A Manager’s Guide to Transforming Employee Development

A laptop with many people on a video chat call
Share This Post:

Embarking on a journey of professional growth and success is not a solitary endeavor. As organizations strive to create environments that nurture talent and inspire long-term commitment, the pivotal influence of managers becomes evident – effective employee development starts with managers.

Using the foundations of project management and transforming SMART goals into SMARTEST goals are two strategies that can help your employees create and stick to behavioral goals that will help them be successful in their development.

Don’t miss this intriguing
webinar from HRDQ-U

Don’t miss this intriguing webinar from HRDQ-U

Transforming Employee Development: A Manager’s Guide

Applying Project Management to Development

The first thing anybody does when starting a project is figure out who will do what. In development with your employee, this is agreeing on mutual expectations. Next, the employee will figure out what they will work on and then define a goal. The translation to development is identifying what people need to develop and then putting together the development goal. The next step with the project is to figure out how you will accomplish that goal. For employee development, the next step should be, but often isn’t, designing a development assignment. A development assignment will tell you what you need to do to accomplish the development goal.

The  two main benefits of this approach:

  1. It begins with what many managers already know.
  2. It focuses on business processes, not psychological processes.

Motivating Managers to Manage

Managers need to actually manage. Instead of a teacher, employees are seeking a manager, someone who can take care of things so the employee has the time, space, and support they need to learn.

motivate your managers to develop employees

Another crucial task for managers is helping employees stay motivated. There does need to be some intrinsic motivation from the employee, but there are things managers can do that make it more likely for employees to feel motivated and stay motivated.

SMART VS. SMARTEST – Goals for Employee Development

Many of us already use SMART goals. They are:

S – Specific

M – Measurable

A – Actionable

R – Realistic

T – Time Sensitive

It’s time to turn these SMART goals into  SMARTEST goals by adding the following letters:

E – Engagement

ST – Support Structure

Think about if that is something that will work for you! Remember, in setting these goals, the manager should help the employee determine how to accomplish the goal and create a plan to attain their goals.

Effective Employee Development Starts with Managers

Applying project management principles and creating actionable steps through SMARTEST goals to create and carry out the development plan is vital to ensuring that employees feel supported and have the resources they need to succeed. Effective employee development starts with managers, from engaging employees to creating a robust support structure.

To learn more about how managers can use project management principles and SMARTEST goals to help employees in their development, watch David Berke’s webinar, Transforming Employee Development: A Manager’s Guide.

{{ reviewsTotal }}{{ options.labels.singularReviewCountLabel }}
{{ reviewsTotal }}{{ options.labels.pluralReviewCountLabel }}
{{ options.labels.newReviewButton }}
{{ userData.canReview.message }}
Recommended Webinar
Transforming Employee Development: A Manager’s Guide

As a business leader or manager, discover valuable tips for employee development that can help to boost motivation and overall progress.

HRDQ-U Webinar | Transforming Employee Development: A Manager's Guide
More HRDQ-U Blog Posts

Human Resources: Then and Now
We read so much about putting the “human” back in Human Resources.

Related Topics
Career development
Career Development
Business coaching webinar
Coaching
Creativity and innovation skills training
Creativity and Innovation
Webinar customer service
Customer Service
A Manager’s Guide to Transforming Employee Development
Decision Making
Diversity and inclusion webinars
Diversity and Inclusion
A Manager’s Guide to Transforming Employee Development
Leadership
PM webinars
Project Management
Log In