In the world of talent development, there is a sort of “build it, and they will come” logic. This logic bears consideration.
On the one hand, organisations don’t want to develop an intricate talent pipeline that they have no present-day use for. It’s expensive, it’s logistically complicated, and it can feel overly abstract. This is especially true when your current talent pipeline needs are already being met.
Here’s the thing: if you don’t have the infrastructure to support increased capacity or higher-level credentialing, the circumstances that allow for both will never organically manifest. In other words, if you want highly qualified professionals who will stick around for a long time, you have to build a system. The system must support them at every turn.
In this article, we take a look at how organisations that invest in education build deeper talent pipelines than those that don’t.
Overview
While the information we are going to share in this article can pertain to a wide variety of industries, the healthcare employment sector does a lot to illustrate our meaning.
As many people know, there is a national nursing shortage impacting hospitals all over the country. While there are lots of reasons for this, one of them is that the traditional trajectory for nurses does not necessarily support longevity.
Here’s what happens in a nutshell. Passionate and well-meaning professionals graduate from nursing school with the best of intentions. They know going in that healthcare is hard, but having never worked in it for 50-plus hours a week, they simply don’t understand how hard it can be.
Slowly, they learn.
Burnout generally begins to set in within several years, and studies consistently show that approximately half of all new nurses have pivoted into a different career entirely within five years.
It’s bad for the profession. It’s bad for communities.
But what if there were more resources built around skill development? There would be opportunities, in other words, for disenfranchised nurses to upskill and move into different healthcare careers. Not only would this keep people in the profession longer, but it would also maintain a steady pipeline of better-qualified professionals. This would benefit communities all over the country.
In other words, build it, and they will come.
Why Education Matters
There are several reasons why people leave a profession. Perhaps surprisingly, salary ranks toward the middle of the list. More often than not, what people really want is to feel like the work they are doing is both valued and building toward something bigger.
Educational opportunities satisfy both goals. On the one hand, they communicate to professionals that they are important and that it is worthwhile to continue building upon what they’re already doing. They also create opportunities for career progression.
Generally speaking, upskilling and credentialing open new doors, including new titles, positions, and responsibilities. By consistently giving people the opportunity to learn more and do better, organisations go a long way toward reducing turnover. Additionally, they satisfy employer criteria that are becoming increasingly important to people seeking jobs.
How to Prioritise Education Within an Organisation
Now that we understand the importance of prioritising educators within an organisation, let’s take a look at how to implement that prioritisation.
Step One: Highlight Opportunities
One of the first and most important steps in growing a talent pipeline through investment in educators is to highlight the opportunity for those it pertains to. In other words, make career development opportunities as visible and pronounced as possible.
Too often, organisations bury employee incentives within an HR handbook or a landing page that no one reads. If education is important, communicate that clearly within your internal culture and language. Not only will this draw attention to relevant opportunities, but it will also make your organisation more appealing to people. This is specifically true for those interested in career development.
Step Two: Ensure Quality of Education
Naturally, the educational opportunities need to be really good. For example, in the case of healthcare, it’s not enough to have a nursing educator. Ideally, you want one—or more than one—who is experienced within the profession. Moreover, they should be able to provide not only facts but a form of mentorship.
Often, it’s not only the stress of a job that leads people to burn out, but the feeling that they are dealing with that stress alone. A good educator should be able to articulate common concerns and offer guidance on how to navigate them.
Step Three: Accessibility
Finally, it’s important to make sure that educational opportunities are as accessible as possible.
The exact method of accomplishing this can vary. For example, online nursing school is one way to make credentialing easier. This is because it allows people to pursue their continuing education in a flexible format.
In other situations, training or upskilling opportunities should be built into the usual workday. This should be done in a way that ensures employees feel encouraged to explore the educational materials fully. No one should feel like they are falling behind on their usual responsibilities while pursuing upskilling. Conversely, they also should not feel as though continuing education is something that can only happen outside of work hours.
People are simply less likely to take advantage of upskilling if it’s something they have to sacrifice their evenings and weekends for. That’s not to say that programs that take place outside of work hours are untenable, merely that it’s good to prioritise removing friction from the process wherever possible.
Conclusion
The way organisations prioritise education should naturally match their talent development needs. In other words, if you are in a high-turnover field like healthcare, you have unique needs. In fields where professionals are constantly coming and going and where the credentialing process is long and complicated, it’s especially important to build a strong enough foundation to support new talent.
Though building the infrastructure for skill development can be complicated, it’s a worthwhile endeavour that can lead to fewer capacity constraints and better long-term outcomes.