“Organizations that have made a strategic investment in employee development report 11% greater profitability and are twice as likely to retain their employees,” Gallup found.
With this in mind, the question before every leader is, “How?” How do you assess and develop your team especially when the demands of your daily activities are endless? Making the time for the important but not necessarily “urgent” work of development often gets relegated to the bottom of leaders’ to-do lists and, as a result, both the leader and their team members suffer the consequences.
Without a commitment to ongoing team development, leaders will fail to build a bench of talent, and ambitious employees will move on to other opportunities that promise greater development.
4 Commitments Leaders Can Make to Effectively Assess and Develop Team Members
Here are four commitments leaders can make to begin assessing and developing team members, which can be taught in leadership development programming:
1. Commit to being a developer of others.
Leaders will be most effective in assessing and developing team members when they see this as a core part of their responsibility. Effective leaders embrace the philosophy that leadership is not about you or for you. You are in a position of leadership to equip others to do great work. If you assume a leadership role without making this shift in your perspective, you’ll continually find yourself frustrated with the amount of time and energy required to lead others.
However, if you embrace the perspective that your best work will be done through others, you’ll be more patient to invest the time and energy required to assess and develop your team.
2. Commit to consistent one-on-one meetings.
One-on-one meetings with your direct reports are a powerful way to provide consistent coaching and development for your team. Intentional and consistent time with your direct reports fosters conversation, creates connection and builds trust. While one-on-one meetings are an important time to check-in on work progress, they are also an invaluable avenue for fostering conversations that open communication about your team members’ development needs. When leaders are thoughtful to use this time to coach their team members on areas of strength and opportunities for growth, team members are more likely to share openly about their challenges and receive support.
3. Commit to a performance plan process.
Performance plans with regular check-ins on progress help leaders identify areas where training and development are needed. Effective performance plans encompass team members’ work-related goals as well as their professional development goals.
Often, performance plans are treated by managers as a necessary activity to complete to appease the human resources (HR) department, but when leaders value this tool as a catalyst for development conversations, they become much more valuable. The power of performance plans lies in the conversations they create, and the insights leaders glean to help them provide the appropriate support to their team.
4. Commit to coaching.
Coaching requires simply being intentional to provide ongoing guidance and training to help team members maximize their potential. Great leaders actively coach the growth and development of their team consistently — they don’t wait for HR-directed processes or systems. They are constantly on the lookout for ways to provide coaching.
Praise positive contributions and behavior immediately. If constructive feedback is required, find time within the next 24-48 hours to provide this feedback in a non-threatening way. Some of the most valuable moments of development happen in impromptu interactions throughout your day-to-day activities.
Final Thoughts
Notice that each of these four commitments is less about process and more about intentional conversations and connection. While systems are essential for creating consistent development across your organization, it starts with the manager. People managers need to value the importance of their role in assessing and developing their team members.
If your organization’s managers are committed to developing their team members, meeting with them regularly, creating and following a clear performance plan, and coaching consistently, they’ll be assessing and developing their team naturally. When leaders at all levels value development, you’ll begin to see more engaged team members over time.
