A proactive approach to developing your people is a key element of building a high performing team.
 
When I first started out in the world of People Management, employee development was called Training. More recently a range of titles have come into use including ‘talent management’. I prefer to use the term People Development as this accurately describes the intention and purpose of what happens after someone is appointed or promoted into a job. It includes skills training and learning achieved via courses or instruction and also covers personal development through coaching, mentoring or self-learning.
 
People Development applies to all the members of your team. It includes people with little ambition beyond doing the same job until retirement, as well as high flyers. Changes to the world of work through continuing advancements in technology mean that even the non high flyer will at some point have to learn something different, even if it is just a new software version.
 
People develop knowledge, skills and experience from the day that you appoint them and it continues throughout their employment.
 
Encouraging an environment of People Development can help your organisation to meet its evolving needs for performance and delivery as well as self-fulfilling the people in it. People who develop in a role can also use their new skills, knowledge and experience to help others.
 

A good place to start is taking care of the basics. You may have worked for, or be working in, an organisation that has someone who is responsible for People Development. However, thinking that it can be left to your ‘Training Manager’ or a ‘Talent Management’ department, and that it doesn’t have to feature in your role as a boss, is a mistake.
 
A conscious approach to engaging everyone in People Development can ensure you have a team that is doing what you need it to do, in a way that is efficient and effective for all concerned.
 
Whilst there is no magic formula for People Development, there are some basic dos and don’ts:
 

• Don’t just rely on holding an appraisal meeting once or twice a year

• Don’t apply it just to the employees who want to take on more tasks and responsibilities, or who are eager for training or promotion

• Don’t think it’s just about sending people on training courses

• Do recognise that developing all the people in your team is part of the day-to-day activities of being the boss

• Do acknowledge that people will have different reasons for working and different ambitions in respect their life and career. As a result they will have different personal development needs

• Do remember that an approach that works for one person isn’t guaranteed to work for another.

Whilst not an exact science, People Development is not complicated. Cover the basics and you’ll be better placed to develop your people and keep them with you for the long term.