Investing in employees’ professional development is the most rewarding thing a manager can do.  Unfortunately, actions to develop their employees are often at the bottom of the manager’s “to-do list”.

If you develop your employees, they will be more proficient with their tasks and be more productive. Once they start performing at a higher level, you, as the manager, will reap the rewards.

Developing the skills of your employees can save you plenty of time. Since they are now more efficient, you do not have to monitor them every step of the way. As such, you’d be able to focus on several other tasks. Above all, seeing your employees improve in their respective fields is very rewarding. Besides, this is what leadership is about – making a difference in people’s lives.

But how should you mentor and motivate your employees? Read on to learn some ways managers can develop their employees.

Promote Personal Development

It’s not hard to encourage professional development among employees,  especially the high-performers. These employees are eager to learn, grow their expertise, and climb the career ladder. However, some leaders often overlook personal development when it comes to professional development. Managers should understand that professional development is not enough. They must also encourage personal development among employees. If leaders want to see their employees progress to new levels of success, they need to start treating them as people outside of their professions.

According to a survey by the Social Market Foundation, happy employees are 20% more productive than those who are unhappy. One way to increase happiness among employees is to encourage personal development. You may focus on successfully recruiting talented HR staff who can implement a growth-minded company culture. When leaders invest in their team’s individual development, they invest in producing greatness for the company. Just imagine a company culture where everyone feels like performing at their best, where employees know that their managers care about them, including their personal goals and overall well-being. By making employees feel that you value them as a person, they will respond by being committed and engaged in their respective roles.

So, how can managers encourage personal development for their employees? First, they should provide resources for personal growth. Consider giving them access to life coaches the same way you would with career coaches. Create an online database filled with personal development resources, such as articles, videos, and podcasts.  Sit down with your employees and discuss stress management, time management, resilience, and growth mindset. Ask what other skills they wanted to develop both professionally and personally. Then, provide the support they need to help them achieve these.

Encourage Employee Directed Professional Development

One way to encourage employees to invest in professional development is through self-directed learning. This involves giving them the freedom to direct their education. Allowing them to decide the study topics for professional development will make them feel more invested and engaged. In turn, this results in better outcomes. However, developing a self-directed learning program does not come easy. You want to provide them with proper guidance to ensure they get the most out of the learning experience.  But offering so much could defeat the purpose of “self-directed” learning.

There are many ways that managers can create an effective employee-directed learning initiative. It can come in leadership and management courses or bespoke workplace training and presentations. When launching the learning program, managers should provide some guidance. Although you don’t want to restrict the “self-directed” aspect of learning, you should be the one to decide on the general rules. For instance, employees must read one book about personal development per quarter or watch at least one video about soft skills per month. The guidelines can help ensure that employees will complete their self-directed learning while also allowing them to explore other learning opportunities.

Launching an employee-directed professional development program is not enough. You must also check with your employees regularly to ensure that they achieve their goals. Ask them to outline their professional and personal objectives along with the steps they plan to take to achieve them. You must also give them the necessary tools to develop their professional skills. By making your employees feel you value their development, they will want to work harder for the business and stay longer.

Encourage Employee Autonomy

Employee autonomy allows employees to decide how, when, and where to do their work. According to an LRN study released at the World Economic Forum in Davos, companies whose employees have higher levels of freedom are 10 to 20 times more likely to outperform companies that have low employee freedom scores.

By giving your staff the freedom to approach their jobs independently, you are helping the company to flourish even more. However, as you balance your company and employee autonomy, consider how you can work within the company structure while developing a solution that can work for everyone. At the same time, encourage your staff to resolve issues by themselves to be more self-efficient and confident in handling their tasks with less supervision from their managers.

Employee autonomy will vary depending on how the business works and the type of projects the employees deal with. For instance, if your business requires going after new clients, you can offer staff the option to choose their fields of industry or go after clients they are comfortable dealing with. On the other hand, if your business requires handling long-term clients, try to give your employees the option to choose which aspects they want to be involved in or encourage them to decide how they want to direct the project. Other options include allowing them to select teammates, communication methods, or workspaces.

Remember that employee autonomy can benefit not only the employee but also create a strong company culture and value system that respects every employee while creating a sense of job security.