Objective: effective professional development for more effective teams

Today, successful companies are not only those that recruit the best talent, but above all those that know how to develop them. Professional development is no longer just a perk; it's a strategic lever for team performance and loyalty.

Training, coaching, upskilling... these are all actions that not only optimize each employee's potential, but also ensure the company's long-term competitiveness. But how do you structure effective professional development tailored to individual needs?

In this article, we'll look at why it's essential to invest in professional development, and how to turn it into a real engine of growth for your organization. On the program: best practices, HR strategies and examples to help you achieve your goals. 💪

See all software Talent Management

What is professional development?

Professional development can be defined as the set of actions put in place by the company to encourage its employees' skills enhancement and career planning. Essential to employees' well-being, it enables them to learn new skills and stimulates their motivation and ambition.

Set up individually for each employee by the company, the professional development plan takes the form of various actions. These naturally include

• regular interviews to monitor the employee's progress and career aspirations;
• enrolment in training courses adapted to the career plan;
• obtaining certifications required for professional development;
• participation in seminars, workshops, webinars, etc. ;
• setting up in-house e-learning solutions to encourage employees to challenge themselves and develop their skills; etc.

Why is it important to support employees' professional development?

Neglecting employees' professional development is undoubtedly one of the worst strategic mistakes a company can make. All the more so at a time of recruitment difficulties and high turnover.

We explain why a well-oiled professional development policy has become a must in the world of work. ⤵️

Reason no. 1: build employee loyalty and promote from within

Employee retention is a major issue in today's working world. According to figures provided by Statista, the average turnover rate in France is around 15%. When you consider the cost involved in replacing an employee and training a new one, it's easy to see why employee retention is at the top of a company's list of priorities.

To avoid a talent drain and encourage employee retention, it is more than advisable to focus on their professional development. In fact, some of the factors behind employees' desire to leave include :

• lack of recognition
• poor working conditions
• but also, and above all, the lack of career development prospects. ☝️

So, by focusing on continuous learning through a professional development plan, you are contributing to the well-being and fulfillment of your teams. What's more, by keeping an eye on the training courses taught and the progress made by your employees, you can more easily identify those employees most likely to progress professionally within the internal hierarchy. A win-win deal for both company and employees!

Reason no. 2: develop your teams' skills and knowledge

To stay competitive, it's imperative not to let routine set in within your teams. Continuous learning via a professional development plan helps to stimulate and challenge them on a daily basis. 🧠

By improving their skills, employees become more productive. And that's reflected in the company's performance!

Reason n°3: attract new talent

Before applying to a company, candidates are doing more and more research. They are particularly interested in the reputation of the employer brand and the way employees are treated.

One of the main reasons for this rise in expectations is the desire to find a position that matches their values, expectations and needs. By emphasizing the implementation of an individual professional development plan for each employee, you immediately gain in attractiveness and stand out for a corporate culture that encourages internal evolution. 📈

Reason no. 4: stay on top of the latest trends

Among the other benefits of a professional development culture in your company is the need to keep abreast of the new trends driving your market. Indeed, when it comes to ongoing training for your staff, you need to keep abreast of the latest best practices, especially when it comes to technology and innovation.

It's also worth noting that the need to keep a constant watch on trends in your industry can lead to business opportunities. It's not uncommon, for example, for companies to collaborate following joint participation in a webinar, conference or training course.

How can you help your employees grow? 7 best practices to adopt

Are you looking for advice on how to help your employees develop both professionally and personally? Here are a few best practices to put in place to create a serene learning and working environment.

Identify key skills to be acquired

This is the foundation on which you can build. The aim of this first step is to define precisely the skills and knowledge your employees need to master in order to be eligible for internal career development. Of course, these hard skills and soft skills are not the same, depending on the sector of activity and the specific nature of the business. All the more reason to identify them as carefully as possible.

These skills and knowledge can take different forms. For example, they may involve :

• mastery of specific software,
• the ability to manage a customer relationship over the long term
• or, more broadly, demonstrating leadership potential.

Set up personalized follow-up using a suitable tool

Encouraging employees to make progress is all very well. Being able to monitor them and measure their performance is even better!

So, to best measure the evolution and skills development of your employees, it's highly recommended to equip yourself with specific software. Most specialized Learning Management System (LMS) software offers a performance tracking function. This makes it extremely easy to track individual progress.

💡 What's more, these e-learning solutions enable you to identify strengths and areas for improvement that your employees need to work on. This is an excellent way of assigning them specific learning modules designed to help them overcome difficulties.

Define the development potential of each position

Right from the onboarding stage, employees need to be aware of the career opportunities available within the company, and the skills they need to develop in order to progress internally. It is therefore necessary to define a clear mobility path for each position, enabling the employee to make a more or less long-term projection.

For example, let's take an employee who joins the company as a department salesperson. He or she needs to know that, depending on the efforts made and skills acquired over the years, he or she may be eligible for :

• department manager,
• then store manager
• before eventually becoming a sales manager.

Create an individualized professional development plan for each employee

Broadly speaking, a professional development plan should enable all employees to identify the levers they need to pull in order to aspire to a position of greater responsibility. It is therefore advisable to define and share with the employee, during a meeting set aside for this purpose, the roadmap mapped out for his or her development within the company. 🗺️

In his professional development plan, the employee should find the long-term objectives set by the management team, 🎯 as well as the key skills and knowledge to be mastered in order to achieve them.

Please note: by its very nature, this plan is open-ended , and may need to change in line with the employee's aspirations. Regular meetings should be scheduled for this purpose, in order to discuss progress with the employee and the best way to achieve his or her objectives.

Setting achievable goals to boost motivation

Setting long-term objectives is a good way to help employees project themselves within the company. But it can sometimes be a source of discouragement for less patient employees, who see it as an impossible mountain to climb.

So, to maintain a high level of motivation and employee loyalty, management teams are well advised to set several series of attainable objectives. Some can be achieved very quickly, while others will require greater involvement and regular effort.

By achieving their various objectives, each employee strengthens their self-confidence and creates coherence and resilience in their training path.

Good to know: it's generally accepted that, to be considered relevant and efficient, the objectives set for employees must comply with the famous Smart methodology. In other words, each objective must be specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-bound.

Reward employees for progress

An employee lacking recognition is an employee prey to self-doubt and malaise. And that's anything but good for their professional and personal development! So, to avoid sowing unrest within your teams, it's important to make sure you congratulate and reward your employees for the progress they've made and the objectives they've achieved.

These rewards can take many forms. While congratulations can simply be addressed to the employee concerned in private, via the company messaging system or at an informal meeting, they can also be expressed through :

• the company's internal newsletter
• company social networks;
• financial rewards (a one-off bonus on the payslip is always a pleasure!);
• assignments with greater responsibility or added value; etc.

Varying learning formats

Finally, among the other good practices to be implemented to encourage employees' professional development, we can highlight the importance of the diversity and interest of the learning modules on offer.

✅ The more varied and playful the learning formats, the more employees will lend themselves to the game and associate the ongoing training path and skills enhancement with enjoyable and motivating times. In fact, many e-learning solutions revolve around the gamification of learning.

Examples of professional development

Organizing a workshop in the workplace

A workshop is a collaborative workshop that can be organized by a company to get its employees working on a common theme. It therefore fits in perfectly with a personal development plan, since each employee is encouraged to flesh out his or her knowledge and skills.

👀 Example: an employee whose ambition is to climb the ladder and occupy a more important position involving team management could be given the task of leading the workshop by his manager. In this way, he or she will be put through his or her paces and assessed on his or her leadership qualities.

Passing recognized certifications

Certifications are sometimes required to qualify for promotion or a change of position. For example, there are Microsoft certifications classified by profession (data analyst, security engineer, developer, etc.).

It is therefore possible to provide financial support for these specific certifications for employees who request them, to help them achieve their objectives on the professional development plan drawn up with them.

Setting aside weekly time for skills enhancement

It's not uncommon for a company to set aside weekly or monthly time for training and skills enhancement.

• For employees, it's a welcome break in a sometimes too routine schedule.
• For the management team, it's a good way of contributing to their well-being, while monitoring their progress and preparing the company's future step by step.

See all software Talent Management

What can we learn from professional development?

In a nutshell, professional development is an essential component of employee fulfillment in the workplace. A key driver of employee loyalty and motivation, it enables employees to enhance their skills and develop their long-term career prospects within the company.

But its impact goes far beyond the employee himself: it reinforces the company's attractiveness, improves its competitiveness and fosters a culture of continuous learning. By investing in appropriate training programs and implementing a genuine skills development strategy, HR and management can transform their organization into a veritable talent incubator.

The challenge is therefore clear: to make professional development a strategic lever, and not just a one-off initiative, to guarantee both the performance of teams and the long-term future of the company.