In our modern business world, the key to keeping and attracting top talent is fostering a workplace that supports its workforce, and without providing an employee career development plan that is very very hard to achieve.
A career development plan by definition is a structured course of action that will help an employee achieve growth in their professional life and nowadays it is one of the greatest selling points of an organization that is on the lookout for the best possible team.
From identifying goals to mapping out careers in the long term, which benefits individuals and organizations alike, employee career development plans are enormous assets. So let’s take a closer look into the different aspects of career growth and how you can create a plan of your own!
Table of Contents
What Are The Benefits of Creating Career Development Plans for Employees?
Creating career development plans offers various benefits for both the employees and the organization and highlights the importance of employee career development plans. To list a few;
- Clear Career Path: Employees who have career development plans, or in another format succession plans, in place, will know what the future may hold for them and have a clear view of the steps they need to take to reach their long-term goals.
- Skill Advancement: Naturally when you’re creating a career development path, the journey includes the necessary additions to one’s existing skills and provides a very fruitful learning environment if used right.
- Increased Engagement and Satisfaction: Having development paths in place will increase the engagement of your employees simply because they will be more motivated for their careers which is bound to support your organization in the longer term.
- Increased Retention: In relation to the previous benefit, when your employees are more motivated to work in your organization. This simple logic will help you retain top talent and sustain a powerful workforce.
- Goal Alignment: As you’re creating employee career development plans, you’re of course going to keep your organization’s needs in mind for these roles that you’re designing paths for. In this sense, career development plans provide you with the unique opportunity to help align your organization’s future with your workforce’s.
How To Create An Employee Career Development Plan Step-by-step?
Now that we’ve established why creating employee development plans is so important if you wish to ensure sustained success in your organization, let’s also highlight a few other details before we show you how to create them.
As you’re handling all of your operational processes and managing development paths at the same time, you will need powerful tools that will be your ally rather than a hindrance.
This is why it’s important to find the right software, that is powerful enough to meet your needs and has a strong integration with tools such as Microsoft Teams and Outlook. Teamflect is exactly that!
Step 1: Assess Current Skills and Knowledge
First and foremost, before you can even start setting goals for your employees, it’s essential to understand where they are currently at in their professional course, and having an employee skills matrix can help you see where they stand with their skills and competencies. Only then will you be able to determine which areas need improvement and what steps need to be taken in order to reach your ideal.
You can use performance reviews and regular 1-on-1s as your method of evaluation when you’re evaluating competencies. Teamflect’s performance reviews module will provide you with the right approach to managing this process.
Once you’ve downloaded Teamflect and have logged in using your Microsoft credentials, you’ll be ready to create your first performance review. Simply go to the reviews module and click on “new review”. You’ll be met with a pop-up that allows you to set;
- The type of review you’re conducting.
- The review period, dates of start and finish.
- Who is being included in the review.
- Set related details into the review notes.
One of the greatest parts of Teamflect’s review module is that you can also choose from several review templates the app has available or customize questions in a way of your choosing so that the review fits your situation in the best possible way.
Additionally, as you’re filling out or finalizing your review, you’ll also have easy access to your employee’s goals, tasks, and other details that were previously added to their profile so you can dive deeper into their performance and assess their status quo thoroughly.
If you’re conducting regular 1-on-1’s for your evaluations, Teamflect provides room for;
- Enriching meetings with customizable meeting agendas.
- Exchanging feedback.
- Creating new goals within the meeting on the spot.
- Set and manage tasks inside ongoing Teams meetings.
Step 2: Defining and Setting Career Development Goals
Once you have all the necessary information about your employee’s status quo, you can now move on to setting goals and starting to create a clearer career advancement path ahead for them. These goals should follow the SMART goals system so that you ensure the path is clear, achievable, and feasible.
Otherwise, your career goals may lead to frustration among employees and backfire, defeating the purpose of having career development plans in place. If done right though, these goals will carry your organization to sustained success.
Setting Development Goals in Microsoft Teams With Teamflect
The goals module is very straightforward inside Teamflect for your ease of use. Once in the module, you can simply click on “new goal” and start creating your career development path in Teams. The goals feature allows;
- Determining the goal type, whether it be individual, department, company, or self-development.
- Setting up how the goal will be evaluated and measured in progress.
- Being tied to parent goals to create a cascading goal structure.
- Set up a time frame for the goal to be achieved.
Step 3: Continuous Feedback
Continuous feedback is an integral part of growth wherever you go. Not only in your professional life but in your personal life, without feedback, it is very hard to get a grasp of what needs to be improved. An ongoing dialogue of feedback will not only foster growth but will also create a space for progress alignment, and skill enhancement, and drive motivation if executed correctly.
Using Feedback Templates in Microsoft Teams
The feedback module of Teamflect helps;
- Both provide and request feedback to your workforce.
- Choose from a specific feedback template or customize your evaluation approach.
- Utilize the well-rounded approach of 360-degree feedback.
Step 4: Recognizing Achievements
Last but not least, recognizing your employees for all the hard work they have been putting in is essential if you wish to sustain your career development initiatives. Without recognizing your team, you risk having a group of people who feel undervalued and unappreciated which will have detrimental effects on your organization’s success, possibly increasing turnover in the process.
Some benefits of employee recognition include;
- Boosts employee morale
- Enhances job satisfaction
- Increases motivation and productivity
- Promotes employee retention
- Strengthens team cohesion
- Encourages a positive work culture
- Reinforces desired behaviors and achievements
Sending Recognition Badges in Microsoft Teams & Outlook
This is where Teamflect comes in! You can use Teamflect’s recognition feature to;
- Create customizable recognition badges to reflect your company values.
- Create manager/admin-only recognition badges to recognize high performers.
- Send private recognitions to celebrate success in confidential projects.
Remember, the power of noticing and celebrating your employees goes a long way in having a successful career development process and sustained organizational achievements.
