphere with teamwork opportunities, employees are pitted against each other in a high-stress setting. As a result, morale decreases, and they become unmotivated to grow or move forward. To avoid this issue:
Create team missions and challenges so people feel more connected to the company and their peers
Creating team missions and challenges is the best way to boost morale. Teamwork will also become easier because employees feel more invested in each other, which will enhance communication and collaboration.
Avoid focusing on individual performances
When you focus too much on individual performance, your people will begin to compete against one another rather than work cooperatively towards shared goals. If your team cares more about being better than their peers instead of being the best they can be individually, you’ll encounter problems with teamwork – not just motivation.
Create policies that are designed to support professional development
Create company initiatives that are designed to boost morale, such as holiday bonuses or celebratory dinners. You can also institute new methods for developing your employees, such as educational programs and mentorship opportunities.
Focus on giving clear feedback so new skills can be effectively developed
Giving clear feedback is critical in the process of developing your employees. Your team members should know when they’re excelling, and they’ll also need to know where they can improve if their work isn’t up to par. Not only will this increase motivation, but it’ll enhance skill development as well. The more you show that you care about your employees’ success, the more likely they are to want to succeed too.
Encourage your employees to improve themselves by participating in educational programs or mentoring programs (instead of struggling alone)
When employees feel like they’re supported and appreciated, they’ll be more likely to give their all. They won’t hesitate to ask for help when they get stuck or make mistakes, and this will speed up the process of skill development. Developing your team doesn’t have to be a complicated affair. With all of the information at your disposal, you can make powerful changes to create a team-based environment that supports professional development.
How to recognize bad personnel development in an organization?
What happens when the above-mentioned initiatives just aren’t enough? If your employees still don’t seem interested in improving themselves or making use of development opportunities, what’s the answer? Instead of creating a collaborative atmosphere with teamwork opportunities, employees may find themselves pitted against one another in a high-stress environment. The result is a culture of competition rather than teamwork because employees want to be seen as better than their peers, not just the best that they can be individually.
Another example involves failing to give clear feedback. If team members don’t know when they’re excelling or making mistakes, it’s going to be impossible for them to improve – which will lead to motivation issues down the line. In addition, rewarding individual performance without recognizing the value of teamwork may cause your people to begin competing with each other instead of building rapport and encouraging collaboration. It’ll also weaken development opportunities because employees won’t have access to educational programs or mentorship opportunities if they’re too busy trying to outshine one another.
Even if you don’t want to institute team-based development initiatives, you must recognize the importance of individual and peer-to-peer feedback, especially how to deliver bad news in an emotionally intelligent way [3]. It’ll be very difficult for your employees to improve without this information – even with training programs and mentorship opportunities. But when this type of culture is forced upon everyone, e development will decrease as they won’t have access to the tools they need to grow personally or professionally. To support your team’s professional development as a leader, focus on teamwork while also encouraging self-development whenever possible.
Personnel development vs personal development
The difference between personnel development and personal development is subtle, but it’s important to understand. In short, you can think of personnel development as a company-wide effort to make sure that employees are trained and developed enough to support the goals of the entire organization. By contrast, personal development involves individuals working to achieve their own goals. A good workplace will have room for both types of development. If your company values teamwork, then it would be beneficial for everyone to participate in a mandatory training course every year – this would count as personnel development.
At the same time, many people love mentorship opportunities, which encourage professional growth while also giving back to others – so this also counts as personal development. Personal development can be a secondary goal in many cases: for instance, if you want to upgrade your skills and learn more about marketing to see how to better sell yourself, this could fall under personal development. If you also want to increase your knowledge so that you’re eligible for a promotion at your current job, then this would count as personnel development.
Personnel development FAQ
What is personnel development in HRM?
In human resource management (HRM), personnel development is essential. Development in HRM involves increasing your productivity, improving self awareness, building interpersonal skills, finding your strengths, and identifying your weak points [4]. Then, the manager finds how the application of these skills and abilities can benefit the team. They act as guidance and encouragement for the team to progress forward.
What is the purpose of employee development?
The purpose of employee development is finding employee strengths and furthering them. At the same time, development allows individuals to target their weaknesses and help them become strengths. If you successfully develop as an employee, the business becomes more successful and the employee is more productive, engaged, loyal, and positive as a whole.
What is employee professional development?
Employee professional development, or just professional development, is the process of employees targeting their skills for growth. They find new ways to gain skills, train to better themselves, and find mentors to support them to increase their knowledge base.
What is personnel and human resource management?
Both human resource (HR) and personnel management help organizations stay organized when hiring and keeping track of employees. These activities maintain the team spirit, keep compensation fair, promote the wellness of employees, boost mental health, help employers analyze employee progress, and encourage employee growth.
References:
- Shiri, R., El-Metwally, A., Sallinen, M., Pöyry, M., Härmä, M., & Toppinen-Tanner, S. (2023). The Role of Continuing Professional Training or Development in Maintaining Current Employment: A Systematic Review. Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland), 11(21), 2900. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare11212900.
- Kihlstrom, G. (2024, August 12). Council Post: The Relationship Between Employee Motivation, Engagement And Revenue. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/councils/forbesagencycouncil/2020/03/13/the-relationship-between-employee-motivation-engagement-and-revenue.
- Cohen, P. (2023, April 11). How to Give Negative Feedback to Your Peers, Boss, or Direct Reports. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2023/04/how-to-give-negative-feedback-to-your-peers-boss-or-direct-reports.
- McGowan, A. C. (2022, March 1). Effective Employee Development Starts with Managers. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2022/03/effective-employee-development-starts-with-managers.
