In the hurly burly of meeting deadlines, doing more with less, and achieving performance goals, it is easy to forget to keep up the dialogue with each of your staff about:
- How they are doing vis-à-vis their performance
- How they are doing vis-à-vis their well-being
- Their continuing development and growth
And, if we do manage to carve out the time to talk about any of the above, it’s usually about performance. Heck, we can leave the “softer stuff” for year-end performance review discussion, no?
Well, according to a Right Management study, too many managers–37%, in fact–never get around to talking about #3.
It’s a shame that employees’ individual development is off the radar screen of so many managers. I mean, their own development is obviously a top concern for most employees. Furthermore, managers caring–genuinely–about their employees’ well being and development consistently shows up in studies as a major driver of employee engagement.
Just because times are hard and the jobs aren’t out there at the moment, career development still matters to your staff (and to you too, I betcha). Stephen Covey famously called it “sharpening the saw.” If you stop investing in staff development, those saws can gradually become dull.
So, think of each of your employees, individually. When was the last time you broached the subject of the on-going development of his/her capacity? If you can’t remember, don’t wait. Have that conversation right away.